Feb 2, 2017
Brandon Jacob, AKA The Dude, became something of a social magnet
on the Appalachian Trail in 2016 with his Dudefests. Straight out
of the corporate world and seemingly out of place in the slightly
less genteel life of the trail, he embraced it, and its characters,
with relish. There were two Dudefests; one at Trent's Grocery
in Virginia, with Dudefest #2 attracting quite the crowd at the Inn
At Long Trail, in Vermont. I've circled the Dude in the bottom
left-hand corner of the picture. 
I chatted with The Dude while he
was driving to a weekend away. The audio isn't great but the
conversation was fun. 
The Dude can be contacted
at Brandon@contractorscfo.com,
while he can also be found on Facebook as Brandon Jacob. His
blog is at http://trailjournals.com/jakethefake
and for those of you who may have met him, he has a great picture
collection of the people he met on YouTube at this
link, https://youtu.be/8H_ZemBZl4U
Jessa continues her preparations for her start date next
month. This week, she learns how to navigate around a car park. It
makes much more sense when you listen to Jessa explain it! Please
keep the reviews and emails coming, as well as suggestions for
Jessa's trail name. Remember, the email address is steve@mightyblueontheat.com
and don't forget to check out my books, which are linked
here on Amazon. See you next week.