driving into fall
(Sept 30-Oct 1)
today i drove from chicago to the vouyager outward bound base camp in the boundary waters near ely, minnesota. it was green in chicago. ok, not actually in the city, but around the city, the leaves on the trees were green. it was pretty green in wisconsin. but suddenly, during the drive, someplace just before duluth, it was suddenly fall. the colors are great - bright yellows, oranges, and reds mixed with the greens of the pine trees. the weather today was great too - sunny, mild. a bit chilly up here at Homeplace, the base camp. i'm snug in my sleeping bag and a wool sweater right now (i'm writing this with no internet access, i'll post it when i get the chance)
it was great to see the familiar faces here and very relaxing. after all the travel preparations, it was nice to slow down and just hang out a bit. I helped out Tyler a bit with some things around base camp to set up for a group coming in tomorrow, then I headed into to Ely to peruse some gear stores (piragis, wintergreen, and the mukluk store) and chat with Ledoux, the staffing coordinator for Outward Bound. I had a good cup of coffee at the Ely surf shop, where 5 out of the 6 of us there were from Ohio. who would have thought, in Ely, Minnesota... huh. Then I came back to Homeplace, had a good dinner, and hung out with Tyler and Sarah. (helping Tyler again, and keeping sarah from her work. but it was great to talk to her - good conversation) it's is really great to be with good people.
tomorrow i head off to minneapolis to pick up dana - i'm excited to hear about his trip, and anxious to really start ours. Next stop, the badlands!!!