We had a JAM packed 2nd crew meeting! We started off the meeting going over the equipment packing list so that the girls know what each item on the list is and know what to start looking into buying for the expedition this summer. I have provided them with a document describing each item and have included some helpful hints on brands I have used and liked! From there, I went over pre-trail job duties and assigned each girl their job. Here are the jobs:
Penelope: Menu Manager
Megan: Maps Manager
Madi: Medical Manager
Brooke: Skills/Equipment Manager
Haley: Meeting Coordinator
Lizzie: Dehydrating Manager
Ari: Fun Activity Coordinator
We also discussed the on-trail rotation and the responsibilities of each job in the rotation. The top of the rotation is Guide of the Day (GOD), followed by head cook, assistant cook, head quartermaster, assistant quartermaster, head fire, assistant fire and finally dishwasher. The girls may not realize this now, but as soon as they are on trail moving through the job rotation, they will quickly learn that one job is not more important than another. The book written by LVI alum called The Voyageur Way by Nick Schmit illustrates this perfectly in comparing the job rotation to a car, “What’s more important; the steering wheel, the front right tire, or the small spark plug in the engine? Just like the car will not work without every one of those parts, you need all of the jobs on trail to be taken care of in order for the expedition to run smoothly.”
After this, we got into the nitty gritty of our meeting-planning the menu and planning our route! Penelope, the menu manager, took charge of the menu and the girls got to work figuring out what they wanted to eat this summer, having tough conversations about foods each girl liked/disliked and figuring out how to compromise so that girls won’t have to eat too many of the things they dislike. The girls also decided that we will have trail birthdays where each girl will get a special day all about them and they each picked out a birthday cake flavor that we will eat for dessert on their birthday!
The last, and arguably the most exciting part of our meeting, was focused on planning our route. We started this off by having the girls make a list of things that were important to them in a route: things like river vs lake travel, named portages, waterfalls, scenery, things they wanted to see/do, etc. From there, I talked to the girls about the 3 different rivers and the characteristics of each river and the girls unanimously decided to do the Berens River for the ending river, although we will also spend a good chunk of time on the Bloodvein River as well!
In order to plan our route, I handed the girls a stack of maps and said “Ready, go"!” and they had to figure out how to set the maps up together without any hints. There is a key in the bottom of each map showing them how to put together the maps kind of like a puzzle, but it is up to the girls to figure out how to work together to get the maps together. It was so cool for me to sit back and watch the girls work together and use good communication skills to get the job done. Although they never actually figured out the key on their own, they managed to line up corresponding bodies of water to each other and got the maps put together in less than 20 minutes-the fastest time I have ever seen a crew put them together! Once the maps were laid out, I showed the girls where we would be dropped off, where the ending of the Berens River was and showed them some of the named portages. From there, they got to plan out everything in between as to how we will get from Wallace Lake (starting point) to the Berens River Village (ending point).
The girls ended the meeting by going on a portage to the tennis courts and when they finished, they told me that it was much easier this time than the first time-PROGRESS in the right direction!!
I already love your girls so incredibly much and absolutely ADORE how well they are coming together as a crew!! I can already tell it is going to be an amazing summer!
-Allie :)