I just announced our newest trip earlier this week and now there's a flyer to check out.

All we need is four or five kids to make this an adventure so help spread the word to any families you know you think might be interested.  

Click to read the Virginia Mountains flyer.

I've been taking these trips with kids since 1978 and I can't remember a time that we've ever added a trip during the year. But with enrollment in our other 2012 trip filled, I've just decided to offer one more adventure.

This will be a seven-day trip (July 29 - August 4) basing out of two areas: Shenandoah National Park and Abingdon. We'll get to enjoy all of our usual camp kinds of activities like hiking, canoeing, bicycling, geocaching and exploring the areas where we'll be staying.


This is definitely a "last-minute" offering so help me spread the word to families you think might be interested. 

You can read more by clicking here.

Every trip and every year is a different MTA experience. In 2010 we were in Alaska and Canada for a 14-day adventure. One day while in Whitehorse, the Yukon (Canada) we were invited out to Laughing Eyes Kennel owned by professional musher Hugh Neff. In this photo Hugh is in the very back with the ball cap. We spent a nice morning learning about mushing and sled dog racing and about sled dogs. Boys got to handle the dogs and feed them and got to ask lots of questions.
Thanks to leader Ray Thompson for following Hugh's adventures, we found out that our friend Hugh Neff won the 2012 Yukon Quest this week. It's a 1,000-mike trek from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse.

Congratulations to Hugh and his great bunch of dogs.

I've always thought that the boys on the MindStretch Travel Adventures trips were smarter than your average Joe. I don't have proof, but do check out this video about a near-space balloon flight masterminded by James McNichols. James has been on three MTA trips (Wyoming-Montana in 2006, Colorado Rockies in 2007, and Europe by Eurail in 2009. And now, just a few years later he has become famous as a high school scientist.

I should note that James's little brother Tom has also been on three MTA trips (Wyoming-Montana '08, Alaska-Canada '10, Colorado Rockies '11), and he's signed up for our Europe by Eurail trip in 2013. So, who knows what Tom will be doing in the future.

This video was a feature on WLOS-TV (Channel 13 in Asheville, NC) last week. Check it out. You'll be impressed.

In less than two weeks after opening up enrollment for 2013, the Europe by Eurail trip already has 17 boys on the roster. This is exciting for several reasons, but one thing I'm particularly pleased about is that five boys from the 2009 trip are returning for the 2013 adventure. One mom said when asked why her son wants to join us, "He wants to go back to Europe for another adventure-a-minute experience." 

And that's a good description. This photo is from Strasbourg, France - an accidental discovery. Part of our experience is that the boys decide where they want to go and how long they want to stay. Occasionally we can't make it to where they want to go without a stop for a night somewhere else and that's how we discovered Strasbourg, a relatively small town compared to the likes of Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Vienna, and some of the other cities we visited on our last trip in 2009. It was a wonderful change of pace. It was also the only place where we stayed in an International Youth Hostel - the rest of our nights were spent in hotels and a couple were spent on overnight trains in sleepers.

I'll willing to add only three more names to our roster and then it's a waiting list until next year to see if any places have opened up. Click to read more about the 2013 adventures.

I'm also offering a June 2013 trip to the West Virginia mountains and we've just had the first boy sign up for it. This trip is geared toward younger kids but older boys would enjoy it as well. The real push for this trip won't start until fall, so it's always exciting when there's some early interest.

For the past several years I've announced  our future trips a year and a half before departure. It's been very helpful for planning purposes for both me and the parents.

And so today the official sign-ups for the 2013 trips have started to go out.

We'll have two trips next year: a seven-day adventure in the West Virginia Mountains and a 19-day incredible journey across Europe by Eurail.

And within five minutes of sending out the first emails, we had our first "camper" - David Christianson. David signed up for the Europe trip. He was with us on our adventure in 2009 and is ready to go back for more. In fact I believe several boys from 2009 will be returning for another round. I'm excited to still be able to do this after over 30 years.

Click to read about the 2013 MindStretch Travel Adventures and start telling your friends.

We're finally on the downhill run to start our uphill climbs out in Wyoming & Montana. Less than six months from now we'll be flying into Jackson, Wyoming where the boys will be greeted by this view. Our motels are booked (all with heated pools), our vans are reserved, and soon I'll make flight arrangements and start arranging some of our adventures like rafting on the Yellowstone River.

The trip is full and I'm excited that our leadership is set as well. Ray Thompson will be back for his fifth straight MTA trip and Howard Yarborough will be back for his fourth trip, his third with me to this great destination. Our newest staff member will be Jeff Peisner, an eighth-grade teacher at Carolina Day. I doubt you'll recognize any of the boys in this photo as they're almost four years older now...but three of these guys are returning on this trip for their second go in Wyoming & Montana and that's especially exciting.

Take a moment and reflect back on a wonderful twelve days out West this summer. It was a fun trip.