A quietish Sunday across the Apogee Empire today — folks were touring Fenway park, walking the Charles River, spotting otters from kayaks in Mendocino, escaping from forest fires in the Cascades, and riding 110 miles across the Mojave. Pretty quiet, right?
Our Cape Cod folks are enjoying their last full day together today, exploring Boston and its many delights. Lucas and Danika sent in a lovely shot of their evening stroll along the Charles last night. Wyatt and Chrissy, meanwhile, spent a portion of today indoctrinating their New York-area students with a trip to that most hallowed of grounds, Fenway Park. (Sure, we may be seven and a half games behind, but we are converting your children!) After their big night on the town tonight, they’ll be wrapping it up tomorrow morning.
To the west, we didn’t hear from Pacific Coast today, but Rachel and Sam were kayaking among the aforementioned sea otters today while Lidia and Alex’s crew were pushing a long 60 miles up and over the coastal range down to Mendocino. Both groups will be camping together tonight — much to the delight of the pranksters in the group (leaders very much included…).
And we thought we weren’t going to hear from our Northwest Explorers until today, but as it happens, we heard from them yesterday afternoon after they left the backcountry a day early. As it happens, a sizeable fire is burning in the Park, and Park rangers found our guys and suggested they head out early. They were never in any danger, but they did see the smoke and are happy to be in the smoke-free land of flushing toilets and warm showers again. Since they left the backcountry early, they have time to work on their rodeo skills before kayaking in the San Juans.
When I talked to Kevin this morning, before 8:00 in the desert, the Coast to Coasters were already 60 miles from Parker and only about 50 from 29 Palms. As they have all summer, they were absolutely crushing their miles. As long as you are riding across the Mojave in August, you might as well do it on a day like today, with temps in the low 100’s and a high overcast. Cait sent in this picture from last night at their very last state border — standing on the bridge over the Colorado River in Parker. Tonight, about 15 pizzas and a cool pool will help take the edge off what is very likely the most challenging day of the entire trip (although their day climbing out of the desert and up to Warner Springs in a couple of days is a doozy, too!).
