Have Media Will Travel

A blog about outdoor adventure, family travel, national parks, media, technology, marketing, fitness and me.

Family

I Want To Be A Coach, Part 1

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I want to be a coach. Not a basketball coach or a football coach, but a life coach.

(And while I’m at it, I also want to be a nutrition consultant, for which I’m working on certification, and a NOLS instructor. And, what the heck, I want a Family Vs. Wild show, too. But I digress.)

Me on an epic hike in my backyard, Wyoming's Wind River Range.

As Frontier Consulting Group and/or HaveMediaWillTravel, I will continue, part-time, as a consultant to businesses and/or organizations in the areas of content development, marketing, destination marketing, tourism promotion, travel PR, media production, social media, etc.

But I will also be reinventing my professional self.

What will be the outcome, you ask?

This is how I’ll answer that:  My family, national parks, the outdoors, epic hikes, the Wind River Range, the frontier that is Wyoming, social media, technology, fitness, coffee, nutrition, etc., are passions of mine. As a result, I read and share a lot about these things across all my “networks” of friends, family, colleagues and people I’ve never met — in an effort to motivate people to travel to Yellowstone or Grand Canyon, to improve their fitness, to embark on epic outdoor adventures such as climbing the Grand Teton or doing the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim of the Grand Canyon or snowboarding at Jackson Hole. To explore the backcountry, including my beloved Wind River Range, and the frontier of Wyoming.

Motivating others — or at least trying to — to do any of the above things is fulfilling. Helping to motivate people to affect positive change in their own lives would be particularly fulfilling, not to mention an honor.

But there are other reasons for embarking on this journey.

The life coaching coursework and in-person learnings should help me become a better listener, and to be more present in the various moments and experiences that comprise my life. Such learning should help me in all of my relationships, in consulting, at home and with family, friends and colleagues.

During the years leading up to the September 2008 sale of our business, I met and enlisted Betina Koski as a life coach. I found her after reading Jim Collins’ Good to Great. Betina was a phenomenal help to me. She did not have the answers, or even offer answers (although I would have welcomed them on many occasions!) What she did do was listen to and ask me a bunch of powerful questions. She made me think and reflect and focus, and she provided direction. She “coached” me, and always, I was better for it.

Finally, human will and potential are fascinating to me. So ultimately, it would be a tremendously rewarding challenge, to play even a small part in helping people master and realize theirs.

So, back to the first sentence in this post – about wanting to be a life coach. I’ve enrolled in the Coaches Training Institute (CTI). I will be making five monthly weekend trips to the San Francisco area for hands-on coaching learning between now and March. I will then begin a 25-week certification to become CPCC-certified, which will include taking on clients and conducting 100 hours of coaching, supervised coaching, and additional work and instruction.

Check back here often because I will be generous in my sharing of what I learn on this journey.

Most importantly, thank you for your readership, friendship and support.

Help Me? I NEED a NOLS Expedition

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Hi friends. I appreciate your readership. I need to ask you a favor. I am trying to win a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) expedition. I entered a video in a contest that ends Friday. I need people to watch the video. (And, if you feel so inclined, please vote/give it a ‘thumbs up’ and/or leave a comment.)

The video is funny. It was a family affair and I hope/think you’ll get at least one laugh out of it. Hopefully.

To watch the video, click HERE, scroll down a bit to a blue button that says “View Entries.” My video is the one with a man in a bright colored shirt and has a headline that says “Help! Shelli Needs a NOLS Expedition.”

Thanks a million, in advance, for watching the video and helping me out. I appreciate it very much!

Meet My Mobile Office by the River

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So, I was working on a new office space. It was to be a rustic cabin by the river. Well, my town of Lander, WY, including some river frontage on my parents’ property, on which said cabin sat, flooded in June. The cabin went down river, literally.

Getting ready to enter my office for a productive morning of work.

So, as a Plan B, my husband, Jerry, found a 1973 Sportscoach RV. It’s old, but it has character. It could be the ugliest vessel ever seen. But beauty is on the inside, remember. And besides, it came complete with a ceramic trout bolted to one of the walls.

