The La Honda Voice

March 2019 edition of the La Honda Voice

Download TheLaHondaVoiceMar2019

Jane's Gone A.W.O.L.

An interview with Jane Sullivan about her upcoming walking and biking trip across America.

NP: Jane – what are you doing? What’s “Jane’s gone AWOL”?

JS: Neil, I’m realizing a dream here. I’m going to walk across America. It was an idea that came to me on New Year’s, not this year but last. Tim asked me what’re you doing this year and I said I’m going to walk across America. He just laughed and thought it’d never happen. The very same day we went to a new year’s party and got talking to Neil Panton and Will Johnson and they were asking what we’re going to do this year, and I said walk across America and Tim said no she’s not, and Neil said why not? Tim said well I don’t want her to be alone so Neil said I’ll go with her, and Will chirped in I’ll go with her! Since then it’s sort of taken a life of its own. It started to develop and snowball. Long story short, we got a good group of people together, some of the same people that helped with the Sully’s to Surf hike, and I knew it were going to start happening then, and so did Tim actually. They are the “A” team! A right good team of people, and we decided at the first meeting what route we were going to take across America. Three or four options for me to look at, and I chose the route we are now taking. We’re going through 12 states starting in Delaware and going right across and ending up in La Honda. We’re going to be in San Francisco, but then we’re coming over the mountain and down into our own village. That’s where we’re going to finish the hike.

The next meeting it were determined we should each take a state and really look into the details of where we were going to cross, what the points of interest were, and where I might want to stop. Originally we had 16 weeks to do it, but that’s before we introduced the bike. Now the bike’s great and we shaved off 4 weeks, and that’s because Trudy Schoneman wanted to involve the bike and so did Lisa Chupity. There’s going to be the bicycle, the hiking, and quite a lot of driving. But the whole goal is to meet with people. Just see who we bump into, chat with them, and see if we can inspire them to start hiking or biking - the young ones to get going and older people not to give in. If you look at the team of people that’s doing it we’ve got artificial knees, artificial hips, shoulders, all different operations people are having to get bionic for this Walk Across America! And we’re going! In style! Starting on June 3^rdand getting back on August 31^st.

NP: August 31^styou’re coming back into La Honda?

JS: Yeah, it’s going to be a slow entrance back into California. We’re going to come in over the Golden Gate Bridge which itself is a big parade type of feel to it, but then we’re going to calm down. We’re not going to try and get back to La Honda overnight. We’re going to sort of tread water up in San Francisco and then we’re going to hit the Skyline Blvd., come in through Purissima, El Corte de Madera. We’ve gotten permission to come through Djerrassi Ranch and drop down into La Honda’s own beautiful hiking trail that opened a year ago last August. The last mile we’ll come out and finish just above the school. And I’m hoping we’re going to get some support from the village of La Honda to walk up that lane and meet us coming in, and give us a bit of a fanfare. I might even buy you a pint if you do! That’s the plan.

NP: So you’re going state by state, and hoping to spread a message?

JS: I’m just trying to inspire people to come and do summat. It struck me as I’m coming up to 60 that you might have 20 years left ‘til you’re 80, then all you’ve got is the memories of what you’ve done. I started to think I didn’t done anything, and what am I going to be sat in my rocking chair thinking about. Am I going to be thinking I wished I’d have done this or wished I’d have done that. No, I’m going to be sat thinking “bloody hell, you remember when I walked across America”? I were only 60 but nowt but a slip of a lass and now I’m 80, and I can bore everybody at nursing home ‘bout when I walked across America! ‘Cause it’ll be there forever and you remember it. And then younger people instead of sitting around all day and looking at a computer screen get out into nature, because it’s done me a favor. You know, getting to the trees, getting to the mountains, getting to the creeks, and it’ll change their whole outlook [as a video screen]. That’s what I’m thinking of. And people will think “oh me knee’s sore, I can’t do anything”. You can. You can rebuild and you can do things with your life. You don’t just sit around waiting.

NP: You can do something.

