Inside for the Outside

Greetings from Ketchikan! It has been a long time since we’ve been able to update, but finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived: the next installment! It has been a long journey, filled with pleasant and unpleasant surprises that have dramatically affected the course our trip has taken. But, as the old adage says, it truly is about the journey, and not the destination. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of this. We left Gustavus on July 9, late in the evening. We had waited most of the day for strong winds to subside, and almost thought we’d have to wait another day to launch, but by 6:30 pm we were able to load our boats and launch from the public dock area. We crossed Icy Passage to Pleasant Island, and paddled around ... read more

Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for... a blog entry that actually includes paddling! We finally finished up our business in Skagway on June 8, after a trip to the Yukon, the curing of the epoxy on Steph's boat, and the eagerly awaited arrival of our tent pole replacement. (YAY team Retlin!). Amidst lots of contradictory advice (opinions), we were faced with the decision of whether to shove off that night or to get a Voyageur start early the following morning. We opted for the early morning departure despite good conditions the night before. We saw Pete and Phil off on an overnight paddling trip of their own with a pizza from the Red Onion, and headed home for an early bedtime. Dawn (if there is such a thing here) found Lynn Canal mirror calm- ... read more

Just a very brief entry for now- we have been traveling "just a wee bit" and have been fairly busy, but we wanted to keep you all filled in every step of the way! Our final days in Mankato were, needless to say, insanely busy and more than a little stressful. Our last days at work were May 12, I graduated from my Master's program in experiential education on May 13, and we began the drive back to New England on May 14th, sometime early in the morning (in fact, the moon was still setting). In the background of all of this excitement was the ever-present, all-encompassing project of weighing, measuring and packaging some 600 lbs. of food, moving everything we own out of our apartment and into our truck and a UHAUL trailer, and cleaning ... read more

Greetings, and welcome to the madness that is expedition planning! This trip has been two long years in the making, but with a mere 47 days until we launch our kayaks in Skagway, Alaska, we are coming down to the proverbial wire with working out all of the ever-so-complicated logistics of making this trip happen. Our apartment has been a bit of a mess these days (for those of you who have visited recently, you can insert your own description). Since January we have had three food dehydrators running nonstop, heating our house and drying everything from indian curry to spaghetti sauce to blueberries to beef jerkey. We will be bringing over 600 lbs. of rations, divided into 3-week caches, so we truly are faced with the challenge of drying, vaccum-bagging, measuring, repackaging, and dividing mostly ... read more