2022 Gold Medal Recipient from Florida Authors and Publishers AssociationI plodded like Godzilla and sounded like Darth Vader.Jane and Dennis Blanchard never do anything the easy way. Their myriad adventures hiking the Vermont Long Trail during a summer of record-breaking cold temperatures and unprecedented rainfall were just another of the couple's challenges over their 45-year-plus marriage.Without Dennis, this would be a different adventure. Not only is he companionable, but he also carried the tent.The Blanchards are accomplished long-distance hikers, having completed the Camino Francés, the Camino Portugués, and Hadrian's Wall Path. Dennis hiked the Appalachian Trail solo, and his epic Georgia-to-Maine trek was only interrupted when he decided to drive home for six-artery bypass surgery. Talented writers, both Jane and Dennis have turned their adventures into gripping accounts full of humorous insights and pithy observations about people, Nature, and what happens when people and Nature meet-on Nature's terms.Why is it that when you have clean clothes and smell decent, there is always a storm to ensure you start smelling like a wet animal?Their most recent book, A Short Walk on a Long Trail, is full of hard-won, practical advice for novice and experienced hikers alike. This story contains many unexpected twists and turns, from the PUDs (pointless ups and downs) to kind-hearted, generous Vermonters, from a debilitating upper respiratory infection to Nature in all its glory: spectacular sunsets, occasional vistas, drenching rain, clinging mud, and lots of bugs. Jane and Dennis explore the nuances of hiking solo versus hiking as a couple with candor and wry wit and poke fun at themselves and their relationship while sounding a clarion call for Americans, especially older Americans, to stay active and explore the beauty of our natural environment.The uncertainty of hiking is thrilling. There is always something new around the bend, over the hill, or further up the road.Join Jane and Dennis on another big adventure! A Short Walk on a Long Trail is a must-read for everyone contemplating a long-distance hike. Jane V. Blanchard is the author of the award-winning "Woman on Her Way" series. Since retiring in 2011, she has visited sixteen countries by foot and by bicycle and written two books about her wanderings.Jane was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Upon graduation from college, she worked as a travel guide in Madrid, Spain, and cried at her first bullfight. In 1975, she and her husband Dennis lived in a tent in Winchendon, Massachusetts, for six months (until December) while they built a log cabin. After two years of living off-the-grid, they lived a self-sufficient lifestyle on a five-acre "gentleman's" farm.Before moving to Sarasota, Florida, she lived in Hampstead, New Hampshire for twenty-four years, where she raised two children, was a soccer and Odyssey of the Mind coach, and received the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Volunteer of the Year Award in 1996. She enjoyed hiking and biking, and climbed twenty of the forty 4,000-foot mountains in New England.In her fifties, Jane started mountain biking and racing. In 2002, she placed second in the Eastern Fat Tire Association Senior Division. "Even though I was not the fastest competitor, I did attend and complete the majority of that year's races. Just like with the turtle and the hare, slow and consistent wins over fast but sporadic."When she married in 1974, her husband Dennis and she joked about creating a lifetime of memories to chat about when sitting in their rockers in old age. Now in her late-60s, Jane is still creating memories, experiencing life as fully as possible, and looking forward to a long future. "I have to live long enough to write about all my adventures," she says.In addition to having adventures, Jane enjoys gardening, cooking, reading, and spending time with friends and family.
