Checking in

When I started posting on The Storyteller’s Inkpot, my daughter also started on her trek with Wilderness Classroom, skiing and dog sledding 800 miles through the Northwest Territories from Norman Wells down to Fort Resolution. They’ve covered a lot of ground since they left Norman Wells, roughly 400 miles. Each day they e-mail a check-in through SPOT, whose slogan is “live to tell the tale,” giving their location and a few statistics. Here’s part of today’s email:

Latitude:64.17265
Longitude:-117.40196
High 3
low -24
18 miles
1 fox
3 raven

I haven’t been keeping statistics of what I’ve done in those same weeks, but I like the idea. My latitude and longitude seldom change, the highs and lows are less important because I have a house with central heating instead of a tent with a wood stove. So what have I done since they started their trek?

Bad poems 26
Maybe good poems 1
Revisions of stories 2
New stories written 0
Blog postings 7

I won’t be keeping a daily log because I know myself well enough to realize how quickly I’d turn against myself. Only 4000 words today? Not even one epic novel in verse? You’re never gonna make it before ice-out. Better write faster.

But it’s good to turn once in a while and look at where I’ve been and what I’ve done. To know I’m still moving and living to tell the tale.