Adventure

To Infinity and Beyond!!

I almost said no.  When my brother called at nearly bedtime two weeks ago and invited me on a sailing trip that would drain my savings, require two weeks off of work, preparing two weeks of sub plans, using up all of my accumulated personal leave of years plus unpaid leave, and returning only in time to grade my students' final projects before the school year ends.  I said no.

But then I emailed him the next morning and said yes.  And I talked to my administrators, my English department, and my students.  I arranged for a sub, I resigned myself to not paying off my car by the end of the year anymore and to not having any savings, and I started buying things for the trip.  I borrowed cold weather clothes from my sister, but I bought warm weather clothes, a sun hat, boat shoes, a Kindle, and a set of international plane tickets.  Because this sailing trip?  It's in Japan.  We're starting on Hachijo Jima and sailing to the Ogasawara islands, and maybe further on to Iwo Jima.  After that we'll come all the way back to Tokyo.  It's over 600 miles round trip, and could involve humpback whales, snorkeling, hammerhead sharks, plants found nowhere else in the world, flying fish, typhoons, days of sailing in the open water under sun, cloud, and stars, and who knows what else.

So I said yes.  My sub plans are half done, my G/T class is finished early, my last presentation for my Teaching American History cohort is over, my bags are ready to pack, and I'm starting to count down days.  Three.  Three days until I leave.  That means I have only sixteen days left to teach till the end of the school year.

I won't be blogging while I'm gone (not that I've been blogging much lately), but if you want to see information and adventures from the trip, my brother has a temporary blog for the trip.  He's already out sailing this week with his family, and I'll join him on Sunday along with one of my other brothers.  So here I go, for what I think is probably my craziest, biggest, adventure yet, short of the time I slept in a park in Wendover, or perhaps the summer I lived in Japan.

And, because I'm leaving on my next adventure before I've had a chance to blog about my last one, here are a few pictures of my spring break trip.

The Sinkhole Bandits of the Jackass Flats of the San Raphael Swell

Brian at one point went on at great length about the dangers of falling asleep next to ledges.  Then he did this.  

The Colorado River does impressive things, even if you're a long way from the Grand Canyon.

My first slot canyons.  I fully intend to drag multiple friends and family members through these at later points.  

Little Wild Horse Canyon

After five days and many days of desert hiking feet I could have conducted an archaeological dig in the dirt on my feet.

You can't see it well in this picture, but I was bright, bright red.  I put on sunscreen (SPF 50) every day, and burned right through it every day.  Hopefully I'll learn my lesson and reapply more often on the sailing trip.