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Planning a through-hike of many weeks or months on one of the major trails adds some extra challenges to ultralight hiking. Physical conditioning and resupplying are key ingredients to a successful lightweight hike.

Even before you start putting together your resupply packages, you need to start conditioning your body. If your feet and legs are in good shape, your chances of success are much higher. Remember that about 40% of through hikers stop before they complete their planned trip, so do your best to eliminate the common causes for not staying on the trail. The best way to prepare for hiking is to hike. Seems simple, but while you’re busy with everyday life, carving out enough time to get in trail shape will be difficult.

You can do cardio and the stair master at a health club, but that’s not the total answer. You need to hike and hike a lot in the shoes you’ll be using for your long-distance hike. If you plan on hiking the full length of one of the major trails, remember you may need to break in two or three pairs of shoes. When moisture drips down into your shoes, it’s the same as if you forded a creek, so it’s good to get your feet in shape by hiking when they’re wet. Start your hike with socks that give you plenty of padding because your feet will tend to swell and even lengthen on long trips.

It’s bad planning to think you’ll get in shape as you start hiking. Since you won’t have a lot of recovery time as you begin your long-distance hike, you need to be in shape when you start. Hiking shorter mileage days at the beginning of your trip may be more reasonable, but it’s not the easy answer. Before you start your long hike, your training hikes can prepare you better if they have lots of ups and downs. Older hikers are in danger of having knee problems especially on steep descents.

Staying hydrated and well fed is probably more important than you think as you begin your hike. If you’re like most hikers, you’ll lose weight anyway, so eat well and drink well from the beginning. Drinking a lot will tend to keep joints lubricated and your muscles won’t be as sore. Start out with extra ibuprofen and hope you won’t have to use too much as the days progress.

If you’re planning this hike with a partner, remember that they might drop out while you want to continue. Make sure you take all the equipment you need and don’t rely on anyone else. Your pace may be faster or slower than a partner, so being independent will give you peace of mind if you’re behind or ahead on the trail.

Your training hikes are a good time to test all your equipment. Desert hiking at the beginning of the Pacific Crest Trail will require different gear than the Sierras or Northern Cascades. Test everything that you’ll use. You may enjoy not using a tent in the desert. Know how much room a bear canister will take in your pack if you’re hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Be comfortable with your rain gear on the Appalachian Trail. Sharpen your map using skills on the Continental Divide Trail since it’s not as well defined. If you use permethrin to keep insects off your clothes, remember to treat all the clothes you’ll have your support person send during the hike.

Have access to your money, and remember that nothing will cost less than you expect, but there will be lots to spend your money on, especially in trail towns. When you get to a town, you’ll probably want to treat yourself to restaurant meals, a warm bed, and other things that drain your budget. If you’re lucky, you’ll be enjoying the rhythm and feel of the trail, and want to get out of town as soon as possible. Most through hikers carry a paid-up credit card or debit card, or both. Remember that paying your credit card is something your support person should be able to help with, so leave a few signed checks behind. Most hikers carry a phone card with plenty of minutes. And it’s always good to have some cash for times when a credit card won’t work.

You may wish to carry a camera or journal even though you don’t normally take them on shorter hikes. Both can be great for recording one of your life’s great adventures. One of the great preparation tools for your hike can be the journals of other hikers. You’ll get fired up for your hike and gain valuable insights at the same time.

Resupply points and how to use them will be one of the most important parts of your planning. This is a good place to learn from others. If you Google the name of your trail, you’ll find a list of resupply points and the ins and outs of using each one. You may wish to skip some resupply stations that are too far off the trail. Some are post offices while others are post offices in stores or resorts. Others are resorts or businesses that have agreed to be resupply points. Post offices will be closed on weekends and holidays. Some small towns will have very few services. Always include your approximate date of arrival and a return address on the packages you send.

It may seem very difficult to hitchhike into some towns, but asking for rides at the trail heads or campgrounds might be easier than you think. People like to hear about the adventures of long-distance hikers, especially other hikers. At times like this, it’s good to clean up as much as possible and have a bit of deodorant in your pack. Asking for a ride while you’re still near the trail gives female hikers a chance to be more selective in choosing rides

Many long-distance hikers don’t like to send all their food to resupply stations. You may like the taste of something at the beginning of your hike and grow tired of it. Freeze dried food is expensive. Learning good alternatives could pay for much of your adventure. It’s very expensive to mail heavy packages to each resupply point. With the amount you pay for priority mail, you could buy much of your food. That’s another reason to experiment a lot with food before your hike. Become an expert of what you can buy even in small and medium-size grocery stores. Read more on what other hikers have done. You may carry a little more weight, but you can leave each resupply point with exactly what you have chosen at the time, and not be locked into what you planned months ago. You need to be realistic. You may be in that group that doesn’t hike the full length of the trail. Your mind may be strong, but your knees may be weak. If you’re carrying a credit or debit card, you’re sure of being able to buy food. If you mail a number of resupply packages, some may not be waiting for you, even if you or your support person does a perfect job of mailing them.

