I can’t. Good evening, folks, and happy Saturday. Kevin here. Two weeks from today our last trips of the summer finish. Hard to believe… I’ve been doing this for awhile now, and honestly, I can’t remember a summer ever going by so quickly as this one. And that’s a good thing. Knock on wood (and I’m knocking multiple times on my desk right now), we’ve overall had a very smooth summer. It’s been intense at times, and believe me, I’m looking forward to some down time with my family in August…but a big part of me is really sad that the season is coming to a close.
I was thinking about this yesterday on my drive back from starting a Cape Cod trip. More than at any other time of the year, our work right now is purposeful. Every day our crew in the office, our trip leaders…everyone at Apogee…we all are mentoring, coaching, problem solving, adventuring… Through the good and bad, we’re working hard to make a difference for our kids (I hope you don’t mind me calling your kids, our kids as that’s how we think of them). That’s immensely satisfying…and I know that’s what I’m going to miss when it’s all over in a couple of weeks.
Man, am I cheesy… Chad and Sam, if you guys read this, keep it light from here on out on the Blog. Probably best for everyone.
Now onto the trips (which is really why you’re reading this)!
CI left the Cape this morning for Martha’s Vineyard which is where they’re camping tonight. I spoke to Drew before they boarded their ferry this morning, and he said they had a super group of kids. I met everyone yesterday I would definitely concur.
VM: Tomorrow afternoon they’ll enter Montreal city limits…if they have such a city designation in Quebec. I didn’t speak with Julie and Pat today, but all recent reports have been excellent.
CQ2A: Strong…that’s the word that comes to mind when I think of Susie and Nick’s crew. They arrived into Jackman by 1:30 PM local time after a 55 mile ride. Way to go guys! The best part of getting in early is there’s time to bond, play games…and get dressed up. Here they are at the Jackman Trading Post trying on some new outfits while eating ice cream cones.
CQ2B: Mia and Alex dealt with a few mechanical issues this morning (a jacket getting caught in a bike derailleur is never a good combination), but with help from our stellar support guy, Sam Tripp, all was made right. They follow in the foot steps of CQ2A tomorrow on a the long but beautiful ride to Jackman.
NEMC: These guys stopped by our office this morning, and I got to meet everyone! Great group of kids, and when I asked if they were enjoying the trip, they all gave me a very enthusiastic “yes.” Love that. They volunteered this afternoon on a trail building project with our local land trust. Great to see what they accomplished.
The work…
The results…
DEX & CMC are deep in the backcountry so no pictures today. DEX emerges tomorrow and CMC on Monday. We’ll be sure to post news and pictures of their hikes as soon as we hear from them.
CSA: Mason and Maddie’s crew on the way to Vieques after leaving the rain forest of El Yunque. They’re starting some more service work tomorrow…but for now they’re enjoying star fruit and a dip in the pool at their accommodations. Not too shabby…
PC2A: California! They made it to Cresecent City and are looking forward to some great surfing tomorrow with their instructors. We’ll ask Micah & McKayla going forward to try a different camera format as we know it’s pretty pixelated.
PC2B: Shem and Hannah’s crew started off the day with some kind of picnic table interpretive dance… They were all doing great when I spoke to Hannah earlier today.
NWX: I got pictures from Josh and Addie, but our calls to them kept getting dropped. Here’s Josh’s message with his pictures; “We are back! Such as awesome time! Will call as soon as we have better service. But all is great!”
NWX on their backcountry hike in the Olympics.
TSA: Laura sent some lovely pictures of the group over the last couple of days. They spent this afternoon exploring Sienna by foot and tomorrow they head for Florence!
ACC1: I heard from David about an hour ago. They arrived in Heber, AZ and were settling in for the night. Here’s a shot of the group in Pie Town, NM this morning where they enjoyed, you guessed it, lots of pie.
ACC2: Last but never least, Mike and Danika’s crew met a gentleman this morning (in his 60’s!) who’s biking around the world (pictured in the middle with some of their group and, and as I just discovered, the ACC1 group – see above). He started in France, went across the middle east and Asia and is now riding from San Francisco to New York. That’s a whole lot of biking… I wonder how many tires you go through when you bike around the world?
