A Look Ahead

A question we have been asked a lot is, "What comes next?" I think a lot of people are wondering what we will do to top what we have just done. I can't speak for the others but my plans for the future are a little more domestic. I'm currently staying with some friends from college at their place in Cambridge. I will be here for another two weeks and then travel up to Summit College to work as an intructor for them. They will be doing am extended river trip to Arkansas that will include classes in rock climbing and kayaking and I have been invited to join them and help with the teaching and anywhere else I can make myself useful.

Following two months with Summit I will spend the summer in Tuftonboro, New Hampshire as am employee of Camp Merrowvista. I have been hired as a trip leader for their Four Trails Wilderness Program. My days will be spent in a canoe or a kayak, on a bike, or with a backpack on my back, leading trips for high school-aged students from New England.

After Merrowvista comes the fall and there are no plans in place yet for then. I have a few ideas but nothing concrete. I would very much like to finish my degree via distance education and to continue working in the outdoor industry as an instructor or a guide. But these are just ideas, and reality may look completely different come September.

As for the immediate present, I told you about my living situation but not about how I am spending my days. The trip did a number on my level of fitness and the first order of business when I got back was to join a gym and get back in shape. Thankfully, because of the Olympics the YMCA was giving away free month-long memberships so I took them up on it and have been spending my afternoons at their Cambridge branch, on a treadmill or a weight machine. Besides my exercising I have been arranging paperwork for the summer. Working as a Canadian in the States and actually getting paid to do it is quite an undertaking and requires and appropriate amount of paperwork wrapped in red tape. But I am making headway.

I think this is the last time I will put an entry into this blog. Thanks to everyone for reading and being so supportive. Thanks for all of the letters and cards and e-mails and care packages. An adventure isn't really an adventure unless you have someone to share your journey with. Thanks for being that someone. Cheers, E