Downs and Ups

One of the several factors getting back to Arizona when we did was that BJ and I had a sorta complex pair of river trips scheduled for early October and although we were both trip leaders, we hadn't done any planning while we were enjoying the Alaska trip. We've done the trip many times before so planning was less of a concern, but this time we were doing separate trips targeting the same jet boat date.

When Turk was scheduled for a third surgery, I read the handwriting on the wall and cancelled my trip so that I could be home to take care of Turk while BJ introduced her two annual hiking odyssey girlfriends to our favorite river. I was bummed, but it was the right thing to do.

Shortly after I shared that I was cancelling my trip, a friend called and asked me to join her trip. We've done a lot of trips with Helen including multiple versions of her Friends of Helen trip in January. This year she was planning a 10 day Green River trip doing both Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons a couple weeks ahead of the dates BJ had selected so now I get to go and will be back in time for dog sitting.

The way the logistics work out, I get to use my solo canoe for the first time in 18 months! So now, with less than two weeks to launch, I've developed a menu and I'm starting to do some trial packing. Meanwhile, Turk seems to be healing very well!