Yesterday was my last day at the mountain until mid October. Today I am unemployed! (at least until Monday). The rest of the afternoon and all of tomorrow will be spent packing up the jeep and gearing up for What is now being referenced to as, "I Choose Adventure, 2010". And let me just tell you, it is going to be a great one.
On Friday I will leave Bend, OR for San Francisco. But when you are jobless, you gotta take your time! I just got a new tent (rest in pieces, old tent) and will spend my first night of 24 consecutive nights in it near Umpqua Hotsprings in Oregon. Saturday night should be spent somewhere in the Mt. Shasta area. And I hope to make it to San Fran by Sunday evening because Monday morning I will begin my 10 day enrollment in a Wilderness First Responder course. After that course wraps up I will have a couple days of leisure time before a week of camping/training with the adventure company I will be guiding for this summer. Myself, along with another trip co-leader will be taking a group of teenage kids on a month long tour of Greece and Italy. Highlights will include sailing for some time on the Ionian Sea, a visit to Athens and Rome, as well as some camping on the Italian Isle of Sardinia while we get the kids scuba certified and do a bit of windsurfing.
This is all very exciting! But as with all adventures, the most exciting part (and really, I think the reason I continue with this life of vagrancy) is the unknown. Martin Buber sums it up best,
"All Journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware".
But equally great news for this summer is that I will be back at the beginning of August, and in true Buberian form (in this sense at least) I have no idea what I am going to do for the month! I have no commitments until my birthday, when I join the crew of the Schooner Zodiac in Bellingham and spent the month of September Tall Ship sailing in the San Juans. So if anyone reading this wants to get in some serious camping/backpacking time in August please let me know. Current thoughts are: Southern Utah, The White Clouds or the Frank Church Wilderness area in Idaho, or perhaps the Bitter Roots in Montana. I know you Bend-ites want me to come back here and "go up to the lakes", but c'mon! Spending the winter AND the Summer in the same area? Lunacy.
The ICA iPod has been updated with the latest podcasts from How stuff works.com, and Stuff you missed in History Class. Current Playlists are heavily laden with The Decemberists, Gaelic Storm, and Cloud Cult (who will have a new album out this summer!).
Thrice will be playing the first night of their summer headlining tour in San Francisco while I am there!
Reading list for the summer is still under construction, but the priority will be Two Years Before the Mast.
And I have a new role of seine twine to help pass the time sitting around the campfire with some fancy work.
I do hope to be able to update the people on my whereabouts and happenings as the summer progresses, while at the same time I will be very glad to not have this laptop with me for much of the time. Still, please email me and lets all keep in touch.
Have a great adventure everyone! See you on the other side of summer.
It was fun to read your blog. You have a very captivating way of writing. The flow is very easy to follow and get lost in. You should record more of your adventures and then write a book about them. You sound like you are doing well and having a good time. I'm glad to hear that. Enjoy the Mediterranean this summer. And watch out for the Sirens in Greece!
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