Trail Tuesday – Jen Edition

Today I will be posting a Jeneral (Ha! See what I did there?!) update on some things going on in my neck of the woods! A lot has been happening – so much that I had nothing actually prepared for today! What better than to just play catch up…

Last week was C R A Z Y. Absolutely nuts in every aspect; work, personal and family things, finances, my volunteer obligations. By some miracle, on Thursday night all the things that needed to be done before the weekend fell into place. I’m relieved that it is over. However, the next month will likely prove to be just as busy. I have a lot on my plate this spring.

First! I wanna share the super exciting news that Turkey and I were beyond fortunate to score a coveted overnight Mt. Whitney lottery permit – on our first alternate date!This news honestly overwhelmed me because I was sure we wouldn’t get it – and now here I am in the beginning stages of planning our 16-day road trip cross country with (hopefully) summiting the tallest peak in the lower 48 smack dab in the middle of our adventure! I am still in a little shock but once that wears off I know I will be more than excited and anxious to get training and planning! We are actually Whitney bound! It is happening!

Second! Last week, we purchased our first camping trailer. We went to the RV show in February and fell in love with the 2018 ALiner Ranger 12. We slept on it for a month and made it official on St. Patrick’s day! I am very happy with our decision! It’s simple and practical and will fit our needs to a T. We will be living out of this camper for 2 weeks from Illinois to California and back and it’s the perfect size for us plus the dogs. We love Hank (our van conversion!) very much and had some great camping adventures and long weekends with him, but it was time to upgrade. We will still be keeping Hank in our travelin’ arsenal for now!

Our new camper still needs a name. I’m sure she’ll pick one up somewhere =)

Third! Holy smokes, one month from today I’ll be hopping the train to Springfield, IL to meet up with the Gauvins for the night, and then we’ll be off to Pennsylvania to begin our #LHX2018 adventure! There is much to be done, and many lists to make and check. I am ready for this event and to make some great memories.Fourth! And finally, I had an incredible weekend. Friday I drove down to Eminence, MO at Round Spring State Park to do some volunteer trail building with the Ozark Trail Association on behalf of Gear Forward. I went alone not knowing a soul and came out with some fantastic new connections and met many genuine, likeminded people. I worked alongside some incredible young people in the Boy Scouts and AmeriCorps NCCC program, got a great gear donation haul and got to spend 2 nights camping and exploring in a new to me park! I’m not going to lie. Some days I ask myself (and it’s not uncommon for other people to ask me too) “How do you keep up? How do you work full time and do this too? Did you bite off more than you can chew?” Most of the time the answer is yes…but you know, I would rather be too busy trying to make a difference than doing nothing at all.

Just a handful of years ago I used to spend every weekend holed up in my house even on beautiful days, sleeping until noon, binging on TV shows, eating crap food and being in a bad state mentally.

I can say with confidence that I am 100% in a better place and a much better person than I was 2 years ago simply by “spreading myself too thin.” I do what I do because the people and the causes that I believe in depend on it. This is my passion, my true calling.

“For it is in giving that we receive.” — Francis of Assisi

I hope that your week is well! I am so happy spring is finally upon us. Let’s have a great April, friends!