Traveling ! Be sure to have a valid passport.

Written by Menashe Epstein, Founder


Please be sure to have a valid passport when traveling. Check your passport before your trip to be sure your passport is not expired or you need to change your name. Be sure to apply for a visa if you intend to visit a country that requirez one.

Rivers & Rapids & Bears Oh My!

Written by Debbie Jacobs


Debbie Jacobs 2458 River Road Guilford VT 05301 explore@sover.net Word Count: 880 plus byline

Rivers & Rapids and Bears, Oh My!

She was easy to spot. On her medical form she had noted that she would not be useful for carrying any canoes,repparttar stick drawing she included showed three people carrying a canoe overhead. Standing in between two ofrepparttar 134240 figures, Maxine could not reach high enough to help.

Even if she were not ‘petite’ Maxine would stand out in a crowd. At 71 years old she walks with determined strides and dressed in her outdoor gear, purchased inrepparttar 134241 boy’s department, she doesn’t fitrepparttar 134242 mold of ‘older lady’. Spunky is a word that comes to mind, but only if it makes you think of a Jack Russell terrier, small, with attitude. “How’d you know it was me?” she winked when I approached her as she exitedrepparttar 134243 gate atrepparttar 134244 airport.

“I used to be 4’10” until I shrunk two @#$% inches,” Maxine explained to me at dinner our first night together as a group. We were preparing for a 5 day adventure down Oregon’s Rogue River. The group, all women over 40, were being accompanied by three women raft guides, three to four decades their junior. Ifrepparttar 134245 guides thought they were heading out with ‘little old ladies’ they had a big surprise coming.

Besides our three rafts, we also had 2 inflatable kayaks. Every day we were givenrepparttar 134246 option to hop in a guided raft, or captain our own craft. It was late May, and though we had near perfect weather,repparttar 134247 kayakers wore wetsuits and had they flipped, a swim would have been invigorating, to sayrepparttar 134248 least. Maxine was amongrepparttar 134249 first to volunteer forrepparttar 134250 experience. Never having been in a kayak did not deter her. I held my breath watching her descendrepparttar 134251 rapids, but she handledrepparttar 134252 boat like a pro. “I love being an active learner,” Maxine explained, “I believe in ‘process’, which includes: acquiring skills that challenge me with physical, mental, and ethical prowess...that’s why these trips are a perfect fit for me.” That’s quite a statement coming from a woman willing to wear a purple helmet and neoprene.

As we traveled downrepparttar 134253 river, our guides had built up our one night camping in bear territory torepparttar 134254 point that we were nervous, but couldn’t wait. A single electric wire enclosure had been constructed atrepparttar 134255 campsite where our food was to be stored. I doubtedrepparttar 134256 effectiveness ofrepparttar 134257 system, suspecting that a marauding bear would not be deterred byrepparttar 134258 shock, but I kept my thoughts to myself. When I was a couple of decades younger, I had spent wonderful months backpacking in Yosemite National Park. Black bears were a common visitor at camp and I never ceased to be thrilled by their presence. A black bear in camp would berepparttar 134259 icing onrepparttar 134260 cake.

At dinner that evening, Wendy, our young snow-boarding raft guide, was in charge ofrepparttar 134261 ‘bear talk’. We were warned to put our toiletry bags intorepparttar 134262 electric enclosure. Bears show no reluctance to slicing a hole in your tent with their four inch claws, gobbling your toothpaste and rooting forrepparttar 134263 Snicker bar under your pillow. Whenrepparttar 134264 talk progressed to includerepparttar 134265 concerns for menstruating women in bear country, a cry rose fromrepparttar 134266 group, “Not a problem in this crowd!” they laughed. Poor Wendy, now a lovely shade of crimson, admitted that she’d never rafted with a group of just ‘older’ women. “Don’t worry about it honey,” one woman reassured her, “Estrogen is overrated.”

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