Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Happy Trails

Welcome to my Blog... Yep I am going to try to blog about my adventures out west.  I am on my way to Utah to work as a park ranger again this summer.  Last summer, I found myself traveling throughout the western states visiting all sorts of amazing places and exploring.  While I do have friends and family on sites like Facebook or Twitter, I wanted a place where no one had to log in or anything to see my pictures or hear about me wrestling with bears. (Though you can log in to subscribe to my updates)

I don't intend this site to be a daily police log of my work, but a U.S. Park Ranger does experience some interesting adventures.  I hope to share some amazing pictures, interesting thoughts and exciting stories of  my travels in the wilder parts of the west.

Since leaving Glen Canyon at the end of 2010, I have been back in Iowa taking an EMT class and visiting friends and family.  I enjoyed the EMT class that I attended at SCC in Burlington.  It was extremely  informative and I am leaving it with confidence that I can better help those I encounter who get sick or broken.   I enjoyed working through the scenarios and drills with my classmates, it seems that teamwork is a great way to learn practical skills. As part of the class I did ride-along time with the Burlington Fire Dept.  That was a great experience.  I enjoyed seeing how the local firefighters operated both during calls and downtime. As a taxpayer of Burlington, the BFD is money well spent.

When I wasn't in class or ridding on ambulances, I was able to visit many of my friends in the Iowa area.  Iowa City, Des Moines, and Ames were all frequent places for rendezvous.  Attending my little brother's graduation from ISU was a great way to conclude my Iowan adventures for a while. So after many wonderful memories, it is difficult to leave everyone again, go all Oregon Trail and head west.  In this day and age, people's paths seem to cross in many locations across the map.

Well, I must get back to packing boxes.  I'm always amazed and disappointed in myself for the amount of junk I acquire, but don't worry there will be future posts where I'll rant about my hypocritical environmentalisms!

Happy Trails!
-James