You can choose to eat the things that are heaviest and most perishable first after you resupply to balance your diet and keep your pack light. Some hikers like to have cereal and powdered milk for breakfast so they can get hiking quickly in the morning. You may choose to have zip lock bags as one of the items mailed ahead in your “bounce ahead” box. That way, you can measure your individual meals. Some hikers don’t like to stop for lunch, so they have snacks or energy bars. Some people use energy bars for other meals to save cooking time although these meals aren’t as nutritious and balanced as you might think.

Try to have a well-rounded diet when you’re through-hiking. Your body will not be as strong if you’re not getting a complete diet. If your endurance is low, your positive outlook can be affected. You may feel like ice cream when you reach a trail town, but if you’ve been missing your vegetables, it may be time for a salad or veggie platter. On weekend hikes it’s not as important to have a balanced diet. You can adjust when you get home. It may be good to make your weekend hike a bit of a diet and consume less calories than you burn. But on a long-distance hike, you need to adjust and consume plenty of good, natural foods that are dense in nutritious calories. Of course, you’ll burn far more calories than normal. As always, you’ll want to drink lots of water, and remember to drink before you’re thirsty.

Plan to send the personal items you need that might not be on your regular backpacking gear list. For instance, you’ll want a pair of nail clippers so your socks don’t get worn out. In this box that always gets sent ahead to your next resupply station, you’ll want to include tape, a felt pen, and postage for all the times you need to forward the bounce ahead box. If you mail a package using priority mail and don’t open it, you can forward it for free. If you need to open a package or your “bounce” package, it’s fairly inexpensive to mail it forward since you will always mailing it within the same zone.

Here are some specific pieces of gear that may change as you hike, or need to be resupplied. You may need to change sleeping bags if you’re hiking north or getting into the fall season. A sleeping bag liner may give enough extra warmth, and you could just send it to one of your first cooler-weather stops. Some people change stoves as they get into colder weather. It’s always easier to find denatured alcohol than it is to find butane/propane cartridges. The cartridges can’t be mailed. You may use different water purification methods as your hike progresses. You may start with a water filter on the southern end of the Pacific Crest Trail and use iodine tablets or nothing at all as you get farther north.

You’ll want to treat yourself to new socks at intervals along the trail. You may start out with a pair of water repellent shoes on the Appalachian Trail and switch to breathable shoes as the days get warmer. You’ll want to add more cold-weather clothing if you’re hiking north. Your rain gear needs may diminish in mid-summer and then return in fall. You may want to send an umbrella ahead or send it home. There may be parts of the trail that require a mosquito head net.

For your first aid kit, you may find that only band aids and moleskin need to be sent to resupply points. Insect repellent, soap, and sunscreen can be sent in small containers. Small amounts of tooth powder and deodorant can be included.

Flashlight batteries and bulbs can be bounced ahead. Don’t forget camera film and batteries. If you forward the various sections of the guidebook that describes your trail, you never have to carry more than a few ounces for a very complete map.

Careful planning can keep your pack light for your entire trip. Plan ahead. Have more fun every day of your hike by hiking light.

About the author: Steve Green of http://www.hikelight.com is an avid hiker who has enjoyed trimming his backpack weight for over 40 years.

Health insurance is a big investment and you should carefully consider all of the options before making a decision. Little success can be achieved if you are physically unwell. Therefore, health insurance may be important to you.

Health Insurance Policy

Health is the biggest and most crucial asset of every living being. A health insurance policy is meant to financially assist you in case there occurs a setback to your health.

The insurer may be a private organization or a government agency. In a health policy, coinsurance refers to the percentage of the medical bills that the insured individual will have to pay after the deductible is met.

There are different types of health insurance but mainly all the health insurance pays a fixed percentage of the expenses for the policy holders bill.

Group Health Insurance

Group Health Insurance is a benefit that some companies offer their employees enabling them to receive private medical treatment quickly and at no cost should they need it. As an employee benefit, group health insurance has many rewards.

Labor and trade unions also may offer group health insurance for their members. Spouses and children can often be added to most employee health plans, though the rate will be higher.

Individual Health Insurance

Individual insurance policies are distinct from group policies in the nature of evidence of insurability. You can purchase a policy by answering a health questionnaire and undergoing a medical examination to provide evidence of insurability to the insurance company.

