Well, this installment has little to do with figure modelling. Our Boy Scout troop just got back from a ten day 60 mile trek in Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico. This is one of the High Adventure destinations for Boy Scouts. It was a very satisfying, rewarding experience. I never describe these types of things as fun. Of course, we did have fun. The fun was punctuated by difficulty and hardship. The challenges of carrying four days food, sleeping on the ground and going to the bathroom outdoors were the day-to-day challenges our crew dealt with. Some of the more difficult things were hiking 8 miles in a day, dealing with daily rain and thunderstorms, and climbing steep inclines toward peaks reaching nearly 12,000 feet. These difficulties are also some of the most rewarding things to have accomplished. Watching the boys dig deep and find something that they didn't know they had was the most rewarding experience of the entire journey. I was terribly proud of my fourteen year old son. Barely old enough to go and the smallest in the crew, he did a great job and overcame a few fears and hardships. We had some emotional times. Some of the fun things we did included, horseback riding, shooting black powder rifles, rock climbing, trapping and tomahawk throwing. I looked forward to this whole trip with some trepidation. After the hike began, I found that I was "in the moment" and rarely missed home. Now that the trip is over, I find that it has become an indellible memory that I'll reflect on fondly for years to come. Hopefully soon I'll have a slideshow of the trip for those of you that are interested.
The picture shows our crew: rear l-r; Austin Whitworth, Robert Mahaffey middle; JD Mahaffey, Nick Vollmar, Ian Loyd, JB Long, myself front; Ken Vollmar.
