Ahh, the sweet smell of cut grass, hamburgers sizzling on the grill, and slightly-nervous kids starting Apogee trips in San Francisco, Vermont, and Charleston, South Carolina.  Summer.  Indeed, my friends, the eagerly-anticipated day has arrived – the official, no-joking-around Apogee season has begun!  Three trips – Vermont to Montreal (VM1), California Mountains & Coast (CMC1), and America Coast to Coast (ACC1) got underway this afternoon.  Everyone arrived safely – some after long, long, long flights – and all are eager to get out of buses, vans, and airports and on with the good stuff.

VM1:  

Our Vermont to Montreal trip got off to a great start in Manchester, NH (I know, I know – it’s not Vermont – but it makes sense logistically, I promise) and is, as I type, pulling in to their first camp site not far from Manchester, VT.  As you can see from the pictures, the first afternoon was about ice-breaking games and trailer-packing.  After a night at their first of many lakeside resting points, Laura, Kirk and the gang will point their wheels north tomorrow morning!  

CMC1:  Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Jack and CC were hopping around SFO collecting students inbound from Missouri, Maine, Ohio, Massachusetts, Maryland, just down the road in California, and as far away as Paris, France.  It made for quite a day by the ever-spinning baggage claim carousels but they’ve got them all and they’re leaving the runways and commuter rails behind and lighting off for the Marin woods.  Here’s a shot of the gang en masse just before leaving the airport.

ACC1:  And in Charleston, SC – it was time for the first wheel-dip of the season – see below for our red-white-and blue crew pre-Atlantic dip..  It’s always absolutely amazing to think that these guys will be dipping their wheels in the Pacific in 43 days and after 2700+ short miles.  Of course, the second picture reveals the dirty little secret of our Coast to Coast trip…. It’s actually a bus trip!  (Man, not even one day into the blog and the jokes are already this bad – sorry about that – it promises to be a long summer, joke-wise.)