JS: You don’t have to walk across America…

NP: …but you can do some little bit.

JS: Of course you can.

Inspiration:

NP: So what was your inspiration for this?

JS: Well I were always teetering with it, it were bothering me coming up to my 60^th, and then for my husband’s 60^thwe went to Alaska. And when we were in Alaska on one of the day excursions we were flown to a big glacier and had a lunch. Inside this cabin were a great picture of a woman who I asked about. He said “Hold on, I’ll tell you. That’s part of the talk we’re going to give”. The woman’s name was Mary Joyce, and she were a pioneer in her own right. She were a fully qualified nurse, fully qualified teacher, she were the first female bush pilot in Alaska. She took the dogs and the sleds a thousand miles, long before the Iditarod. She had two Alaskan men, sort of Sherpa-type geezers that went with her and helped her. But she were a woman really solo travelling. She’d done such a lot, and that were before she were age summat like 37. And then it struck me, why am I not doing anything? She inspired me, and I thought, yeah I could do, maybe I’m no Mary Joyce, but I can certainly do something. So that is the inspiration, a female that did that. So that gave me great hope to be able to do something, if not as much as Mary Joyce, but certainly something that’s going to be a little notch on me belt. And that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want to be sat thinking I’d wasted days and hours and time out of my life, when I could have put it to better use. I didn’t want to be idle devil – he’ll find work for me, won’t he. The devil will find work for idle hands! Don’t want any flies on me either. I think if I keep moving that’ll conquer all that.

I actually am inspiring people. I’ve put a few videos on, the fourth one’ll come this week. There’s already three up there on YouTube. You just put “Jane’s Gone AWOL” or “Jane Sullivan” and you’ll see them. People now are personally messaging me, and saying “Jane, I’ve got my bicycle out, I haven’t been on it for years. I’ve bought some new hiking shoes.” So I’m actually, just in tiny amounts feeling you know, this is right, it’s going to be worthwhile.

I’m trying to get the children involved at the school. Once I get me exact location, I’m going to get the kids from our little tiny community, La Honda School, to write to the kids in other small hamlets that may come out and hopefully wave me along. It’ll be through the school holiday. I’m going to go up and meet with the school people and see if I can get ‘em to do that.  In that way the kid has to watch where I’m going so they’re learning. All of the team that are helping are learning about America, different states they never even knew. I’m walking along canals for hundreds of miles. Who’d have thought there were any canals with locks in America? I thought it were all Europe. America is the crème de la crème in my eyes.

Pillars of the Community

NP: Beautiful spots all along the way. I think you’re right, people are researching their states and finding all kinds of natural and historical things to look at. So you’re going to try to establish contact with people all along the route to have them join you.

JS: That’s what I’m trying to encourage. So every state we’re going in I’m looking for points of interest. An example is my nephew and a girl in university just simply talking about his crazy aunt and what she were doing, and she has a friend who has MS, and she has a radio show and is inspiring lots of people through talking on the radio. I’m hoping we can get a spot with her, five or ten minutes to go in and talk on radio show. And then I’m going to look for pillars of the community. That’s before I leave. So it could be a small village like La Honda where “young boy rescues dog from burning cabin”. Well, it could’ve been thirty years ago, so now this man would be forty, and I want to see if he’s still around and if he remembers that time.

And there is awards given. Each community give awards out for great citizen , so I’m looking into all this and I’m hopefully going to find some people that I can go and have a chat with. Maybe they can do something in their community, start a hiking group, or a biking group. Just so at the end of all this I think oh, we’ve got people moving! We’ve got people talking to each other and actually doing things, just because we came through – those La Hondans.

Mary Joyce

NP: You’re going to do a combination of walking, cycling, and in some areas like through the Rockies just drive through. You’ll have a support vehicle with you the whole time?

