Falling Leaves and Snow

Fallen leaves in a river near our house.

It’s been a busy month for Julie and me as our departure date of late February draws closer. Julie has been working hard completing the first draft of Rowboat in a Hurricane and is almost done. While Julie has been reliving life on the Atlantic in a rowboat, we have also been planning the logistics of our upcoming rowing and cycling voyage through Europe and the Middle East.

We have just purchased a house in the lovely Comox Valley, so we’ll have a home to come back to when get back next October. The Comox Valley is situated half-way up the east coast of Vancouver Island, and is a perfect recreational playground for those who like mountains, beaches, forests and rivers. For us it is a perfect setting to enjoy the west coast wilderness without having to venture far from home.

Plans for our school program are moving along well, and we have had a number of people volunteer to help us with the project. A big thanks to all of you that have become involved! One of the key points of this initiative is to promote exercise and healthy living. As many are aware, child obesity and decreased physical activity is becoming an issue among today’s youth. British Columbia has an excellent program called Active Communities which is dedicated to increasing the amount of physical activity among students. We are currently discussing with the organizers of Active Communities how we can unite our efforts to inspire kids to chuck the Xbox and get on their bikes, ice skates, swimming trunks and hiking boots.

Our new website for the Scotland to Syria expedition is almost ready and should be launched next month. This resource will include maps, expedition route outline, boat details, and information on the school program. Once the expedition commences in March we will be posting regular updates as we row, pedal and push our way south from John O’ Groats.

In the meantime we’ve enjoyed following the journey of Rob Cassibo, our featured adventurer this month. Rob is a Canadian teacher who has played hooky from school for the past six years while circling the world on a bicycle. Rob is now back in Canada and is on the home stretch of his 108,000 km journey.

With Christmas just around the corner, don’t forget to consider Beyond the Horizon, Lost in Mongolia, and Amazon Extreme as stocking stuffers. They are available in most bookstores or if you’d like DVDs instead of books, check out our online store.

May the start of this year’s snow season fulfill all your dreams.

Colin Angus

Our November Explorers in Featured Expeditions
Rob Cassibo cycling around the world

Rob Cassibo in Siberia during his six year cycling trip through 81 countries.

"I'm tired now. It's time to go home," Rob Cassibo recently told a reporter at the Regina Leader-Post. Hardly surprising considering for the past six years he’s cycled through 81 countries tallying an incredible 108,000 km beneath his two wheels.

Rob Cassibo’s former life was that of a science teacher at a senior secondary school in Ontario, Canada. His degree in nuclear physics and ability to motivate students bode him well in this profession, and he was named TVOntario’s teacher of the year and Science North gave him a lifetime achievement award for his innovative teaching techniques.

But Cassibo yearned to take a break from his career and explore the world. At the age of 38 he quit his job, sold his home, and pedaled into the sunset. Initially he planned on spending two years on the road, but as new areas of interest beckoned, the journey has stretched into a six-year odyssey. Cassibo has been living on a ten-dollar/day budget in order to stretch his savings for the duration of his cycling journey around the world.

Read more about this adventure and our other Featured Expeditions.

Missed an earlier newsletter? Read updates from previous months.

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