Reminders on how a plan is little more than a template.

It sounded like a great idea- get out of town for a week, wander through the Four Corners, Arizona and Southern California, celebrate Misti’s birthday, see Bodi play rugby, all in the warm embrace of San Diego. We drove through blizzards, sand storms, horrendous traffic, and Mexico, all for the game to be cancelled and San Diego to be cold and historically rainy.

Barriers are only in the mind. We put up all the necessary impediments to keep us from making important connections. To keep us safe. To make sure that everything tracks as it should- no distractions, total focus on what we have been taught is important: the destination rather than the journey. But we are literally capable of anything and everything. The real goal should be to figure out how to be present, focused on the moment we are living in right this second, while keeping an eye on the destination, and making sure we remain open to finding and seeing it all.

During this California trip, we spent 24 hours in Cortez to scout out our Spring Training Camp venue, reinforcing our idea that this will be the prefect environment for a week of exploration. Random coincidence confirmed that www.canyonoftheancients.com will be excellent hosts, that Cortez is the unquestionable crossroads of several fascinating cultures, and home to living history. The terrain begs for looking around every corner and will undoubtably present us with challenges as well as rewards.

There is no guarantee of the outcome before we walk/ride the path. But how can we be certain that the road we have never travelled will lead us to the butcher at the Navajo Trading post with the great stories, and not the truck-stop scammer pretending to be a rich Muslim who lost his wallet and left with 100 of our dollars? How many decisions led us to the wine maker on the Mexican border who spent his life as a rancher and Deacon of his Catholic parish making sure the small Native tribes in his area each created their own reservation? The only thing guaranteed is that we will have stories to tell afterwards about the lessons learned, the moments lived, and the sights seen.

Please consider joining us for the Cork & Spoke Adventure Society Spring Training Camp in Cortez, April 27- May 2. It will be a worthy experience and each of you deserves it. There are 19 spaces available on the ranch, more in the surrounding area and town. We will need to release the parts of the guest ranch that we do not have confirmed by the end of March so speak up quickly.

Hope you are finding your groove in all this powder.

Cheers.