By Chad Olcott
July greetings, Faithful Bloggees! It is to Annika’s benefit, and unfortunately, your detriment, that she has the day off. You are stuck with yours truly behind the wheel of the Good Ship Blog tonight. This means, principally, that the jokes are tired, worn and utterly lacking in Annika’s irrepressible sunshine – my apologies in advance! The better news is that there is a lot of good stuff to report tonight – so let’s get right out there, shall we?
CI: Will and Emily’s Capers had a gorgeous, windy day out on Nantucket and they absolutely crushed their Challenge Ride around the island – completing a full 35-mile circuit of Nantucket with a solid headwind for half the day. And they squeezed in a beach visit, too. Well done, my young friends, very well done.
NEMC: Meanwhile, in New Hamphsire’s White Mountains, another gorgeous day. And you know what my grandmother always said, “sun’s out – guns out.” Looking good! Midge, Matt and their Mountain Mashers have one more day of hiking before coming down the hill and heading for rafting later in the week.
VM: Our Vermonsters took a day off the bikes today to work on their Synchronized Kayaking routine (Rio 2016, here they come!). You’ll see a before and after pic below. Tomorrow is a light biking day, too, as they’ll be exploring Burlington and doing some community service along the way.
CSA: Well to the south, Will, Lucy and their Service Adventurers found their way into their “villa’s” “hot tub” this afternoon. Way to soothe those tired muscles, guys! They’re back on the service trail tomorrow in one of the island’s biggest wildlife refuges after transiting from Utuado down to the southwest coast near Cabo Rojo.
CMC: Our Californians are deep in the woods today, exploring one of the largest and oldest old-growth groves of giant sequoia in the world. Tomorrow is a transit day, so we should get some good shots as they make their way over to Yosemite National Park tomorrow afternoon.
CQA: Mary, Mike and Co. have put one of the tougher riding days of their whole trip behind them and chewed up the 40+ miles into Camden like they were Junior Mints (a note to the blog reader – those who pen this little blog on a daily basis struggle daily to come up with new ways to say, “these guys did a great job riding today…” – thus the Junior Mints and other forced metaphors. New suggestions are always welcome at info@apogeeadventures.com….”). They also found time to enjoy the many delights of a creatively re-purposed quasi-junkyard/quasi-art gallery on route this afternoon.
CQB: Pete and Emily’s Dynamos are absolutely killing their miles. They were into camp by a near world-record-setting 1 PM this afternoon. This gave them plenty of time to work on their best dock poses. They’ll be watching the sun go down from one of the nicest lighthouses on the Maine coast tonight before taking off for Camden tomorrow.
DEX: It was a great day on the water for Erin, Marino and their DEXsters today – and they even helped to clean up the shores of the gorgeous islands of Isle au Haut Bay along the way. These guys will come off the water after one more morning of paddling. They’ll enjoy a nice hot shower tomorrow night before making their way to Acadia NP.
MSA: Out in Big Sky Country, Hannah, Chris and their Hearty Few were largely out of the saddle today. They were weeding, watering, and generally keeping the baby greens good company at a community garden in Helena for their first of three big service projects. They’re back at it tomorrow as they make their way up towards Wolf Creek.
NWX: And way over on Washington’s Olympic peninsula, Izzy, John and their Washingtonian Expeditionary Force are deep, deep, deep in the woods tonight. No surprise that we haven’t heard from them as they wrap up their first backcountry adventure. They’ll be back to the trailhead tomorrow – we should get some great shots from their excursion into what I believe is the only temperate rainforest in the US.
PCA: Jeanne and Matt’s Crew had a picture-perfect day to enjoy on their last full day of riding in Oregon. Tomorrow, California!
That’s leader Matt M. showing off his group selfie skills. Four years of college, folks…
PCB: Ohhhh, my goodness – what a gorgeous day on the Pacific Coast – I can’t even stand it! 68 degrees, the gentlest of gentle breezes, crystal clear skies, the shining Pacific on your right all day. Umm, yes, please. Trevor and Kate’s guys found just the spot to take it all in…
AX: After one measly picture yesterday in which we couldn’t even see any faces, we present a veritable plevy of AX pictures today! I had a great chat with Jack tonight – he said that Fiesch is their new favorite place in the world, the group is doing wonderfully and that they were collectively blown away by the majesty of the Aletsch Glacier today. They’re off the trail tomorrow in Martigny, Switzerland and prepping to start the Tour de Mont Blanc on Thursday morning.
ECCA: The last airport picture you’ll see from Mia and Jeremy’s group of ECC animals for at least 29 days – and the only one you’ll see that prominently features a wooden clog. These guys start riding bright and early tomorrow morning and will be miles down the North Sea coast before most of us are out of bed!
ECCB: Meanwhile, Nick and Christine’s ECCBers (“eck-bers” – it has a certain Dutch flair, don’t you think?) are tucked into their first campsite in Haarlem, too. These guys are off for the North Sea tomorrow, too and they’ll be up in the small town of Ijmuiden, NL tomorrow night.
ACC1: Josh and Laura’s Dynamos are all gussied up in honor of tomorrow’s rest day. And as we go to press, they’re safely in to camp, legs happily at rest, and watching the US play Belgium (USA! USA! USA!) in the World Cup.
ACC2: And not all that far to the east, you’ll find Ally and Sam’s Southern Sojourners. These guys are motoring into Sandersville, GA tonight and reporting high spirits amid the high temps (not to fear – “Hydration” is Sam’s middle name…).
