Questival Is Just Around The Corner.....
As a travel blogger I often get opportunities to check out some amazing events and locations. While all of them hold a very special place in my heart, the most recent invitation to participate in the 2019 Cotopaxi Denver Questival alongside fellow Dyrt Rangers was of special significance to me. Why? Well this event would be a culmination of many exciting moments for me as I enter into my second year of travel blogging.
The first being the acceptance into the big boys club of camping elite. It was only a couple of years ago that I fully dove into the concept of camping. In doing so I found it to be a budget saving option when traveling primarily, however after my first real trip I started to realize more and more that it provided much more than just a few extra bucks in my pocket.
Camping to me became something that allowed me to test myself in many ways. Not only when it came to the actual act of camping but the mental test of being alone during much of my travel. I learned how to be more self sufficient in a variety of ways, I learned how to adapt when conditioned merited it and I learned how to be more aware of my surroundings as a whole.
Camping can mean so many things to different people, but to me it has become something very personal. But before you go thinking my experience is all cerebral when camping, just know I also have a really good time when pitching my tent and getting my hands a little dirty.
I love the contrast camping provides from my day to day life where I am considered to be more of a heels and makeup girl. This allows me to find ways to be uniquely me but also to not have to worry as much about the mundane things we often prioritize as our most important issues.
So how does that fit back into Questival??
My team, my fellow Dyrt Rangers, all are unique camping elite. We each possess strengths and differences which makes us into a very interesting tribe. Our common bonds are uniting us for a single event, otherwise we would be strangers living at a distance just doing similar things in our free time. It is an honor to be asked to participate alongside people that I see as my peers but also as people who have such bold and valuable skills.
I love hiking and sight seeing and doing some pretty crazy things, but my peers are those who see the outdoors through their own set of eyes and with that their adventure styles are vastly different. I can only hope they rub off on me over the course of the Questival.
Questival is also something I look forward to because of its unique focus on community. Designed to get participants really involved, the scavenger hunt list details items spanning physical challenges and local points of interest with real community charitable opportunities.
This vastly appealed to me because I personally thought it would be a great way to reach out and make a difference, even if it is a small one in the community I am visiting. Often times I have wondered how I could do this on my travels and unfortunately it becomes a bit daunting trying to determine where to even start. With Questival you are challenged to do things as simple as reaching down and picking up trash or as complex as donating your time to a local charity.
I love the “Do Good” mantra of the Questival because it is a statement which can be echoed long after the final ceremony and awards. I can only hope that through participation that others alongside myself will continue to be inspired and have ideas as to how we can contribute to making the world around us a little better.
On the same note of charity, I was inspired before I even left for Denver from my Texas home to reach out and try to connect with another company to make a difference. It started out simply looking for a great company which would like to contribute to our team uniform but spawned a movement within me to help raise awareness for a group which I felt aligned perfectly with the goals of Questival.
Enter, Socks & Souls, a company founded in 2015 when an art teacher and her husband were inspired to make a difference in their own community. They evolved an idea of giving back into something quite clever.. yep you guessed it, SOCKS!
From there they vowed to warm the souls of others though donations of socks to various groups using a 1 for 1 sock motto. This simply put means that for every 1 pair of socks sold and shipped they in return donate 1 pair to a charitable organization each month. Already in 2019 they have reached HELPS Ministry Shelter, Gigi’s Playhouse, Humanitarian Service Project and ICNA Relief Refugee Resource Center & Food Pantry. May’s goal is to give to a domestic violence charity to extend the love through Socks & Souls.
When I first spoke to them about the goals of our team and why we were interested in teaming up, the conversation quickly became apparent that Socks & Souls would be an excellent fit because of their value and goals alongside the Questival’s goal of promoting the “Do Good” community mentality. Not to mention I noticed that much like my team, the founders of this awesome company are avid travelers.
I feel as Questival approaches it brings out the best in us all as we prepare to be an active part of the community and make a difference but also have fun, meld our skills, meet new people and really take away something much larger than prizes of medals. Questival is only a few days away and I am like a kid on Christmas Eve just waiting to open presents and see what is in store.
I guess I should get to packing…LOL