I love it. Jerry and his dad, Harlan, installed a whiteboard wall panel for me (I love writing on whiteboards), as well as some reclaimed pine plank flooring and a customized desk. It has a toasty propane furnace to keep me warm on cool mornings, a stove, fridge and microwave, and the all-important Wireless connection.

My mobile office comes with complete amenities, including a bathroom, stove, fridge, microwave, toasty furnace, wireless and good views.

Most of all it has atmosphere. Nestled in big trees, on the bank of the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River and with views of Table Mountain, the office is an inspiring place from which to (try to) work.

My coworkers are deer, Canada geese and sage grouse. There aren’t any people nearby, but that’s okay. That’s why I have Facebook.

Sitting in the "Driver's Seat" getting some work done.

My mobile office by the river is sometimes referred to “cousin eddy rv mobile office.” If you’ve seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation you’ll understand why. And, our family sometimes refers to the office as The Downgrade. Heck, it cost only $2,000 (it’s bought and paid for) and costs only $60/year to insure.

At first we jokingly also called it the “HaveMediaMayTravel” because, well, we weren’t sure it would travel. But with only 56,000 miles on it, it not only starts up, it travels. In other words, it’s “Adventure-Ready,” which is important for a travel blogger.

I can say, with 100% certainty, that this little office of mine is in fact not The Downgrade, but a significant Upgrade.

NOTE: What’s super duper cool is Inc Magazine recently included it as one of the “world’s coolest offices” for indoor/outdoor space. Check it out! (It’s number 4)

Thanks to my husband, Jerry, for finding this gem, and for the work he and his dad, Harlan, did to make it extra special. Thanks to my parents for allowing it to take up space on their land (probably bringing property values down!), to Trey Warren, for giving us some surplus pine flooring for it, and to Mike Lilygren, for getting the furnace running.

Another Best Wind River Hike, Ever…

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Hi from the Wind Rivers.

I have had a great four months. My beloved Wind River Range has been good to me. I have been lucky enough to experience seven or eight long and stunning day hikes in my back yard plus a bunch of smaller hikes and outdoor adventures with my family.

Most recently, my husband, Jerry, and I hiked up (and down) and up to the end/top of Roaring Fork Mountain. The mountain itself it not that spectacular. Its high point is a little over 12,000′. But the mountain is broad, and as its name suggests, it forks into what are two pretty long mountains/ridges that are all part of The Roaring Fork. We are pretty sure the Roaring comes from the roaring nature of the wind, but we’re only guessing?

One of our many spectacular views. These are a handful of lakes in the Stough Creek Lakes Basin.

There are two reasons this hike was/is so special to Jerry and I. For one, we can see this mountain from most of the hikes we do in the southern Wind Rivers as well as from the deck of our mountain cabin. The Roaring Fork, complete with its notch (“bite”) in its summit ridge, are iconic if you live and play in the mountains above my town of Lander, WY.

Jerry and I with some Stough Basin lakes and much of the southern Wind River Range as a backdrop.

The second reason is Roaring Fork Mountain juts out of a landscape composed of regions marked by spectacular canyons, cirques and lakes. We have hiked into, or taken llamas into, most of these awesome regions. Standing on the top of Roaring Fork and getting up-close and more intimate with it, was quite a meaningful experience for us.

I wish I could take credit for thinking up this hike, but I can’t. A friend, Jared Kail, has talked about wanting to do a version of it for some time. For his 40th birthday he was going to hike it and invited us along. Unfortunately, he came down with a cold the day before and had to forego it. But I owe Jared for thinking of the hike.

I have pretty much hiked and camped in and explored a good majority of the trails in the southern Wind River Range. And yet, somehow this one eluded me until last Sunday. And, turns out, it’s a major favorite. I cannot wait to return when I have more time to explore the mountain even further.

There is quite a bit of scrambling and boulder field hiking.

For the record, we did a long version. We did an out and back. We started at Worthen Reservoir and hiked the Stough Creek Lakes Trail for almost 4 miles to the Stough Saddle. This saddle is a favorite day hike that affords one of the best views of Wind River Peak, the tallest peak in the southern Winds, standing 13,192′ tall. (Jerry and I climbed it in 1997.)

Standing in front of LF Lake, at far end/above Silas Canyon area lakes.

