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Back in the old TMC neck of the woods...

6/30/2019

So TrailRidge folks, after traveling with my MindStretch Travel Adventures groups for years...we finally took the guys on a trip into the old TMC neck of the woods. We hiked up to Round Bald and a little beyond from Carvers Gap. It was 59 degrees when we arrived there this past Wednesday. And when we were done...guess where we had lunch with those famous milkshakes? You guessed it - Bob's Dairyland. Nothing has changed except the "outhouse" at Carver's Gap is slightly fancier than before.
We did meet a couple of Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy caretakers and they had some news about the old TMC property. I will wait until I visit the old TrailRidge before posting any info. That's not happening for several weeks.

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Doing a little reflecting...

4/20/2019

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There were two predecessors to MindStretch Travel Adventures. The first was called Open Road Experiences and compared to today’s adventures; we were roughing it. We were gone weeks at a time and spent almost every single night in tents and prepared virtually all our own meals. Today’s MTA programs still enjoy all the great activities during the day, but we’ve learned how nice it is to come back to “base camp” in a real bed in a hotel and eat dinner out in a restaurant.

So the other day I received an email from a camper from the very second year of the Open Road program (1979) saying he had discovered the MTA website and it looked like we had gotten spoiled. He could be right but I’m older and wiser and it’s nice to have the best of both worlds.

But I should mention when my wife and I started our residential program (between ORE & MTA) there was nothing at all easy about that first year. All of the rain we’ve had the past couple of years (at least here in Western North Carolina) reminded me of that very first summer at TrailRidge Mountain Camp in 1982. The boys arrived to find out there were no cabins, there were no flush toilets, there were no real hot showers, and there was no dining hall. We hardly had electricity. The idea was that the boys were coming up that first summer to help us “build” the camp. And they did arrive…by the dozens.

We slept in tents and tarps and endured rain. And we endured more rain. And more rain. In fact, that summer was a record setter back then. I imagine that record has been recently broken. We cooked under a dining fly and used solar showers (if we showered at all) and had one of five porta-potties to choose from.
Then, as expected, the health department discovered we were running this camp and we had as of that moment not been permitted. That’s another story.

Well, we had an ultimatum to get those tents off the ground, get the bathhouse open, get the dining hall opened and inspected, and quit drinking water out of the spring. We had a weekend to get it done, but luckily the Fourth of July was around the weekend so we got an extra day or two. We did get it done. The rain didn’t stop. Most of the kids had fun. Some of them came back. And we continued running the camp for the next 14 years or so.

And then I was back to traveling and the camp morphed into MTA. And I’ll tell you, it’s the way to go! And no matter which way we travel or camp…we make new memories (almost like these) every single day.

Picture Notes:
This first photo was from our 1979 Open Road trip. It was seven weeks long - SEVEN WEEKS! We traveled from New Orleans to New England and into Canada. We called ourselves, "The Dirty Dozen."

The second photo is from the very first couple of week or so at TrailRidge. This was an example of someone's shelter. Nothing else about that summer.

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After 30 years, second generation campers...

11/29/2011

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Second-Generation...can you believe it?

This blog post is a repeat from the blog over on my MindStretch Travel Adventures site, so no need to read if you subscribe to both. But for those of you who only have a TrailRidge background...this announcement was a long time in coming.

I mentioned a while back that the upcoming Wyoming-Montana trip will have several sets of brothers. Today another set enrolled...and these two guys mark a red-letter day for MTA and TrailRidge Mountain Camp. Ras and Becker Andry not only become the next two boys to sign up for a wonderful trip...but they also become the first SECOND GENERATION campers for my program!

You see - their daddy, Michael, went with me on some adventures when I first got started in the travel camp program (late 1970s) and was a counselor at my residential camp in its first years of operation in the early 1980's.

Michael Reily (left) and Michael Andry at the old TrailRidge at casino night.

That's Michael on the right at TrailRidge at our "Jay Jalenak's World Famous Las Vegas Casino Night." Michael Andry, looking pretty dapper with his bandana tie (a requirement for our high-class casino operations) is joined in this photo by a then-fellow-New Orleans counselor, Michael Reily. (You should know that our casino night operations almost got us in trouble with the local law, but that's another story.

So welcome Becker and Ras. I'm excited you'll be joining us this summer and officially taking on the role of my first-ever second generation campers! It's hard to imagine I started these programs in 1978 and have never missed a summer.

For anyone thinking about joining us this summer, there's one opening left.

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Back in the old TMC neck of the woods...

Doing a little reflecting...

After 30 years, second generation campers...

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