President Cathy rang the bell softly and called the meeting to order promptly reminding us how our area football teams did last weekend. Cathy, apparently a WSU Cougars fan, with great enthusiasm pointed out that the Cougs had won their game. Sadly, the UW Huskies and the Seahawks had not done so well.
President Cathy informed us that October 24 is Rotary World Polio Day, a day to celebrate the progress made in the eradication of polio. In 2017 there were only 33 cases of polio world-wide and those were in two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rotary has played a huge role in this success. CELEBRATE ROTARY WORLD POLIO DAY 10/24 https://www.endpolio.org/world-polio-day
President Cathy reminded us again of the upcoming Club ski trip to Steamboat Springs in February and encouraged members to sign up. .
Monty McAllister announced that Owen Cool, a student at Ferndale High will be our out-bound Rotary exchange student for the upcoming year. We wish him success and look forward to hearing from him.
Announcements:
FOOTBALL POOL NUMBERS: Seahawks vs Falcons 10/27/2019Click here
Membership Proposal: The Board of Directors approved the following application October 19, 2019 by email: John Mahoney proposed by John Macpherson & Tim Farris to fill the classification “Engineering-Design” He will be eligible for membership November 4, 2019 unless written objection is received on or before November 2nd by Exec. Sec. Sandra Lindhout, 2200 Vining St., Bellingham, Wa. 98229
Here is a tutorial on how to login for the first time. (Click here) In order to login you need to know your user name and password in your Clubrunner account. The user name is Yourfirstname.Lastname.264 unless you have changed it. Example: Sandra.Lindhout.264 The password is initially set by clubrunner at 264 unless you have changed it. Sandee can see your Username from my computer but not the password. She can also change your password for you from her computer at your request if you run into problems.
Once you have originally created your User Name and Password you can download the ClubRunner Mobile app on your phone:
Please contact Sandee at 360-734-5532 or rcob@comcast.net if you run into any trouble.
Guests of Rotarians:
Dick Tucker introduced Bacchus Taylor with Explorations Academy
John Macpherson introduced Ray Dellecker
Arlie Norman brought Pinky Nelson
John Harris introduced his wife Patricia
Dave Blair brought his wife Cheryll
Chuck Snyder introduced Gabe Kortelever and Judge Montoya Lewis
Presentations:
Chuck Snyder introduced Judge Montoya Lewis and Gabriel Kortlever who described the Bellingham Opportunity Council Recovery House project our Club has selected as recipient of this year’s major project funding. Judge Montoya, who now administers the successful Drug Court program explained the basic treatment approach and how the Recovery House will support this. Drug addicted persons volunteer to participate in the Drug Court program which generally takes 18 – 24 months. The Recovery House will support the program by providing participants with housing, a safe environment and a 24/7 staff of professional counselors to help the recovering addicts re-enter the drug-free community. Gabriel, a recent graduate of the Drug Court program, gave personal testimony to its effectiveness, what it has done for him and how it has given him a new life. Bellingham Recovery House promotion – Chuck Snyder & Judge Montoya LewisPledge Form
Program:
Todays’ program, presented by Club member Tim Farris, was a fascinating and humorous accounting of Tim’s experiences over the past several years of “Hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Tim retired in 2012 and upon doing that set out to do some things he had never done before. Long-distance hiking, backpacking for periods of several days, was one of these. He had only camped overnight once before, did not like hiking and knew nothing of map reading or outdoor survival. He also knew little about the Pacific Crest Trail which extends 2653 miles from Mexico all the way north to Manning Park in Canada, but imagined hiking at least part of it to be an adventure worth doing.
Tim’s first assault on the PC Trail, with hiking partner Ray Dellecker, was in summer 2013 on a trail section in the Glacier Bay Wilderness area, a hike of 104 miles and 25,000 vertical feet in 9 days. In
preparation for this and later hikes he learned how complex planning for such a trip really is. Finding the lightest possible equipment, planning the food and water supply, learning the necessary navigation skills and having the appropriate survival equipment. All were vital to a successful backpacking experience.
Even though Tim still did not like hiking, he persisted and went backpacking again on the PC Trail during several subsequent summers. Now he was joined by teammates Ray, Pinky Nelson and John Macpherson. Each summer they chose a different section of the PC Trail, a segment that could be hiked in a week or so. On these hikes they had a variety of exciting wilderness experiences. Often hiking at high elevations, they experienced incredible scenery, accessible only to those those who hiked the Trail. But they also had other sorts of experiences. Sometimes they were hiking along harrowing, edge- of-the mountain trails. The team learned how vulnerable they really were when in the great outdoors. The potential dangers of a serious fall, something that happened to team members on two occasions, became apparent. In 2016, as the team was hiking a section of the Trail from the Columbia River north, Pinky suffering from severe dehydration, became extremely ill and was unable to continue. Fortunately, they were within a few miles of civilization, had rare cell phone coverage to 911, and were able to emergency evacuate Pinky to a hospital. Had this happened at many other locations along the trail, the outcome could have been much more serious. In 2018 summer fires in the mountains became a hazard to hikers and a fire along the PC Trail forced them to turn back and abort their hike. In 2019 they successfully completed the last section of the Trail, finishing their trek at Manning Park.
Even after all the hiking, overall 510 miles with 113,000 feet of vertical climbing, Tim claims to not like sleeping on the ground, eating hiker’s food, dealing with sore feet and carrying a load on his back all day. But what he really loved was the overall experience, and I suspect what he learned about himself and the limits of his endurance.
