“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.”

Amelia Earhart – 1897-1937(?) – American Aviator-Author

 

“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt – 1882-1945 – Former President of the United States

 

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine – Magician-Author-Lecturer

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut, Edward Perry)

 

Mary K noted that Saturday’s “Feeding the Kids” volunteer project was a success. Approximately 200 bags were filled with a variety of food items and made ready to be delivered to schools in the community. The volunteers also organized the delivery tubs and helped with the inventory of the various food items in the storage room.

 

Darrell reminded everyone of two upcoming volunteer service projects.  First, Books 2 Prisoners on February 5 from 6:30pm.  And second, Read Across America on March 26th from 10am to 1pm.

 

Phyllis noted that a possible volunteer project for Habitat ReStore is being organized where we would be working with Central Interact.  More details to come.

 

PROGRAM

 

Ondine introduced Jeremy Greer as this morning’s speaker. Jeremy joined us via Zoom from his home in Seattle, WA., and gave a program about his recent hike of the John Muir Trail.

 

The John Muir Trail is 212 miles long in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range of California. With all the changes in elevation the mountainous trail is rated difficult, and Jeremy planned to make the hike in 18 days. Jeremy entered the trail lottery and was fortunate to receive his permit to hike the trail in February. He spent the next several months planning and preparing for his summer hike. Starting at the north end of the trail in Yosemite National Park, he would head south and pass through the Ansel Adams Wilderness, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park and end at the highest peak in the continental United States, Mt. Whitney at 14,496 ft. 

 

For the physical training Jeremy did several mountain hiking trips, including a 21-mile hike, all with a 45-pound backpack. During the John Muir Trail hike his backpack would be filled with 9 days of food for half of the trip, so he needed to send a resupply package of an additional 9 days of food to a ranch for pick up located near the halfway point of the hike.

 

Hiking solo, Jeremy started the hike with a 5,000 ft climb of the famous Half Dome.  During his presentation he provided many beautiful photos from such scenic points as atop Half Dome, Clouds Rest and Donahue Pass. Hiking solo, Jeremy never felt alone as he would meet other hikers daily and he carried a cellular and a satellite phone.

 

During the trip he did run into some air quality issues from the California wildfires but that soon passed. He did not experience any rain or bad weather along the entire trail. The trail is very challenging, and he had times of muscle fatigue, experienced a day of heat exhaustion, and would average 8 hours of solid sleep each night. Water was plentiful along the trail with the many lakes and streams.

 

Jeremy completed the entire trail in the planned 18 days. His presentation included many photos of the clear blue skies, mountain peaks, various trail conditions and absolutely beautiful natural scenery. 

 

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  Jan 27th Feb 3rd Feb 10th Feb 17th
Introductions Ata Durukan Mary Hodson Bob La Charite Phyllis Mischo
Reflection Paul Conforti Diana Dummitt Ata Durukan Mary Hodson
Greeters Ata Durukan Mary Hodson Bob La Charite Phyllis Mischo
Joe Rank Rod Roberts Tod Satterthwaite Jarrod Scheunemann
Notetaker Hodson Conforti Perry Hodson

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee member responsible listed in parentheses)

 

January 27th – Brant Houston, Professor and Knight Chair in Investigative & Enterprise Reporting, UIUC (Bob)

February 3rd – TBD 

February 10th – TBD (Cary)

February 17th – An official from the Monticello Railway Museum (Charlie)

February 24th – Tom Teper will discuss the new home for special collections at the undergraduate library at UIUC (Joe)

March 3rd – TBD 

March 10th – Ginger Mills and Marlin Livingston, Cunningham Children’s Home, will discuss housing refugee children from the border (Mary)

March 17th – AG Michael Harris will discuss visiting Rotary Clubs around the world (Mary)

March 24th – TBD (Tom)

March 31st – TBD

April 7th – TBD

April 14th – TBD (Bob)

April 21st – TBD (Cary)

April 28th – Jordan Dziura, the Executive Director at Illini Media Co., will discuss the Daily Illini’s 110th anniversary, upcoming reunion for IMC alums, and the future of college media (Charlie)

May 5th – TBD

May 12th – TBD (Joe)