I Have Travelled Across Half of the Country Public Speaking

The year was 1997.
It was the beginning of May.
My journey began on a train ride from Toronto to Kingston. First time I took the train (actually, I think the only time I have done so).

In Kingston, I met 2 girls Teresa and Kathy - new to me. And they were my ride to Ottawa.

One week of "Base Camp" training in Ottawa, then we broke into groups of 6 people in each mini-van (6 in total) and we headed off to our respective locations.

I was on the Central Canada team, we covered every town and city between the Alberta border and the Quebec border.

And Challenge '97 was officially begun.

I got to see the Giant Egg in Vegreville, the Big Nickel in Sudbury, the Terry Fox memorial in Thunder Bay, the most memorable Aurora Borealis in Dryden.

I got to have one foot in Saskatechewan and one foot in Alberta in Lloydminster.

I got a 15 minute tour of Wes Edmonton Mall - when we pit stopped in Alberta for about 1 hour.

I kicked my friend Pete out of the bed when he half asleep got in. I was sound asleep, but my radar just knew something was improper.

I got to drive into North Dakota and have my shoes confiscated at the border on the drive back, because there was mud on my shoes. Then I had to do an assembly in a school an hour after that in my stocking feet.

I attended a "social" in Winnipeg - which is basically a party in a Church basement used to raise money for something. In this case it was my friend Andre's band.

Oh yeah, and almost once a day, pretty much every week-day for 6 weeks, I was a part of a presentation team (2 or 3 of us) - talking about Chastity in schools, churches, community centres, etc.

It was not only a blast, but a great opportunity for Public Speaking, which I think is a skill that has served me well since then.