Day 31

September 15, 2014

            Another day another dollar, a phrase said and heard often back home, at work, or even in civilization for that matter. For us though, it’s something like another day another camp site, another day another rapid, another day another portage… another bear bag being hung, packed lunch of snacks or leftovers, a throw together dinner with whatever our cook groups have left of their rations, a debrief in the dark, a life story from someone in the group, a 5:30 wake up to get the most out of our day and plenty of other things that aren’t really considered normal. Our lives right now are just that though, they’re not considered normal. It’s said it takes three weeks to break a habit, 21 days. Today is day 23 for the river expedition and how we’re living finally feels normal. Although we’re frequently reminded by Jeff that we’re not where we’re supposed to be by now or that we “put our brains in our back pocket”, maybe that’s because the first 21 days we were breaking our habits. Our habits of being able to get by without thinking all of the time, or to get by with all of the conveniences at home or on campus back at school, being able to escape situations in whatever way you wanted. This may be close to the end of the river expedition but not ECOEE and our upcoming back country experiences. We might not be where we should be by now, but I’m positive we can get to where we need to be in the end with staying away from old habits and focusing on what we can truly be as individuals and as a group, we will succeed.

-Greg Strobel