Endgame

My planning projects get shorter, my book stack gets higher, and my calendar gets slimmer.

That is, the Lawson Trek is nearing its conclusion -- at least the Trekking part does. 

I've made it my practice as I've walked this path not to plan too far ahead -- I like just kind of figuring things out as I go, which strikes me as highly Lawsonian and in the spirit. But as I near the end of the path and have to organize my final Heroes of the Lawson Trek, I've started planning my routes, and -- hokey smokes! -- I discover that I'm a bare five days of walking until I reach little Washington, where Lawson stopped and so shall I, sort of. I expect to hit Washington September 17. 

Five more days! I'll stop in Wilson, then a day's walk outside Wilson sort of in the middle of nowhere at the little crossroads of Castoria. Then from Castoria to Ayden, from Ayden to Grimesland, and from Grimesland to Washington. Woohoo!

But wait there's more! Because of the fabulous interest shown all the way through this project by the people at Historic Bath, the Lawson Trek is going to make a small extra step. Lawson ended his journey at Washington, and so shall I, though of course in Lawson's day it was not called Washington. The town's namesake, George Washington, was himself not born until 1732, so if the "town" was called anything in those days it was called "the place on the tip of the Pamlico Sound where that British dude lives." Washington was actually founded in 1776 -- rather precocious town-naming, if you want my opinion; it was the first town named for General Washington. Bath, meanwhile, had been around since 1705, when it was founded, surveyed, and laid out by -- well, you guessed: by John Lawson. Bath was North Carolina's first incorporated town. It has several colonial houses, three of which you can tour; the state's oldest church, begun in 1734; and gardens and a visitors center.

So on September 26, Bath is participating in Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live, a sort of gift from Smithsonian Magazine, encouraging museums and historic sites to waive admission fees for a day. You can get tickets to the Bath Site houses free here. As part of that daylong celebration -- there'll be living history, rope making, corn husk doll making, colonial games, all kinds of cool stuff -- the Lawson Trek will make its final advance, canoeing up Bath Creek into town at 2 pm. After that I'll talk a bit, answer questions, and take a deep breath before beginning to write the book about Lawson's journey, and my own.

Which, by the way, will still be documented on this website. I'll keep sharing cool stuff I find, even if it's found in books and interviews rather than along the path. Plus I'll be filling in the many, many gaps the complexity of planning, trekking, and updating have caused me to leave. So if you gave me your time in an interview and I took a million pictures and videos and you haven't seen any evidence of it on this site, trust me -- you will. 

Anyhow: five walking days! A pretty-much certain end date in Washington! A guaranteed certain canoe-in date to Bath, nicely bookmarking the trek, which began last October with a canoe trip out of Charleston. 

Hope to see you there.