JS: That’s true. I’ve got a great RV, we’ve named her Mary Joyce after the lady from Alaska who inspired me. She’s a great vehicle, and she’s going to be the SAG wagon. She’s going to be available to me at all times, so if I do find myself in a bit of a position, or I might roll an ankle, or something might happen, I’m going to be a radio or phone call away from this vehicle. And every evening, it’s there, like a little beacon. I know it’s going to be there, it’s a candle in the window. And I know if I get a bit weary as the day goes on, I’m not thinking it’s three or four days, it’s every day I’ve got such a support group that I know this day’s going to be ending and I’m going to be sat at the end in this vehicle. So yeah, that’s going to help us across. I’m going to be hiking, biking, riding in Mary Joyce. There’s going to be some areas where it’s actually not safe to ride, and I certainly don’t want to be walking through Chicago and cities like that. But I’m hoping also to meet people. I’m hoping I might get a ride in a crop-dusting aeroplane. You know I could talk to somebody one night in a bar when I’m giving a trivia. I’m going to try to do trivia, karaoke, anything to get some attention. So if I’m in a bar I could be singing “King of the Road” one night and get talking to a farmer who’s going to be doing 30 miles in his crop-dusting plane, or he might be delivering milk for 30 miles the next day. I could ride with him and get his story. And maybe he could go forward and you know, bring young kids in to milking cows. Who knows what’s going to happen.

Documenting the Journey

NP: How are you documenting the trip?

JS: At the finish of every day I’m going to do a little 2 minute video for YouTube. Some days are going to be great, other days are not so great, but it’s all going to be down. Blood, snot, and tears. It’s all going down every day. Plus I have a GoPro so I’ll be doing bursts, and interviewing people talking. At the end of the adventure I’ll have it cut and clipped, and who knows you might get a short film out of the whole expedition. And I have my young nephew on Instagram. He’ll be there on a daily posting pictures and such like that. That’s how we’ll keep a catalogue of everything.

NP: That’s pretty exciting. You’ve already got a crew here excited about joining you and helping drive Mary Joyce. You’re going to be following the American Discovery Trail a good part of the way. Are you going to hook up with their network?

JS: Yeah, I’m hoping I’ll get some people to come along with me, different hiking groups. Hikers and different fitness people. I’m going to approach all these people, tell ‘em what dates I’m coming and ask them if they want to hike with me. See if I can get them involved. I’m thinking of maybe giving out little badges. There’ll be a bronze, silver and gold. So if somebody walks with me for a hundred miles, they get a gold. Silver fifty, and a bronze maybe twenty. Small little badges with the emblem. We’ve got a great emblem, designed by Bill Bishop, and I’m thinking of putting it in pin form, and if somebody steps along they’ll get a badge. They may get the twenty mile, and really think no, that’s not good enough. I want the silver, they might have to fly in to walk a hundred miles. But who knows? I’m meeting people in La Honda that say “if I’d have known”, well they know now! There’s nothing stopping. Once this route’s done, nothing’s stopping somebody to say “I’m flying in to Maryland, I’m going to get myself there, I’m going to find you, do three days and fly back out. So it’s going to be open. They’d have to find their own accommodation and how to get to the van, but they can still join in. That’d be under people’s own steam. And surely, you could get yourself to walk fifty mile if we’re doing nearly 3,000 across the bloody states. So you might be sat in La Honda looking at this YouTube video thinking “I’m going to go find Jane, and I’m going to find her in Idaho. Me and my wife are going to do a couple days fishing, three days hiking with her”. Make a holiday out of it! We’ve got all summer. Now, this is a “one-off” kids, so strike while the irons hot.

Training

NP: What are you doing to prepare?

JS: Preparation is hiking. I started off hiking 3 mile, 5 mile a day, and now 12-15 miles is not uncommon. Three times a week, same on the bicycle. Tried at yoga, but I weren’t too clever with yoga until I got the aerial yoga, which is a massive hammock. Hangs from the ceiling, and you can just swing around in that, flop around, but it’s tightening up me torso, strengthening me core. So I’ve been doing a bit of that, and of course I’ve always liked to dance, so I’ll put a few tunes on and dance around the kitchen. But mostly hiking and biking is how I’m going to get into it.