Individual policies can be customized for your specific needs.

Family Health Insurance

Health insurance companies offer health insurance plans as a vital part of your full planning picture. Without it your safety and the safety of your family is jeopardized.

Most qualified heath care providers will not treat you without health insurance. I think you will sleep a lot better knowing that if something happens you or your family will be protected.

Health Insurance Cover

Health Insurance is an annual contract. So when it comes to renewal, your insurer is at liberty to review not only your premium but also change the conditions on which your cover is provided.

Health Insurance Quotes

Purchasing an insurance policy should take time and a little research in order to arrive at a wise buying decision. Individual health insurance quotes are available from various health insurance companies.

When you shop around for a health insurance plan, health insurance quotes can help narrow down your options and identify the best plan that fits your medical requirements and budget. This may help you to make informed decisions about the exact kind of health insurance plans into which you want to enter.

The best way to find the right insurance quote is with the help of a search engine. Some insurance companies and agents provide different kinds of quote options, such as the instant quote and the custom quote. The instant quote is the fastest kind of application, that provides general information about the eligible plans and their benefits.

Health Insurance Premium

The way for companies to calculate your monthly or yearly premium is to look at many factors. The premium is the amount you will pay for the benefits covered under your health insurance plan.

Health Insurance and Emergencies

It’s easy to ignore family health insurance until a family member falls ill and hospital bills and medical expenses pile up. An emergency can occur at any time.

Health Insurance and the Hospital

If you are self-employed, look for a company that offers an extensive health insurance coverage, and at the same time would not make a big dent in your pocket. Remember that spending a day or two in the hospital can be very costly. You should make sure that you have ample coverage.

In the end, the major purpose of health insurance is to cover medical expenses and any lost income while you are not well and unable to function normally. That is why health insurance may be vitally important to you.

Copyright 2007 – Dan Theron. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishers.

So you’ve got your Neon or LED under car kit, and can’t wait to have it installed and running… am I right? No problemo, we’ll have you up and running in no time!

Just in case you’re wondering about how to install other neon or led lights sold at “out-lets” other then the All-Neon-Car-Lights.com website, I can assure you that most of the instructions that come with each of the various kits are easy to follow. They have been designed with the do-it-yourselfer in mind. (Or at least they “should” be). However, if you are in need of any special advise about a particular car lighting product, please continue reading, or you can contact us via the email link provided below and we will do our best to help you with your enquiry.

For some people, a car is a means of transport and nothing more. As long as their vehicle gets them from point A to point B and back again, has nice comfortable seats, a good sound system and a coffee mug holder, it serves all of its purposes well. And of course there are other drivers for which a car is much, much more — It can be an extension of their personality or an object of their fixation. In this huge world of automotive accessories, there is no product that screams louder than the underbody light kit for this type of individual. If you consider cruising in your car is among your favorite hobbies and you relish the stares of pedestrians and fellow-motorists, then a under car light kit may be for you.

These lights, which mount to the body around the perimeter of the vehicle’s undercarriage, come in kits that contain the elements you’ll need for installation. The “how to install under car lights” instructions that you’ll be directed to shortly, are fairly straight forward, but since it requires drilling into the body of the vehicle and substantial electrical work (depending on the kit you buy), it’s best left to the more experienced do-it-yourselfers. If this project seems a little too hard for you, rest assured that there is a growing number of custom shops that perform this type of installation. If you do decide to take on the installation yourself, which anyone can do with the correct instructions, be sure to purchase a kit that is compatible with your vehicle, and read and follow the instructions that come with the kit carefully.

Ever wondered how long car lighting kits have been around? Well Hot Rods were the first cars to have undercar lighting installed on them, (although, the lights were nothing like they are today) back before import and export was a big industry world wide. And today, thanks to the World Wide Web and the fact that import and export is now more commonly practiced throughout the world, they have become more popular then ever before.

So this is the reason why we set out to write up these “How to install under car lights” instructions, as they are *required* by people like yourself.

Our team of dedicated Market & Product Researchers and including myself, have spent an enormous amount of time & money installing under car kits from a variety of manufacturers, and as a result after all this testing, we can now provide you with generic instructions on how to install under car lights on your vehicle. We also found after this extensive testing was carried out, that Plasmaglow had the best, “all round” car lighting products available on the market today, outlasting and out-performing the competition in every aspect, hence the reason why we recommend their products on the all-neon-car-lights.com website.

As a related note, please keep in mind that the main issues we face with having neon or LED car lights on our vehicles these days is the fact that they are often frowned upon by the authorities. So to avoid any uninvited fines, its best to install neon lights under a car so as they can be activated through a separate switch rather than having them come on when the headlights are turned on. To do this, you can run a power wire directly from the car battery to the kits operating switch, thus by-passing the vehicles headlight wires.

