I spent a few days last week chaperoning my son's fifth grade class on their science field trip to Western Colorado. The program was run by Keystone Science School, a similar center to ones that I worked at for several years in Minnesota. It was a fun trip overall but the biggest surprise was seeing my younger self in the 20 something teachers leading the classes. At one time, I had that same job and energy. Now, for better or worse, I couldn't be more different and the recognition of the gap in our perspectives left me simultaneously grateful to have moved forward and nostalgic for the good old days.

As a kid, I always knew I wanted to do big expeditions. I read stories of historical explorers and dreamed that I would someday follow in their footsteps. But there was one simple problem, I had no idea how to launch or plan any big adventure or leave Wisconsin for that matter. I was only 13 and the world extended only the places I could walk to.

So I got a paper route and saved up enough money to buy a road bike. And with a detailed map of all the farm roads, I expanded my known territory exponentially. I would ride for 40, 60 one time 90 miles logging information about which roads had smooth pavement, the location of big climbs, routes to avoid traffic. In high school, bikes and biking fed my curiosity but I still longed for wilderness. So I talked to a friend who had a car to drive us north for a canoe adventure. Then college but my head wasn't in the game and five days after graduation, I was in Alaska working as a backcountry ranger. Mountains, wolves, grizzly bears and glaciers - I couldn't believe the world I was seeing.

All told, I bounced around for nearly two decades, taking jobs that taught me valuable outdoor skills, taking jobs in beautiful places I wanted to learn more about and taking jobs that I didn't like simply to pay the bills. I lived in a tent for seven months, a tool shed for another six and often moved every six months which wasn't much of a problem because everything I owned fit in my car. I was a substitute teacher, dog musher, white water guide, curriculum writer, chimney sweep, bicycle and ski mechanic, bartender, lumberjack, housekeeper, laborer and more. Some of those jobs have a direct line of skills and knowledge that help me with expeditions and guing today. Others taught me how to organize information. Still others taught me about customer service and quality. Through it all, I still dreamed of going on a big polar expedition.

Spoiler alert. It happened but not in the way I imagined and definitely not all at once. In fact I'm still figuring the roller coaster of my career out almost on a weekly basis.

But I once was a young outdoor educator with stars in my eyes and a love of the outdoors. I was uncertain about the future and didn't always make the best choices... or the worst. However, I do know that regardless of what I did, the process of doing all those things led me to the realization of my dreams.