Epic Western Expedition

I cannot believe it's been 5 years this week since my son Tyler and I along with our friends and the Scouts of Texarkana's Crew 3 went on our "Epic Western Expedition," a 9-day trek across the Southwest United States that checked off a bunch of items on my personal bucket list and allowed me to take what could be the best picture of my life, so far.

Day 9 of our "Epic Western Expedition" and we're facing another long drive across Texas back to Texarkana, but like I said way back at the beginning of this adventure, "Epic," was the word that describes it best. Here are some wrap-up thoughts and stats.

Here we are, Crew 3 and Day 8 of our "Epic Western Expedition." Today we started off in Trinidad, Colorado but would end the day in Amarillo, Texas via Cimarron, New Mexico, and a little place called Philmont Scout Ranch.

Up with the sun, easy breakfast and off we go into Day 7 for Crew 3 and the most "Epic Western Adventure." Today we're making our way across middle Colorado toward the Royal Gorge, and after the day before at Mesa Verde, it's hard to imagine that we could be more impressed by the beauty this state has to offer, but we were.

Day 6 for Crew 3 and the most "Epic Western Adventure" included, you guessed it, a lot more driving, as we bid ado to Flagstaff, Arizona and headed NorthEast toward Colorado, with three destinations today, Four Corners, Mesa Verde and Durango.

There's a lot of mountainous desert between Flagstaff, Arizona and the Hoover Dam, three and a half drive-time hours to be precise, but today is Dam day. So, we loaded up the vehicles with gas, food, adult leaders and scouts and set out for another long one, this is Day 5.

Day 4 for Venture Crew 3 would be a fairly easy day, or so we thought, turned out to be a day I'll never forget, and for all the right reasons. Hello Jim's Bucket List, today it's the Grand Canyon!

Once again Venture Crew 3 was up before the sun came over the mountains on the Rio Grande River near Taos, New Mexico, we're in for another long day of travel and sight-seeing before we reach today's destination in Flagstaff, Arizona. About an hour down the road from where camped is Sante Fe, we stopped there to top off our tanks, wee break of course, and to see this amazing staircase in a little

Venture Crew 3 got up early Sunday morning to hit the road for a pretty long drive into New Mexico, uncharted territory for me for the most part. I did take a train ride to Colorado when I was a little kid but I barely remember any of it, so, therefore, it doesn't count. Today, we're going whitewater rafting!

BSA Venture Crew 3 did it, we went just shy of 3700 miles in 9 days, over 60 hours of actual driving time and we came back with everyone we started with. Pretty cool!

Back in the planning stages a couple of months ago when we were trying to decide the name of this adventure, I pretty much insisted the word "Epic" had to be in the name, of course, it's not up to me, the naming of this trip would be decided by the BSA Venture Crew 3 members. They did the right thing though... because any trip that involves 17 people in 3 vehicles, lasts 9 days and cover