The “How to install under car lights” instructions below have been designed & written with ALL “under car kits” in mind. These instructions will benefit those who have LED under car kits to install, and/or Neon under car kits.

Enjoy your new undercar lights, and drive safely.

Kind regards

Antonio Gabellone

Please choose the instructions below that suit your needs:

For LED under car lights installation instructions – visit:

http://www.all-neon-car-lights.com/how-to-install-led-under-car-lights.html

For Neon under car lights installation instructions – visit:

http://www.all-neon-car-lights.com/how-to-install-neon-under-car-lights.html

Antonio Gabellone is a enthusiast for all things related to neon/led car lights. His website, http://www.all-neon-car-lights.com, is a great resource of articles aimed at car lighting products with “life-time Warranties”.

Copyright All-Neon-Car-Lights.com 2005. Permission is granted to reprint this article provided you supply a live link to the authors website.

Specialty auto repair refers to the repair and servicing of specialty autos and specific auto parts. Specialty auto repair centers take special care to provide you with genuine factory parts. Specialty auto repair technicians are highly skilled and experienced and they can pin point the problem of the automobile. Whatever model of luxury car or foreign car you are driving, there are repair centers specializing in those very models.

Specialty auto repair centers offer special dealer alternative maintenance and service packages. Some of them give extended warranties services for their clients. They even undertake heavy engine and transmission repair and replacement if needed. Some of these dealers have their own websites from which you can download special auto repair discount coupons.

There are specialty auto repair centers that repair and service specific auto parts such as the brakes, engines, air conditioning, mufflers, and radiators. They also take care of wheel alignments, transmissions and paintless dent repair. Replacement of windshield or window is also included in specialty repair.

Specialty auto repair is regarded as a business with reputation and significant advertising budgets. For specialty auto repair, technicians need a trade certificate, which could be as automotive service, auto body, heavy equipment or recreation service technician.

Specialty auto repair has several benefits. Standard jobs such as lubrication, oil filter, and oil change charges are less compared to general repair. These types of services have retail outlets and the service hours ideally match the timings of customers. Specific fluids, light bulbs and other critical parts are readily available in such shops. Specialty repair shops make use of computers to maintain complete and detailed information.

The disadvantage of going to a specialty auto repair shop is that they have a high sales pitch, they might urge you to do more and more work.

Auto Repair provides detailed information on Auto Repair, Auto Glass Repair, Online Auto Repair, Auto Body Repair and more. Auto Repair is affiliated with Discount Auto Parts.

Mario Uribe Escobar, the president of Colombia’s cousin and leader of the Colombia Democratica political party, announced the removal of two Congressional candidates, Rocío Arias and Eleonora Pineda, from his party on 2 February for their outward support of paramilitary organizations. His announcement comes on the tail of a purge of a limited number of political candidates known to be supportive of Colombia’s paramilitary organizations.

These two candidates belong to a long list of politicians that in private will admit to close contact with paramilitary chieftains. Arias and Pineda are considered the most public faces of a wide-reaching and deep-pocketed effort to increase paramilitary political control on the national level through the upcoming congressional elections to be held on Sunday, 12 March.

A much smaller, more organized, and influential group of former paramilitary war lords has emerged. As a group, they began to exercise power within the realms of politics on a municipal and state level years ago. Their efforts were first recorded in the 2002 congressional elections. In these elections, paramilitary-supported candidates won with over 90 per cent of the vote in many cases because there was no opposition candidate on the ticket and voters were scared to abstain.

Through these strong arm tactics, paramilitary organizations have begun to increase the number of politicians they control in the Colombian congress. This time around, they look set to further increase that power. If they succeed, they will work to ban extradition, eradicating their worst fear, while solidifying their positions of power across numerous Colombian departments. It is a reality that severely hinders democracy and sets Colombia and the region on a path to less stability into the foreseeable future.

Paramilitary politics

Colombia’s departments, stretching from Panama to Venezuela along the country’s northern coast, have long been held by paramilitary commanders who act both publicly and behind the scenes to control political candidates on the municipal, gubernatorial, and national levels. Their heavy handed political influence in coastal departments such as Cesar, Guajira, Atlantico, Magdalena, and Cordoba, is most evident, according to German Espejo, an analyst with the Bogota-based Security and Democracy Foundation.

Espejo agrees that the paramilitaries fund and support congressional elections. “In addition to financial support, it is possible that the paramilitaries use their influence to obstruct the campaigns of candidates that do not support them,” Espejo told ISN Security Watch.