From there, we headed left, off-trail for approximately five miles of tundra, scree, boulder field hiking. It was quite windy in the Winds! The Winds, as well as the Roaring Fork lived up to their names on Sunday. But no complaints — we had a perfectly brilliant Autumn day for the adventure.

Jerry hiking over the tundra.

We had jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring scenery pretty much constantly, and in all directions. To our right, for the five miles we hiked toward the end/high point of Roaring Fork Mountain, numerous lakes and cirques unfolded to our right that make up the spectacular Stough Creek Lakes Basin region. At any single vantage, we could count six to seven lakes and cirques. This is how it was the whole way to our right.

To our left, especially when we gained the high point of the ridge, we had similarly spectacular views, including the Roaring Fork Lake/Creek, Leg Lake, Silas Canyon and its lakes, Atlantic Canyon and its lakes, not to mention Fossil Hill, Frye Lake and Worthen Reservoir. And, let’s not forget the view that unfolded behind us, which was basically one containing most of the southern Wind River Range, complete with iconic Wind River Peak, Temple and East Temple Peaks and Lizard Head peak standing out. We could also see Shoshone Lake, the lake we hiked to the previous week.

Another friend of ours, Mike Lilygren, had hiked a different variation of the same hike a week prior and provided invaluable input to us the night before. Basically he instructed us to not head directly over the rocky mounds immediately to our left of the Stough saddle, but to instead keep them to our left. This was great advice.

Still this adventure found us ascending to 11,000, then descending 200′, then gaining 400′, then descending 200′ and so on. All told we hiked out about 9.3 miles and gained 6,600′ in elevation gain due to the aforementioned contour of the mountain (and due to our route-finding decisions).

By the time we were back at the car, our GPS indicated we had ascended 7,900′, despite the fact our high point was just about 12,000′ for the day, and hiked almost 19 miles. There are ways to make this hike a little shorter and probably have a little less elevation gain/loss, but that’s another conversation. And, um, we like ’em long. 🙂

VIDEO BLOG OF THE ROARING FORK HIKE:

LINKS TO MY OTHER HIKING ADVENTURE POSTS:

  • Big Sandy to Jackass Pass to Cirque of Tower, North Fork, Middle Fork
  • Shoshone Lake
  • The Bears Ears Trail
  • Historic Blue Ridge Lookout
  • Deep Creek and Ice Lakes
  • Jackass Pass to Cirque of Towers
  • Grand Teton Expedition (4 parts)
  • The Olympic Peninsula
  • Skate Skiing at Beaver Creek
  • Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim

    • Droid Helps Country Bumpkin Find Her Way

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    I love Apple, but I also love Google.

    I love my Motorola Droid X.

    My Driod X is the droid I was expecting.For one thing, as we traveled for hours across the wide state of Nebraska, the boys and I voice-commanded topics from which Google queried searches for us.

    My family travels a lot. And, our three sons have inquiring minds. As we’re motoring across southwestern Wyoming, we often pass the time by expanding our knowledge, thanks to my “smart” phone.

    They want to know things like, have ghosts and/or UFOs have been reported in the vicinity?How much blood is inside a great white shark? They like to confirm things they agree with, such as why broccoli is a “cruciferous” (to bear a cross) vegetable.

    My Droid is happy to look these things up for us. It helps pass the time during road trips and we gain new knowledge while logging miles.

    One of the most exciting things is when I, a small town girl — a country bumpkin — look to my Droid to navigate and help me find my way to places when I’m in a big city. Recently I was in a big metropolis and needed to find a Walgreen’s. It was rather exciting to hear my Droid voice her commands, left turns and right turns (and even u-turns when I made mistakes) and which exits to take.

    And I found my way. The only beef I have is after such lengthy play-by-play navigation, the navigation’s voice should include a huge “Congratulations!” or “Nice Work!” Instead, all I got was “You have successfully arrived at your destination.” No duh. Oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers.

    The funny thing is that in all the excitement, by the time I got to Walgreen’s, I totally forgot why I needed to go to Walgreen’s in the first place. So, I just bought some Gingko Biloba and was on my way.

    I love my Droid. It is (more than) the droid I was expecting.