Recently I started planning a long canoe trip. The University provides free canoes to rent, and I want to canoe from the small bayou behind campus to Escambia Bay and under the I-10 bridge. You can see from the map to the left that it's a long way. If you want to see a larger map and get more details, go to the adventures page.

There has been a lot of doubts as to whether or not me and my companions can do it. The main concern isn't making it to the Bay, it is making it to the Bay and getting back to campus in a single day. I have to say, I don't think there's much chance we can do it. But that's what makes it fun!

In high school I was a Venturer, which was a branch of the Boy Scouts made specifically for teens. We did a lot of high adventure activities, like rock-climbing, rappelling, and Scuba diving. And frankly I didn't think I could do a lot of these things before I did them. We once had to do a rappell where we had no control over our descent; we had to trust our belayer to bring us down to the ground safely. I was scared out of my mind! I stood on the top of the cliff for almost five minutes, until someone yelled at me to go over the side. I made it down, though, and I'm still alive! And it was some of the best fun I've ever had!

Now here in college, it's so easy for me to forget about challenging my physical side as well as my brain! In the summer, I skimboard, and that is plenty challenging for me...but I'm not doing anything new. And now, especially in the winter, I'm always doing some kind of homework, and I forget to go outside and do something really challenging. And it's boring!!!!!

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you don't think you can do something, do it anyway! Just go outside and kick some ass!