Dear Reader, I don’t know about where you are, but it was a stunner up here in the beautiful Mid-Coast region of Maine. Seventy-odd degrees, gentle breeze, and sun shining down through a cloud-dappled sky. Ahh, Maine in the summer… Or Cape Cod in the summer — or the Northern Coast of California — or Washington’s Cascades — or, umm, the Mojave in the summer… All lovely spots on this 31st of July!
The ball still rolls, friends. The ball still rolls. (Does that read with the air semi-detached melancholy I’m shooting for? I hope so.) As of this afternoon, we’ve said good-bye to another three trips — with only another six in the field before we are done for the summer. I know, I know, we’ve already gone on about how quickly all of this comes and goes in this little blog, but it’s just so shocking! If you told me that Leader Training was just wrapping up and we were getting ready for our first trips, I wouldn’t doubt you. A veritable blink of the eye, I tell you!
So this Saturday, yours truly (Kevin) is catching an early morning flight to San Diego. I’ll be slinging loads of water and salty snacks to our ACC group as they cross a particularly hot and dry part of the country — the Mojave Dessert. I’ll also stick around to watch the group reach the Pacific Ocean in San Diego next Wednesday. It’s a pretty cool/inspiring/wonderful thing to witness. 6 weeks of hard work, hot temperatures, and long days ending with an adrenaline fueled run into the warm waters of southern California…
We’re coming to the tail end of the summer, Devoted Reader. In fact, one set of fearless leaders, Drew and Rachel, currently of Downeast Explorer fame, will be wrapping it up for the year when DEX concludes in Freeport tomorrow. O, how bittersweet is the passing of time! But beauty would not beauty be if beauty did not fade, right? Indeed.
