And the education begins…

Lynda and I spent the day at Iron Mountain, short hike to see if our backpacks worked or not, and how much work we were going to have to do to get into backpacking/hiking shape. All things said and done, it all worked out well. Short 3 mile jaunt with about 20 pounds or less in weight in the packs… just enough to see how it would lay on the back and hips.

Lynda still has her port in her chest from her prior cancer treatments (left it just in case we need it again, and the fact that she has crappy veins in her left arm). so we wanted to be sure that it didn’t push or rub anywhere on that spot. and we were successful.

Then the fun part, we went to REI and blew through a serious roll of cash getting gear for our road trip for a lifetime, now scheduled departure date is June 28th. We will be going to her family reunion in July, then a month of meandering before we end up in the Wind River Mountain range doing a NOLS course to familiarize ourselves with long hikes, and to meet some seriously cool people.

Our intent is to hit Ouray, Co.

and Moab, UT,

and then toodle our way up to the Tetons and spend some time there before ending up in Lander, Wyoming. Once there, we meet with the team and press on to a 1 week executive development wilderness expedition that NOLS facilitates.

We are using it to gain knowledge of long hikes, so that later, when we do the west coast, we will be better prepared for our hikes around the 3 Sisters in Oregon, John Muir Trail in Yosemite, and around Mt. Rainier in Washington.

And so the RoadTrip FOR a Lifetime begins…. Woo HOOO