Mary Jo Augustine gets ready for an early morning swim workout. KEVIN PIEPER/FOR LIVING WELL


direction the next day. Other hikes include Iztaccihuatl Mountain near Mexico City, Denali Na- tional Park & Preserve in Alaska, and all the trails around Phoenix, Flagstaff and Sedona, Ariz. As for kayaking, she’s kayaked in the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico, and closer to home, she’s kayaked from the Norfork Dam to Buzzard Roost Cove, the Buffalo National River, the North Fork River, and paddle boarded on Lake Nor- fork and the Spring River.


On the way An especially meaningful hike took


place 14 years ago, when Mary Jo and her sister Louise walked the Way of St. James, called Camino de Santiago in Spanish, a 500-mile, 30-day pilgrimage ending at the tomb of Saint James in northwestern Spain. Louise was turning 70 and they want-


34 ❚ MAY/JUNE 2019 ❚ LIVING WELL


ed to do something special, but none of the other sisters wanted to go on the trip. Participants walk 15-18 miles a day through mountains, vineyards and cit- ies, metaphorically walking with their own problems and troubles on their back.


“Doesn’t that sound like fun?” Mary


Jo laughs. Two years later, her sister died after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Since that was their last trip together, Mary Jo decided to take the trip again, alone.


She took her sister’s ashes and scat-


tered them along the way. Mary Jo had her own health scare six


years ago, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastec- tomy. “You’re not ready for it,” Mary Jo says


of receiving a diagnosis. “You’re looking at your own mortality.” Still, she chose to snap out of a self-


pity mindset. “You can bemoan yourself and pity


yourself,” she says. “Do you like feeling that way? Do you like being that way? It’s a choice.” Swimming also helped her mentally


and physically, she says. She’s happy to share her love of the


water with her grandchildren, Joia and Peeka Traver, and Sierra, Sydnee and Slater Trogdon. Throughout her life, water has been a constant. “I always found a place to swim,” Ma-


ry Jo says. “It must be some kind of re- lease. You can come to the pool with a lot of angst, worries and concerns on your mind. You come to the pool, and you still have your problems, but they’re han- dled. Leave it in the water.” Follow Mary Jo’s adventures and


other moments captured on video by visiting her YouTube channel, MJoJo6137. ■


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