Evening greetings, Faithful Blogees! Chad in the cockpit tonight. I’m going to get right to the good stuff today – with one comment and question regarding tech failures for our reading public. Regular readers who’ve followed our blog may notice that we’re having more trouble this year getting pictures in from the field. In years past, we’ve been able to get pictures from the north coast of California and deep in the Maine woods. This year, it’s much more spotty – we’re still able to reach our leaders on the phone, but they can’t get pictures out to us. My theory – it’s something to do with iMessage as most of our leaders have iPhones. My perfectly serious, non-rhetorical question – does anyone else know why that might be the case? Any theories – and possible fixes – should be sent to me at chad@apogeeadventures.com. OK – to the field!
DEX: Izzy, John & Co. emerged safely from the woods today. Morale – very high. Number of mosquito bites – also on the high end… Katahdin tomorrow!
Coming out of the backcountry – looking good!
Post-backcountry gluttony…
CQA: Oh, hey – bonjour! Lizzie, Ben and their Hard-Chargers roared over the border into Canada today. O, Canada! All the signs are in French now, but Quebec is pretty much a straight shot north… Here are a couple of before and after shots from yesterday’s ol’swimming hole.
Before…
And….after.
CQB: Posie, Postyn and their Moose Hunters were on the water – the white-water. She called in to report a fantastic day of rapids – here’s a shot of the gang in the bus on the way to the put-in.
CSA: Dodging Tropical Storm Chantal today were our own Hannah, Dylan and their Tropical Horde. They have had three great days of service – today they baked up a number of cakes to share with their Vieques buddies at the youth center. They have a big transit day tomorrow – leaving Vieques for the far western coast of Puerto Rico and Cabo Rojo.
Baking up/through a storm this morning on Vieques…
Hangin’ on Vieques.
Tropical storm somewhere out there? Not going to interfere with my beach time, thank you very much…
PCA: Also out of picture-sending range were Ally and Tim today. They’ve climbed Leggett Mountain and are back on the coast making their way into Fort Bragg, CA this afternoon. It’s another beautiful day on the coast – or so Ally told us!
PCB: Jeremy was able to find enough signal to send us this great shot of his gang this morning – here they are just after breakfast and before setting out. They’re in the redwoods for one more day before climbing up and over the coastal range tomorrow.
MSA: Deep in Glacier National Park, and sadly out of picture-sending range, too – Kelly and Garth’s group is doing service today with the Rangers in the park. Kelly reported beautiful conditions on the east side of the front range. They’ll be working with the Rangers and exploring the Park again tomorrow before climbing up to the Continental Divide on Friday.
ACC1: Alexis, Nick and the Mile-Munchers are enjoying one of the most beloved traditions of our cross-country trips – staying with the wonderful Wall Family in El Dorado, Arkansas. They were met with a wonderful lunch and have been enjoying the pool all afternoon. They’re looking forward to a great day off of the bikes tomorrow – just hanging out and getting caught up on zzzzz’s.
The entirety of Nick’s text to me: “DA WALLLLLLSSSSSSS ARE DA BEST!!!”
ACC2: Not all that far to the east are Mike and McKayla. We heard from Mike that they were 15 miles out at about 3:00 – making great time despite a decent headwind today.
ACC – living the dream in parking lots across the country…
Cooling off with sweet, sweet ice water provided by another wonderful southern family…
ECC: And last but not least, our Europophiles (not a word, I know…) were living the high life. They got to spend their first real day off of the bikes living the dream in Par-eeee. Eiffel Tower? Check. Louvre? Check. Lock Bridge? Check. Paris – did it – one day.
Anna’s adding another lover’s lock to the famous Lock Bridge…
Apogee ECC 2013 – Lovers Forever??
Eiffel Tower – and the picture to prove it!