The ball still rolls, friends. The ball still rolls. (Does that read with the air semi-detached melancholy I’m shooting for? I hope so.) As of this afternoon, we’ve said good-bye to another three trips — with only another six in the field before we are done for the summer. I know, I know, we’ve already gone on about how quickly all of this comes and goes in this little blog, but it’s just so shocking! If you told me that Leader Training was just wrapping up and we were getting ready for our first trips, I wouldn’t doubt you. A veritable blink of the eye, I tell you!
In any case, Chris (one of our outstanding support guys) and I drove up through Maine and into Quebec on a sparkling, chamber-of-commerce kind of evening yesterday to pick up our Coast to Quebecers early this morning for the long drive back to Freeport. The goodbyes were lingering and teary — just the way I like them! Here’s a quick final shot from Pete and Jess’ group of their last circle in front of the Freeport library before everyone parted ways for the summer.
Things continue to be great out on the Cape. Lucas sent in this artfully-composed shot of several of his guys taking in the view on Nantucket this morning. As of tomorrow evening, both groups will be in Boston, ready to announce their presence to the hoity-toity shops on Newbury Street.
Nothing to report from our Pacific Coast and Northwest Explorer groups today — but as we know, no news is good news! The NWX crew will be coming out of the backcountry on Sunday — so we’ll have a long-awaited check in from them then.
Our superstar New England Mountains & Coast leaders, David and Anna, were just in the office a minute ago — just hours after leaving their last group of the summer. They were full of stories about how great their group was and what super-star hikers and kayakers they were. David sent in this lovely sunset shot from last night’s final dinner in Portland, too.
And finally, our Coast to Coasters are in it now, baby! They dropped down out of the cool mountains to the heat of the Mojave Desert. Cait said that they made it down the 3,000 ft (+!) descent with little incident and that they were speeding towards Salome, AZ this afternoon. She sent in this shot of the gang, obviously pumped for the desert, from the bottom of the “hill.” (And, I hate to break up the drama too much, but she also said that the temperature was not too bad at all today — and they were actually expecting some rain…) Kevin will be meeting up with the group tomorrow afternoon in Parker, AZ as they get ready to push 110+ miles to 29 Palms on Sunday!
