The Occasional Antics of Luke

So I was arrested back in May with 22 others, in a civil resistance action meant to stop the militarization of the Port of Olympia. Thurston County has since been trying to prosecute 17 of us for Criminal Trespass in the 2nd Degree. We “The Olympia 22″(Olympia22.org) have so far been through numerous hearings and after a recent decision in Superior Court probably won’t have our actual trial until February. I obviously don’t write on this site much, that won’t change, but I may put up a statement at some point, probably after the trial, concerning the actions that we took, the response by the county and the subsequent support from the Olympia area community. Anyway visit our website linked above for more information on the trial.

I finished! Summited Katadin on the 12th of August. Glad to be done, glad I did it. I’ve since been hitchhiking around, no particular goal just to sort of meander west to Colorado by mid-September. Almost every day on the road has brought on some new story or experience that just continues to make me happy I’m doing it. Right now I’m in some town in the middle of no-where, Ohio. Not much time left on here. Will possibly post a more comprehensive update in a few days. Probably not. 5 months and only 3 posts. I’m such a slacker.

So far I’ve hiked about 140 miles to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. On the 6th I hitchhiked about 80 miles to Asheville, NC and flew back to Washington to attend the state house and senate sessions on Friday. That morning both legislatures passed resolutions honoring my fathers life. I’m flying back to Asheville on Sunday to pick up again on the trail. Numtum went on and will probably be through the smokies by the time I get back. We’ll likely meet up again sometime in the next month.

So far not much eventful has happened. Have met a lot of people, walked over a few hills(or as they call them here mountains), plowed through some snow. Saw Janet Reno the morning I flew out at the place we had breakfast. That was sort of strange. Mostly I’ve just had a lot of time to think and reflect. That’s the point I guess. The trip seems to be turning into not so much a distraction from as a full confrontation with my current life process. I guess it’s yet to be seen what will result from it all.

~Zeke

So I’ve decided to go on another adventure. This time I’m thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. It starts in Georgia and 2200 miles later ends in Maine.

I started off with my friend Numtum (every one on the trail uses a trail name. I’m going by Zeke.) on the 23rd. Since then we’ve hiked to the somewhat scary Bavarian, alpine theme town of Helen, Georgia where we’re staying to dry out our gear after a thunderstorm.

I won’t be adding to this often. Not too much happens on the trail. And I’ve so far not kept up on my personal journal to add any details. I’ll post my progress every two weeks or so. I should be back in Oly sometime this summer. In time for fall quarter at least. …maybe.

~Zeke

Well, I’ve sort of neglected writing this final entry for the last week. I’ve been back since the 18th and everything is starting to come into place again. Read on to see what happened in my final days. I left you in Paraparaumu.
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