2006 Grand Canyon Adventure :: Trip Completed

I have been out of the Grand Canyon for almost 48 hours and am sitting between my Dad and my Uncle on a flight from Phoenix to Baltimore. I have spent two nights out of the canyon but have not slept that well. I wake each night and think of the things that I saw and did on my seven day journey. I especially think of how I felt when I would look up at the night sky to see clouds of stars glittering like diamonds. I went in search of big things, and found myself just as often fascinated by the smaller gifts that the canyon offers. The musical sound of the streams and the site of flowers are two of the many things that I remember when I close my eyes. The tremendous sense of peace makes it a natural chapel grander than anything built by man. It is a place to stir one's slumbering spirituality. A place to re-awaken the child like curiosity that stirs our imaginations.

I remember as a child thinking that everything was possible. I could not imagine anything that was impossible if your will was strong enough. Perhaps the greatest gift I have received from this journey is the strong re-birth of this feeling. In its application to Believe In Tomorrow, it means that we have a great amount of work to do in order to continue to help change the world of very sick children and their families. Believe In Tomorrow has often achieved what was thought to be impossible, and we will continue to reach far in order to fulfill our mission.

In the case of my personal journey I feel as if my goals were achieved. One of the realizations I have come to understand is that my personal journey and the mission of Believe In Tomorrow are bound together as co-travelers in the journey of life. I do believe in tomorrow, and that tomorrow will be a brighter day.

Thank you: I have many people to thank for the success of this trip.

• First and foremost, I want to thank each of the donors whose pledges will become the bricks and mortar for future Believe In Tomorrow Children"s Housing.
• I want to thank each of my five sons for the support and constant encouragement (prodding) to get in shape physically and mentally for this adventure. They loaned me their equipment and taught me a great deal about exercise, backpacking and eating right. Without their support I could not have been successful.
• I want to thank my father and uncle for going with me and sharing in this adventure. They are my trail partners from the earliest of my days, and they were with me in spirit and in love every step of the way.
• I want to thank Sharon and Jeff Gustin for sharing their firsthand experience and advice of their GC hike and for sharing their supplies with me.
• I would like to thank Ken McNamara of www.grandcanyonhiker.com, for supplying me with books, maps and video tapes to help me prepare.
• Thank you to Blake Henke of North Star Science & Technology for providing the GPS transponder that I carried on my weeklong adventure.
• I would like to give a special thanks to Jessica Niederberger and Dave Windsor for overseeing the web site updates and the GPS mapping system. Even though the GPS system did not always transpond a signal from the inner canyon, they did a tremendous job of trying to keep track of me!
• And I want to thank everyone whose encouragement made this an adventure of a lifetime.