PEOPLE | TECHNOLOGY | TRENDS | ROCK THE BOAT
NEWS FROM THE PADDLING WORLD Flotsam Jetsam
RECESS IS OVER. PHOTO: BRYAN HANSEL
PEOPLE BY BRYAN HANSEL SCHOOL’S OUT
Three years and a continent’s breadth ago, Amy and Dave Freeman began an ambitious journey. Departing in sea kayaks from Bellingham, Washington, the couple paddled, trekked and dogsledded 11,700 miles to their finish in early April at a white sand beach on Key West, Florida. The trip, dubbed the North American Odyssey, was not the Min-
nesota couple’s first expedition. In 2001, Dave founded the Wilderness Classroom Organization (WCO), a non-profit that now reaches over 80,000 grade school kids through its website and over 25,000 through school assemblies. When out on expedition—traveling to remote reaches of the globe, from the Amazon to the Arctic—the couple pro- duces curriculum that’s free for teachers across the country to use. “We started the Wilderness Classroom because we were looking
for a way to introduce young children to wild places and help improve their basic academic skills like reading, math and critical thinking by actively engaging them in live expeditions,” Dave explains. Using laptops and satellite Internet connections, the Freemans up-
loaded journal entries, videos, podcasts, field interviews, lesson plans and interactive polls that allowed students to participate in, and even direct, the North American Odyssey expedition. The three-year journey enabled the couple to bring a huge diver-
sity of waterways into the classroom. From Bellingham, the pair kay- aked up the Inside Passage past snow-capped mountains to Skagway, Alaska. Dogsledding across frozen lakes and canoeing cross-country on northern rivers brought them to the largest of the Great Lakes. “Kayaking the north coast of Lake Superior was a highlight, although
I usually forget to mention it because it is basically home to me,” recalls Amy, a longtime sea kayak and dogsled guide in northern Minnesota. On the final leg of their journey, kayaking out the St. Lawrence
AMY AND DAVE FREEMAN COMPLETE THREE-YEAR WILDERNESS CLASSROOM EXPEDITION
Seaway into the Bay of Fundy and down the Eastern Seaboard, the Freemans steeled themselves for a brutal 40-mile portage, short-cut- ting across northern Florida toward the Gulf of Mexico. But it was the unpredictable force of nature that proved most challenging. Delayed by Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey, the couple had an
intimate view of the storm’s aftermath. “The debris from Sandy made me sick,” Dave remembers, “It was horrible to see all of the destroyed homes, docks, boats and buildings, but it was also difficult to think about how long a lot of that debris will remain in the ocean.” It’s both these highs and lows that make an expedition such an
effective learning tool. During school visits, “we highlight our Ex- peditions ABCs, which stand for Attitude, Believe, Care, Diet and Exercise,” says Dave. “We demonstrate the importance of things like believing in yourself, having a positive attitude and caring for your- self, others and the environment. These important life skills helped us complete our journey and can help students reach their goals as well.” This summer, the couple is writing a book about the North Ameri-
can Odyssey. They haven’t decided on their next trip for WCO, but as an assignment, the classrooms that follow along produced Power- Point presentations about where they want to see the Freemans head next. Suggestions include an archeological expedition to the Egyptian pyramids and crossing the Australian Outback. “Set an audacious goal for yourself,” Amy advises aspiring trippers,
“and know that the best way to achieve your goal is to break it down into smaller, more manageable steps.” Bryan Hansel is a writer, photographer and owner of North Shore Expedi-
tions, a kayak guiding company in Grand Marais, Minnesota. He joined the Freemans three times for about 350 miles of the North American Odyssey.
www.adventurekayakmag.com 21
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