Fencing Across the Country

[s.brookes]

I am a high school senior who is about to graduate.

Before fencing season this year, I wanted to take a gap year to drive around the country towards Deadhorse, Alaska. After fencing my senior year, getting a more experienced coach (and learning a lot), joining the USFA, investing in personal gear, and developing a huge passion for fencing, I don't necessarily want to leave the sport for a whole year.

If I took my gear with my on my trip, how much support would I get from club owners or any fencers for that matter to let me pop in and fence a little bit as I'm passing through, on severely limited funds. Where in the country is that support coming from?

I know that I could enter tournaments, which I probably would, but I'm also interested in the interesting and exciting places that fencing could lead me on my trip, and the interesting people that I could meet.

Thanks, everyone.

Sincerely,

Scott Brookes

[Purple Fencer]

Best thing you could do....plan your route (as much as you feel like), find the clubs along your route, call them and explain what you're doing, and see what their policy is. Some will let you in with a floor fee, some won't without you paying a full membership....it varies.

[Fencergrl]

You might want to provide a brief outline of where you're traveling from and the possible routes you might be taking. I assume by "across the country" you mean mostly the USA, however you could live in Seattle, so "across the country" could also mean BC, Canada.

If you travel through BC on your way to Alaska, I highly recommend you take Highway 37 instead of the larger paved highway 97 north. Although one redeeming feature of that highway is the hotsprings at the Alaska/ BC border... a worthy stop. Other than that, Highway 37 is much more scenic and far more interesting. Gas stations are situated about a tankful away, so always fill up at every stop as you only see another car about every 2-3 hours in some spots.

[s.brookes]

thanks for the advice, I really do appreciate it.

I live in New Jersey, so across the country means from the east coast to the west coast of the USA. I was planning on staying in the central or more northern parts of the US, though. Eventually I will be crossing through Canada, but I don't know for how long or where.

[T H U G]

people be fencin
across da U S A
so just be takin dis lessin
and you'll be O K

jus Look up in da phonebook
o da in ter net
and i'll make you a bet
you'll easily get
a club without a sweat
fo every state
across da U S A
and you could be fencin EVERY DAY

[s.brookes]

... I am a little disgusted with myself by the fact that I was actually incredibly impressed with that...

:-P

[Jason]

Document the whole thing as you do it. Make it a blog or something. Maybe Craig will set you up with a regular series on the front page here. Highlight a different club and the city/town where it's located in each entry. Maybe at the end write a story about it for American Fencing. When you contact clubs, frame it in precisely that way--"I'm traveling across country, writing about the different fencing clubs I find." Not only are you likely to get a near universally positive response from the clubs, you will also add a new and interesting level to your own experience. I'd recommend plotting out the trip--and the clubs where you'll stop--ahead of time.

[Purple Fencer]

Document the whole thing as you do it. Make it a blog or something. Maybe Craig will set you up with a regular series on the front page here. Highlight a different club and the city/town where it's located in each entry. Maybe at the end write a story about it for American Fencing. When you contact clubs, frame it in precisely that way--"I'm traveling across country, writing about the different fencing clubs I find." Not only are you likely to get a near universally positive response from the clubs, you will also add a new and interesting level to your own experience. I'd recommend plotting out the trip--and the clubs where you'll stop--ahead of time.

Winner....right there.

[migopod]

Better yet, do as Jason suggests AND bring along a flipcam and get footage of all the clubs you visit. Maybe do some interviews and concoct a video diary. Then edit it up as a documentary.

You could make meeeeelions of dollars.

[Fencergrl]

thanks for the advice, I really do appreciate it.

I live in New Jersey, so across the country means from the east coast to the west coast of the USA. I was planning on staying in the central or more northern parts of the US, though. Eventually I will be crossing through Canada, but I don't know for how long or where.

I hear the route through the US is faster than through Canada from the east heading west, so crossing through BC makes sense. From a scenic point of view, BC has more to offer than some of the other Provinces (and we're right below Alaska).

Fencing-wise... there's lots of clubs in southern BC, but fencing (as well as people in general) become more and more scarce as you head north. This might be a good time to just enjoy the road trip. Prince George would be the most northern BC club. Plan on at least 3 long days of driving from the USA border to the Alaska US border.

If you decide to go up through Alberta, there's fencing clubs up to Edmonton (which is about as far north as Prince George, just further east. If you like rural scenery this is a nice place. Alberta is kinda like a Canadian version of Texas, where as BC is similar to Alaska, just more days of driving through it.

PM me if you want route info and or club info. I'm in Vancouver, BC

[KD5MDK]

You could make meeeeelions of dollars.

Probably more like dozens, but it'll be more fun.

[migopod]

Probably more like dozens, but it'll be more fun.

Okay, meeeeelions of pesos.

[Purple Fencer]

Okay, meeeeelions of pesos.

He's giong north, not south...

[bb43]

Take me with!

This is exactly what Ive wanted to do for years.

[Fencergrl]

More advice (if you haven't thought of it already).

1) Have a mechanic do a through inspection of your vehicle, prior to heading out. It is much cheaper to fix things before you head out than having to have it towed.

2) You want to travel in a van. This gives you a cheap place to sleep. I don't know about the USA, but the road trips we've always slept in rest stops or any quiet place we could find on the side of the road. In BC (and Alaska) there's lots of logging roads etc... so you can get off the highway and get a nice quiet sleep a short way down the road (providing it isn't an active logging road and you get woken by a chip truck at 6 am).

[wahrman]

I've done this, it's great fun. I found though that I didn't get to visit as many clubs as I would have liked. The problem was most clubs tend to fence specific weapons on specific nights. Epee on Monday and Wednesday, foil Tuesday and Thursday for example, so you need to plan the timetable pretty well. Too often I got ahead of or behind schedule and screwed up a weeks worth of stops.

What I did was plot possible routes on a map on the wall with stick pins. It sounds a bit silly but it helped me visualise things as I planned the schedule.

Definitely phone and email ahead to get the nights/weapons and floor fee.

Most clubs are were very excited that someone new was coming by and even announced it ahead of time so that people would turn up.

Be sure to ask about their drop in policy. Some clubs don't like drop ins but that's pretty rare. Some university clubs only allow their students in the club.

You might even score a few beers and places to sleep.

Are you driving in the summer? Many places close down after Summer Nationals and never really pick back up until September.

[Inquartata]

Better yet, do as Jason suggests AND bring along a flipcam and get footage of all the clubs you visit. Maybe do some interviews and concoct a video diary. Then edit it up as a documentary.

You could make meeeeelions of dollars.

Call it "Into the Wild II"?

[Allen Evans]

Deadhorse?

[Inquartata]

No one brought up PIL!

[Zhais]

Drop by Omaha, NE! Or is that too far south