Claudia Lopez, Colombian journalist and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) consultant, completed a study published in December 2005 that took a close look at the intersection between paramilitary control in Colombia’s northern departments and the indices of landslide victories of political candidates from those areas. Her conclusions revealed atypical electoral behaviors in the 2002 Congressional elections where areas that had experienced high levels of paramilitary-related massacres, and thus presumed under paramilitary control, had produced unopposed political candidates who were elected with over 90 per cent of votes.

The Colombian daily El Tiempo has reported that in the paramilitary-dominated department of Magdalena, mayoral candidates ran unopposed in 14 of the department’s 30 municipalities. The tendency for candidates to run without opposition, winning with inflated percentages of the vote, has been repeated in numerous Colombian departments. The trend, referred to as “paramilitarization”, has been documented in the Colombian press and noted on the floor of the Colombian congress.

Alvaro Sierra published a column in El Tiempo on 25 September 2004 in which he stated that Colombia was becoming aware of the fact that “a substantial portion of national territory, of the daily lives of millions of people, of politics, of the economy, and local-government budgets, and an unknown amount of power and influence at the level of central-government institutions like the congress, is in paramilitary hands”.

Colombian Senator Carlos Moreno de Caro, vice-chairman of the Senate’s Peace Committee, was highlighted in the Colombian press in March 2005 when he defended the a move to give paramilitaries lenient treatment in the disarmament negotiations, arguing “the thing is, half the country is theirs”.

Adam Isacson, director of programs with the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, said Senator Moreno de Caro’s statement was an exaggeration but not a wild one.

“Salvatore Mancuso’s statement that the paramilitaries control over 30 per cent of the Colombian Congress was probably inflated,” Isacson said. “But after the upcoming elections, it’s possible to be closer to the truth,” he told ISN Security Watch.

Ineffective pre-election purge

Relatively few candidates will publicly admit to their alliances with the paramilitaries, yet many will admit such ties in private. This has created a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation that has made it difficult for President Uribe to act on the opposition’s claims. Many fingers are pointed in public but little evidence substantiates claims.

Paramilitary control of politics is a reality that some can stomach and others cannot. In the lead up to the 12 March elections, many opposition candidates publicly demanded that President Uribe do something to purge the lists of political candidates, removing those individuals thought to be in close cooperation with paramilitary leaders.

A great purge of political candidates suspected of paramilitary ties was most likely on US ambassador William Wood’s mind when in December 2005 he publicly stated: “Corrupt electoral practices may occur in the elections of 2006, notably by paramilitaries.” Uribe told him to stop “meddling” in Colombian affairs.

Weeks later, at a meeting in Cordoba on 9 January, Uribe found himself audience to a very heated discussion between two senatorial candidates in the paramilitary-controlled department. Each claimed the other to have made political pacts with paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso. Days later, Uribe asked the Colombian attorney general to investigate the senators’ ties to the paramilitaries.

That same week, Gina Parody, a Bogota congresswoman, declined invitations to run as a candidate for one of the two largest pro-Uribe political parties, Partido de la U and Cambio Radical. She explained that her decision not to run with either party was based on the fact that both parties include candidates “with paramilitary links”.

She named Dieb Maloof and Habib Merheg, both running for re-election as candidates of the Partido de la U. Maloof is believed to be an associate of Jorge 40, leader of the Northern Bloc, one of the largest and most powerful paramilitary organizations. Merheg has been suspected of paramilitary ties since 2003. Both were elected to Congress in 2002 as members of the Colombia Viva party, a political organization thought to be close to the paramilitaries.

On 18 January, the tide of accusations and investigations came to a head. Both Partido de la U and Cambio Radical expelled a total of five candidates from their ranks. But these candidates were quickly absorbed by smaller, pro-Uribe political parties, much to the disappointment of opposition candidates who supported the purges. Even after the very public removal of Rocío Arias and Eleonora Pineda, both candidates were absorbed into smaller, pro-Uribe political organizations.

Power over extradition

What has US ambassador Wood – and many others in Colombia – worried is not just pre-election purging and increased paramilitarization. The 2006 Congressional elections may place in power enough pro-paramilitary politicians to make extradition unlawful.

A law that bans extradition represents a de facto victory for Colombia’s paramilitary organizations. The US has made nine extradition requests for paramilitary leaders. All are immune to extradition while under the protection of the disarmament process, but currently have no definitive guarantee that they will not be extradited.

Banning extradition is the focus of every paramilitary leader’s political power play.

If the Colombian government were left without the negotiating leverage of extradition, the matter of ultimate justice for human rights atrocities, drug trafficking, and other criminal acts would be left in the sole jurisdiction of the Colombian justice system, one not known to have much success with Colombian criminals in the past. It is a system that would certainly be manipulated again in the future and one paramilitary leaders are willing to take on.

