Did you miss me? No, I haven’t been forgetting to post. For the last nine days I’ve had the incredible experience of completing SOLO Southeast’s Wilderness First Responder Training at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in Bryson City, North Carolina. The training consisted of both lectures and scenarios deigned to teach us what to do if we are more than an hour from a hospital. Our instructor, Stephan, mixed the right amount and stories to get us through each day, while ensuring that we were prepared for our tests and what we may truly encounter once we left. It felt so good to get back in a classroom and learn something. It was even better to know that what I was learning hopefully help me or someone else in need.
During the time, it was fascinating to get to know my 15 fellow classmates, what brought them to the class, and where they are going afterwards. Some are whitewater raft guides, two are in separate outdoor-related ministries, one was through-hiking the entire Appalachian Trail that runs through NOC, one was starting a camp for troubled teen, one was about to drive out to Yosemite National Park to start leading guided trips through the park, and one was in the middle interviewing for an outdoors job in either Utah or North Carolina. Spending nine days together being one another’s caregiver and victim for countless scenarios and a few evenings together, we really got to know each other and bond. Because of this we excelled in our nighttime search and rescue scenario of a bear attack at a camp up the hill. All 15 of us passed our tests and are now certified Wilderness First Responders (WFRs) or “woofers”.
On top of all that the training took place in an area I love going to visit –The Smokies. True to its name, some mornings on my drive to NOC I would pass through layers of fog, while around the next bend, the shine would be shining brightly. At this time of year, everything is started to bloom, covering the bareness that winter had left behind in wonderful shades of green. At NOC and along my drive, the Nantahala River, provided the perfect background noise and completed the picture of relaxation and happiness. I am so thankful that we were able to go rafting on the river for two of our scenarios. Although it is not a challenging river to paddle, just being out on it filled something in me that had been missing.
Here is a gallery of photos from the class and the area.
Back to School (1986) Comedy, starring Rodney Dangerfield – To help his discouraged son get through college, a funloving and obnoxious rich businessman decides to enter the school as a student himself.
This week the reality of what I am preparing to do and the limited time I have to get ready hit hard. This forced me to change my mindset drastically from the leisure I had the previous week. I started to plan my travel route, and began making the necessary phone calls to start making progress on my list of tasks which include annual terminate inspections, trying to get defective airbags in the car replaced, taking the car in for some scheduled maintenance items for my car and looking around for a lawyer to prepare a solid will for me (Yes, this is the good will hunting, I’m doing; and the bad puns and obscure references will continue). In addition, I have been scrambling to shop for the clothing and gear I will need, and preparing for an upcoming multi-day wilderness first-aid course I will be taking. I now have time to spend money, but no way to make more for the next few weeks. Oh, the irony.
Does this make for an exciting blog post – I doubt it. All I can do is promise that coming along with me on a road trip to Alaska will make for better stories and pictures. Does this need to be done before I go, yes. So I will plug away, doing what needs to be done, knowing that it serves a purpose, hoping to be able to see in results the near future. I eagerly await the future taking one step at a time, even if I don’t know what is always around the next bend.
Lots of picture to come next week on Instagram from my Wilderness First Responder Training in North Carolina... stories to follow right here on Kurt in Yurt!
A note to my subscribers: Due to the some limits with the Web site package I have (namely $), I will only be able to send out a limited number of “fancy” emails. Some futures updates will come a little more basic.
Good Will Hunting (1997) – Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
As this first week of not working at my old job comes near an end, I have to admit that my change in employment status still has not fully hit me. Monday morning I moved at a very relaxing pace – okay I didn’t move and watched Netflix in bed.
Tuesday, I began tackling my list of things to do, before I head out to Alaska – more on that next week as real progress is made. My big event (s) for the week started on Wednesday, when I traveled to spend some much needed time with my parents and other family members who live in various places in Florida. We met at Disney Springs for lunch and quality together. I spent the remainder of the week at my parents’ house, playing Michigan Rummy, explaining what Google Chrome is, and enjoying my mom’s home cooked meals – I can’t wait for tonight’s corned beef and potato salad. We can often be found preparing them together.
My dad and I and have a good relationship, but there are very few hobbies that we share. One hobby that we both enjoy is going to the local gun range and we were excited to be able to go today. I brought my .45 Sig and my dad was happy to bring his 9mm and his newest addition, a .380. While neither one of us is likely to earn our Expert Marksmanship Badge in the near future, we can at least hit the target and spend some quality time together doing so.
Despite the miles between my parents and I, and the many more that I am about to add on, we remain close; weekly phone calls, texts, Skype, and Words with Friends, help us do to so. Even without the gadgets though, the love would be strong. I am so thankful that I was raised in in a loving home. The older I get the more I appreciate what they went through raising kids while they worked and the sacrifices they made. My whining about not having latest and greatest seem so petty in retrospect.
If I were feeling cheesy, I would say that that love is like shooting (some would say shooting is love) – it is a diminishing skill that takes practice to remain strong. Even with practice you may not always hit the bullseye, but keep trying, when you do it’s a wonderful feeling. Good thing I’m not feeling cheesy.
Love and a .45 (1994) – Small-time criminal Watty Watts attempts to rob a convenience store with his drug-addict buddy, Billy Mack Black. The robbery, however, leads to murder, and soon Watty leaves Billy behind and goes on the run with his beloved girlfriend, Starlene.