And diet. I’ve completely changed me diet. There’s no packets getting opened in my house. You might as well throw the can opener away. It’s all gone. I’m doing fresh, whole foods, and the water intake. I mean I’d hardly drank any water. Used to drink a lot of tea, maybe fourteen cups of tea a day. I haven’t drank tea for years. And I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore. Completely sort of got a hold of me body, and I feel… I could walk across America actually! That’s how good I feel!

NP: So you’re ready, now you just have to wait.

JS: Now I’m waiting, I’m treading water, but I can’t stop the training. Once we’ve got definite routes I’ll be able to say, right – this is me through Maryland. I’ll be able to tell every day where I’ll sort of be, roughly, give or take an hour or two, give or take 5 or 10 mile whatever. But somebody could plan to come find me. I’m going to be findable if you’re inspired to join me. And that’ll be great for me too, it’s encouragement. You know, it’s not all going to be joy and skipping through the bloody daisies. I’m expecting to be in fetal position quite often, which’ll be penance I’ll have to pay for doing this! And it’ll make a better video, won’t it, if I’m showing big blisters and I’m crying for me mother. It won’t all be gorgeous. So just get out of your comfort zone, that’s what it’s about. And you’ll feel great having done it. I aren’t saying I like hiking 17 miles a day, but I like having HIKED 17 miles at end of day when I’m sat down. And I think, bloody hell, I did 17 today.

NP: So you’re going to break things up, maybe hike one or two days, then you’ll bike some, and then you’ll have a day of rest?

JS: Every Sunday is going to be the day of rest, where I’m going to look after me feet, and maybe have a bit of a really good feed. I might have an ice cream or summat that I normally wouldn’t have when I’m in training. So there’ll be “treats and feets” to be looked after on the Sunday deal, and getting everything ready, getting all me clothing washed and ready to go again. Part of it’s the gear too.

NP: That’s right, there’s a lot of preparation that goes into it. It isn’t just the walking. You’ve got to think about your shoes and socks and clothing and showering…

JS: Right, and mosquitos and sunscreen. There’s going to be that, there’s going to be some rougher spots too. The exciting bit to me is I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know who I’m going to meet. I could meet somebody that’s started a school for challenged children. And I might be thrilled with that, and I might want to go and I might want to read them a book, and that might set me back ‘cause I’m supposed to be fifty mile down the road. Well then I might have to get in the van and catch up. I might be going one step forward, two steps back depending on the interest in things. I may come to a part I’m not right keen, and then I’ll go get me bike out and pedal fifty mile rather than walk for twelve. That’ll be determined by what we come across. Who knows, that’s part of it, that you don’t know.

NP: Being flexible and adapting to what you encounter.

JS: Yeah, and milking what’s great and trying to shake off what’s not so great. So if I find some interesting people, I might want to hang a bit longer. Or if I want to get a hurry on, then I can do that too. That’s great, because I’m in America. There’s freedom to do anything I want.

NP: And there’s some great side trips you might want to make. If you’re somewhere and somebody says hey, you really ought to see this, you have the freedom to take an extra few hours or an extra day to do that. And see America!

JS: See America and all the little quirky things. So I’m looking for like the biggest ball of string, you know, that type of thing. Not always looking for the Grand Canyon. It might be the biggest ball of string or summat like that, the biggest ball of chewing gum. And older people, nursing homes, I’d like to bash in to a few nursing homes. Even if I’m just there for 10 minutes, they’ll have summat to talk about long after I’ve gone. If I can get ‘em riled up like the fox in the chicken coop, and I can feel like that in a nursing home. And sing a song, and they’ll be wandering, and maybe they’ll start and reminisce. And say to their grandchildren, I wish we’d a done what this lass is doing. Because you’d only have regrets once you get to 80! There’s no going back.

NP: It’s a great tradition, the oral tradition of inspiring the next generation by the stories you tell. And yours is a great story. You’ve given me more than enough to write about.

JS: Right, I’ll go home and eat summat ‘cause I could eat a scabby horse between two mattresses.