Each year we have experimented a bit with new and longer road trips.  With so much to see and do in the Southwest, we enjoy trying new things.  This year’s experiments consisted of our first four-day, three-night camping trip, as well as our first trips with three vans.  Last year’s “experiment” had been our first three-day camping trip into New Mexico, a place that neither of us had been familiar with to a great extent.  For that trip we kind of “winged it” as we went along.  This year we also spent more time on the road than in previous years, trying to see as many places as possible in the three weeks allocated to us.  In turn, more days on the road has led to our changing of the final deadline for student papers and portfolios.  This year we allowed the students to turn in everything on the Wednesday following the last trip, even though it was five days beyond the official end of the three-week intersession course.  Next year, we are planning to extend the deadline again, effectively making this a four-week course.  Lee and I have already discussed adding another day on the road, probably the maximum that we will be able to do with this type of class.  Based on this year’s experience, we have both decided that a four-day, three-night trip is probably the limit to what we can do practically and not have the students mutiny in the vans.  Although their consistent enthusiasm was admirable, it was clear that they really wanted to head home by the last day of our final trip.
     One indicator of their desire to “phone home” came when I walked over to my van to load equipment on the morning of our fourth and final day, and most of the students riding in my van were simply sitting inside waiting patiently for us to depart the camp site.  It was somewhat amusing to see – “Gray Van,” as they came to call themselves, was ready to roll.  I brought them the bad news that Lee and I still wanted to discuss some geographical concepts before leaving, and that we were meeting over at the picnic tables one last time before departing camp.  Without much emotion they accepted the fact and collectively emerged from the van.  They also clearly recalled that part of their grade for the course was based on enthusiasm and my associated motto of “no whining”.  Overall, they followed the motto for the entirety of the course.  If our future classes maintain three-quarters of their combined enthusiasm, I’m sure that Lee and I will be quite satisfied.
     This year’s trips can be reviewed on the itinerary, but in brief they consisted of four single-day outings to various points around Flagstaff, one two-day camping trip, and a final four-day, three-state adventure.  For two of the day trips, students completed a "lab" that involved the places visited and specific concepts of human or physical geography.  For the "physical" lab, we spent the full day at various points along Oak Creek so that students could take measurements of stream flow, velocity, and other aspects of hydrology.  They were warned in advance that they would be getting wet on that trip, and they did!  Most of them seemed to enjoy it.  The other lab involved a three-part trip to Cliff Castle Casino, the Verde Canyon Railroad, and the Jerome business district to compare tourism developments.  By the time the two first trips and the two "lab" days were completed, students knew each other quite well and were familiar with how the field course worked.  This strategy of increasing the duration of trips throughout the three weeks worked well, allowing students to get to know each other better and to practice with a single night of camping prior to our final four-day trip.  We had actually planned to spend three days and two nights on the White Mountain trip, during the second week, but I had trouble securing a campsite for the second night.  Thus, we decided to head home after a long second day around the Globe and Roosevelt Lake area.  Next year, we are planning to add the third day to our first camping trip, effectively filling out the number of days we can practically spend on the road.  This has come a long way since three years ago, the first time Lee and I had taught it together.  That year we only took single-day trips, with one two-night camping trip not too far from home.  On that trip we traveled to the Grand Canyon, then to Page and Glen Canyon Dam, not very far away from Flagstaff.  If all goes as planned for next year, our increasing experimentation for road trips will have led to a four-year process of adding trips, activities, and routes into our full repertoire.
[Above: Students invade Oak Creek at Stop #2 south of Sedona.]
[Center: Conductor poses at Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale.]
[Below: Lee enjoys an ice cream at Jerome.]