Paramilitary influence in Colombia’s congress ultimately goes beyond extradition. It places Colombian organized crime one step closer to the ultimate tool to protect itself – control over the legislative process.

With control over the legislative process, legally protected paramilitary leaders will contribute to massacres and escalated conflict with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Their positions as regional warlords will be solidified.

Increases in drug and gun trafficking are ensured. Exploitation of Colombia’s rural poor in the name of making the landed elite class more wealthy and powerful will grow.

Such a reality concentrates wealth in power in the hands of a few, exploiting the rest. It would consolidate many more years of insecurity for both Colombia and the region. And it promises a future where security – Uribe’s number one goal – in Colombia becomes a mirage. Paramilitary “king makers” will rule from regional outposts contributing to a de facto “Balkanization” of the country and a weakening of state sovereignty and democracy. If the paramilitaries come to control the legislative process in the Colombian Congress, a country ruled by warlords is a reality that may come to pass, and there is little the Colombian government, or any other government, can do to prevent it.

Sam Logan (http://www.samuellogan.com) is an investigative journalist who has covered business, security, energy, politics, economics, organized crime, terrorism, and black markets in Latin America since July 1999. He has reported from Caracas, Santiago, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires. He currently reports from Rio de Janeiro.

As the cost of health care increases, so does the strain on household budgets. A majority of today’s families are barely getting by, and an increasing number of households are living with no health insurance at all. In fact, more than 46 million Americans now live uninsured–and that number increases by the year.

Health insurance is designed to protect you and your family from expense in case of accidents or illness. Doctor bills; hospitalization; medical tests and treatments; rehabilitation, and maternity/pediatric care…all fall within these bounds.

So what’s a family to do if it needs health insurance protection but doesn’t have much to spend?

Getting Cheap Health Insurance

The less likely you are to need health care, the less you’ll pay for your health insurance coverage. Therefore, finding ways to reduce your claims risk increases your chances of getting the cheap health insurance rates you deserve.

If your family needs cheap health insurance and you’re not sure how to get it, use these money-saving strategies to reduce your health insurance premiums:

• Take care of your bodies. Get regular exercise; eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, and see your doctor for routine check-ups and health care advice. Don’t drink or smoke.

  If you do what’s necessary to maintain your health, you’ll reduce your health care costs in the long run–reducing, in turn, your health insurance costs.

• Set your deductibles high. What is a deductible? It’s simply the amount you have to pay on your medical bills before your health insurance kicks in and pays the rest.

  According to experts, it’s not uncommon for families to save up to 25 percent on health insurance premiums with a high deductible plan. The more responsibility you take for the cost of your medical care, the less responsibility your health insurance company has to carry–and the lower your health insurance rates will be.

• Find a group policy. Group health insurance is always less expensive. This is because the financial risk to the health insurance company is spread amongst the entire group, instead of resting solely on you.

  Look for group health insurance through your employer, or through community or professional organizations to which you belong.

• Buy early.The younger you are when you purchase health insurance, the lower your premiums will be. This is because your risk of health-related issues increases as you get older.

  Buying health insurance early on means your family saves on monthly premiums, as well as over the life of the policy.

• Coordinate your coverages. If you and your spouse both work and have health insurance available, compare plans–and choose the best parts of each. Sharing expenses between more than one insurance plan makes things cheaper for both health insurance companies–and for you.

Your family’s health insurance premiums don’t have to eat into the household budget–or your bank account. Use these strategies to get cheap health insurance protection, and you’ll be prepared for whatever comes your way.

About InsureMe
Penny Hagerman is a copywriter and insurance information expert with InsureMe in Englewood, Colorado. InsureMe links agents nationwide with consumers shopping for insurance. Specializing in auto, home, life, long-term care and health insurance quotes, the InsureMe network provides thousands of agents with insurance leads every year. For more information, visit http://www.InsureMe.com.

Most people have a preference of whether or not they like their steaks rare, medium, well done, or anywhere in between. Yet, somehow, it seems that cooking a steak to fit these preferences is oftentimes difficult. But with some simple training and a bit of skill, it most certainly can be done. Cooking a steak does not have to be difficult, especially if you follow these few rules:

· Take into consideration the thickness of a steak. You must realize that cooking a steak is not an issue of just time. Whereas cooking one steak for 4 minutes might make it medium, cooking a steak that is slightly thicker may turn out rare or medium rare when cooked for the same amount of time.

· Also consider the pan temperature.

· The cook time is also very important.

· You must find a good balance between the three abovementioned things to get the results you desire.

