Like last Shabbos, yesterday we had the chance to catch up with friends we haven’t seen since leaving Monsey in 2013.  In the afternoon, we had nonstop RV tours going on.

Today we took M over to the staging area for his backpacking trip.  He is one of eleven boys backpacking the Presidential Range in New Hampshire from today through Friday.  The boys had to pack their personal gear as well as a portion of the communal gear into their packs:

Ready to go:

Group photo:

There they go:

I can’t help but think of the last time M headed off for a personal first with a backpack, here heading off to his first day of school in 2006:

Emboldened by my successful oil change last week, today I drained and refilled the front and rear differentials, which is part of the 30,000 mile service:

Cleaning the differential seal:

M’s group has a Spot device along, so we can watch their progress from here.  Here’s today’s track: