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A love for adventure is born...

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When I moved to Michigan at 6 years old, my family spent a lot of time in the woods. The man my mother was dating had a little spot of land out in the woods not far from Farmington where we lived; we called it ‘the lot’. As a young boy from New Mexico, I had an amazing time out at the lot. I had my own tent and was able to come & go as I pleased. I’ll never forget the time I caught several frogs down at the creek and had them in a little plastic suitcase all day & through the night. When my mom found them, there was no harsh punishment, she just recommended that I let them go back to their home.While those experiences are the ‘essence’ of my love of the outdoors, there was a vastly more significant event that happened when I was a young teenager. It was a trip to West Virginia with my science teacher and several classmates that really solidified my love of the outdoors, and to some degree, my future in both the Air Force and my life in Colorado.

 

 

Shane Williams - 1989The year was 1989, and I had just recently joined Civil Air Patrol (CAP). As a young CAP cadet I was interested in military training, learning about flying & space, and Search and Rescue. So when my science teacher, Mr. Preston, asked if I’d like to take a one week trip to the West Virginia wilderness during the summer, it was a no-brainer. The trip consisted of three phases: Backpacking, rock climbing & rappelling, white water canoeing & rafting. For many of us kids, including myself, this would be the most exciting outdoor adventure of our lives. Living in suburban Michigan (just outside Detroit), we didn’t usually have much opportunity to enjoy the outdoors besides a camping trip here or there, or of course deer hunting. This would be the opportunity for us to enjoy the outdoors in a way we never could have imagined. It’s amazing to me that while I’ve never forgotten that trip, most of the details of the adventure have slipped away in the last 20 years. Luckily Mr. Preston recorded the entire trip, and I’ve held on to that video all these years. Last week I finally had a chance to transfer the entire tape to digital format, which is what prompted this trip down memory lane. I’ll spare you the entire two hour running time, and just show you a highlight reel I made of the shots featuring me (I didn’t want to force my family to watch the entire tape either). Before I drop the 20 year old bomb, I’d like to point out a few things

  1. I really am 13 years old in this tape, even though I look 10
  2. To this day I’m not much of a swimmer, but in 1989 I could’ve been called ‘afraid’ of the water. Rafting & canoeing was a big step for me.
  3. I don’t wear stupid things on my head anymore. (very often)

So without further comment, I present “The Wilderness – 1989”

1989 Wilderness Adventure in West Virginia from Shane Williams on Vimeo. Wow…that wasn’t too bad, was it? Here I am 20 years later, and the love for adventure that was born so long ago is alive and well. While life (house, job, responsibilities) sometimes has to come before the adventures I so badly want to take, I still manage to get outside pretty often. I’m blessed with a wife who loves the outdoors as much as I do, and I can’t wait to start teaching our son about how amazing the world can be. During the next few months things will be kind of slow, but by the end of this year I have no doubt that the entire Williams family will be exploring the outdoors once again.