· Other things to consider when cooking a steak is the tenderness and size of the cut. The presence of a bone can also change the cooking time as can the method of cooking (barbecuing, sautéing, etc.).

· If you have a sirloin or rump steak of 1.5 cm thick, then here are a few guidelines to follow when cooking it:

1. Well done, cook it for up to 6 minutes

2. Medium, cook it for about 4 minutes

3. Rare, cook it for just a couple of minutes.

Hold up for a minute… are you still confused as to what exactly “rare” is versus “well done?” Here is a guide on cooking a steak based off of what the steak should look like (of course, never cut open a steak to see if it is done! It looks tacky, and it causes the steak to dry out).

· Well done – the steak will be hot, and it will have very little moisture. The color will be a dark grayish. The steak will be firm when touched. There will be no hint of pink left.

· Medium well – the steak will also be hot, gray, and it will have a juicy center.

· Medium – a medium steak is light gray, warm, and it will have a juicy center. When touched the steak will offer some resistance. Pink juices will bead up on the surface of the seared side when the steak is turned.

· Medium rare – the steak will be light pink in color, warm, with a juicy center.

· Rare – the color will be pink, the temperature will be warm, and the center will be bloody and red! The steak will still feel soft when touched.

Know about the two different types of heat used when cooking a steak:

· Dry heat – this type of heat does not use liquid and it is used to cook some of the most tender cuts. Examples of cooking with dry heat are broiling, roasting, sautéing, pan-broiling, and rotisserie cooking.

· Moist heat – moist heat, on the other hand, uses steam or liquid. Moist heat cooking methods are soup-making, stewing, braising, and pressure cooking.

You must determine whether or not your steak is cooked based on touch, sight, and the clock. The firmer the meat, the more cooked it is. The lighter the color (from dark purple-red to pink), the more cooked the steak is.

Cooking a steak does not have to be hard, but it can take practice. If you do not get it right the first time, try it again! Be sure to have fun when cooking a steak!

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on steaks and cooking, please visit Filet Mignon [http://www.bigskyfiletmignon.com].

Hiking clubs are quite popular among fitness buffs and it is likely you have heard about them before. In the unlikely event that you have not, here are a few words of introduction for you. Hiking clubs can mean many things, but mostly they refer to groups of persons who share a common interest in hiking. They are hikers. They hike on a regular basis, say twice or thrice a week. Hikers who belong to a hiking club often hike together as a group.

Hiking together as a group has many advantages. First, having as company the one who shares the passion of hiking with you makes the hike doubly exciting and satisfying. Second, hiking in groups, especially with experienced hikers, means added security. The combined knowledge and experience of the group can be useful to prevent accidents from happening, or for the group to avoid harmful situations.

There is also the so-called long-distance hiking adventure. These hiking trips take you farther from your usual hiking parks or trails. These trips often entail camping or even checking in at hotels. Due to the relative complexity of ensuring that hiking trips of this kind will become rewarding, organizing them are best undertaken by hiking clubs. This also helps lessen the cost by spreading them equitably among those who wish to make it to these trips. In this sense joining hiking clubs becomes important, if not necessary. You can also draw fraternal support from fellow hiking club members in case any of your family members or friends are unable to join you in these trips.

And when you get to the point of weighing the benefits of membership in hiking clubs, keep in mind that hiking clubs are not of exactly the same makeup. For example, they may differ in terms of how they intend to attain their objectives. There are hiking clubs whose members come together only for hiking trips or adventures. There are also hiking clubs that go beyond these activities, like holding meetings as frequently as once a week or once a month. Their agenda in these meetings ranges from exchanging ideas on hiking equipment or accessories, to planning for hiking trips, to fundraising, and many other things. Enterprising hiking clubs have, for instance, went into car washing and vending chicken barbeques to generate funds for their hiking trips. What all this means is that the benefits you may want to derive from joining a hiking club will depend on what mold of hiking clubs attracts you.

There are other considerations you need to remember when you do decide to join a hiking club. Hiking clubs charge membership fees at rates that vary from one club to the other. Be prudent enough to pick the one that suits your budget. Another point is the structure of your daily activities. For example, is it possible for you to make yourself available for weekly or monthly meetings? If this is not, it might work better for you if you join hiking clubs that demand less of your time for activities like meetings. It will not be good for your reputation if you join a hiking club that requires regular meetings among members only to shun them later on. The point of all this is that hiking club members need to develop trust and camaraderie among themselves, so that when they eventually go out hiking, all of them will find the activity fulfilling.

Once you decide to become a hiking club member, it will often be to your advantage if you first consider joining hiking clubs located near your place before you search for them farther afield. It is likely that there are a number of them to choose from in your area. You can access information on hiking clubs near you from the internet, or from people you know who are familiar with hiking. Offices of local hiking parks are likewise good sources of information on existing hiking clubs in your area.

