Guide School Day 15: Driving Home

Today we woke at 4:30am, and left slightly before 5am (our goal was 5am).  I slept in the back seat until we stopped for gas in Study Butte.  Then I slept in the second row until the border patrol checkpoint (both suburbans got through quickly) and then kind of slept until we reached Fort Stockton at 8:30am.  We had breakfast at McDonalds and then stopped for gas in Junction.  I rode in the quieter van that was driven by Chris and Billy all day.

We stopped at a KOA RV park in Fredericksburg to dump the Groover.  It was actually pretty easy.  You hook up the water to a hose that connects to the top of the Groover.  Then you hook a bigger hose to the Groover outflow that connects to the sewer.  Then you just have to turn on the water, rotate the Grover, and massage the big hose some to empty and wash out the Groover.  Then you add some toilet bowl cleaner, scrub, and rinse.  I had pictured a much worse process.

Once we got back to Austin, we stored the canoes in the storage room at the stadium, and then unloaded everything.  We hung up tents and sleeping bags, properly stored food, and either put back equipment into its proper place or put it in a bin for cleaning if it needed to be cleaned.  We were done with unloading and storage in just under an hour.

It was strange to say good-bye.  I'll be seeing (and working with) many of these people soon enough.  But it is still strange to say good-bye after spending a week together.  Some people were certainly ready to be home, but others of us easily could have stayed in the back-country for another week (or perhaps longer).  For the first time, I truly understood how and why someone would want to do a 30-90 day Outward Bound (or similar) course.  It was also interesting to hear some people in our group starting to turn Plan B (a career outdoors) into Plan A.

Personally, I'm not sure where guide school and guiding fits into my life - but I certainly know that this trip had a positive impact on me.  Foremost, it made me feel alive.  It's difficult to explain, but being in the back-country and exploring does something to me.  I enjoyed being pushed outside my comfort zone, and feel empowered by how I was able to rise to challenges.  I also felt like a wall fell down when I admitted to Brenden that I was starting to panic partway up a rock scramble in Fern Canyon.  I feel like I often try to put on a strong front, and that was one situation where I asked for help and had to really rely on and trust someone else.