People who may share with your ardor for hiking converge in hiking clubs. It is just natural for you to associate with them through membership in the hiking club of your choice. If by chance no hiking club exist in your area, it may help fill your passion for hiking if you start organizing one yourself.

Hermilando Aberia is an expert in social development work with at least 22 years of professional experience as either consultant or key staff member of health, community development, education and local governance projects. He has a master’s degree in development management from the Asian Institute of Management. Contact Information: B21 L59 Kassel Kristina Heights, Tacloban City, Philippines. Mobile: (+63) 9058664106; Website: http://www.freewebs.com/iaberia

The best public speakers in the world all agree on one thing. You can’t get good at public speaking without practice. That’s where some public speaking training seminars fail in teaching people how to do successful presentations. Lecturing someone on how to do a presentation will not make a student learn any faster. If you learn by doing, you’ll achieve much higher results!

After several years of public speaking engagements, teaching seminars and performing piano music for worldwide audiences, I woke up one day and realized I didn’t know the first thing about public speaking. That seems like an odd thing to say but it’s true. How did I know I wasn’t any good at it? Because, I didn’t “feel” successful at it.

Then, as luck would have, I reluctantly and skeptically attended a seminar my wife dragged me too. I thought to myself, I’ve been doing this forever and I don’t need to learn anything. But, I went anyway. And boy, am I ever glad I did. For the first time in my life I witnessed a public speaking genius at work. This man was truly amazing. He had every one of the 2,000 people in that audience on the edge of their seats for three entire days!

That was the turning point for me. At that seminar I realize why I didn’t feel like a successful speaker. I resolved myself to learn everything I could about being successful, not only as a public speaker but as a concert performer. And, overnight I went from being a know-it-all to a learn-it-all. I decided to invest in a seminar that promised to teach how to do successful public speaking presentations. Wow! It was even better than their first seminar. It was five entire days of learning, jamb packed with the most incredible public speaking knowledge imaginable.

What happened next is the truly amazing part! As soon as I got home I started incorporating my new found knowledge into my concert piano performances. The result? My audiences began to grow exponentially and my sales of CDs and DVDs went through the roof. Plus, my fee for performing grew to ten times what I was getting previously.

So, I took the knowledge and experience and began my own seminar business. I first started teaching what I knew and was successful at including how to increase your leads and sales through internet marketing, how to succeed in the niche music business, how to sell off the stage and the inner game of success.

What does this all mean for you? If I could use public speaking training to improve my sales, so can you!

The secret formula that I use for my public speaking presentations works great for keynote speeches, training seminars, sales presentations, live concerts, fundraising speeches, wedding speeches, board room presentations, employee motivation, employee training, pitching, team building, networking and virtually every other public speaking and presenting situation you can think of.

What is this amazing secret formula?

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU, IT’S ABOUT THE AUDIENCE!

What does that mean exactly? Well, the vast majority of performers and public speakers are far too concerned about how they speak, about how they look, how they perform and how they sell themselves. This is 100% guaranteed to have less impact! In fact, if you’re out there trying to sell yourself, think again, few will buy!

Based on my experience, once I started to make the audience the star I generated more audiences, more results, and more money. This was real world proof that the template works! At first using the template felt strange, because of course, the template felt unfamiliar and was very different than anything I had previously tried. But, after only a few engagements, I was able to merge my personality with the template.

With practice, the template began to feel natural and effortless. Now, I use the template for every type of presentation. In fact, I recently did a boardroom sales presentation for a corporation and walked out with a $20,000 deal. How did I do it? The TEMPLATE!

Here’s where you can start. First be open to learning! Then learn the perfectly powerful speaker’s template. Then learn by doing. It’s that easy! Don’t forget to make the audience the star and you’ll realize just how rewarding and profitable public speaking can be.

Paul Tobey’s motivational public speaking training seminars are perfect for professional speakers, performing artists and anyone looking to raise their public speaking skills to a whole new level.

Automotive logo designs are probably one of the most stylish logos around. Cars, bikes and other similar stuff are incorporated in automotive logo designs to make them look classier and more eye-catching. Your automotive logo designs can benefit you by certain ways; it can setup a base for you to market your products well and to be recognized better. When creating automotive logo designs, the designer needs to pay attention to three factors which are (1) the objective to be achieved by the logo design, (2) should be according to the latest trend and (3) should be of high quality. Anyhow, the basic rule for designing good automotive logo designs is to relate it with your company.

For designing good automotive logo designs, you should take in consideration the following points:

Your automotive logo designs should relate to your business:

A basic technique to make your automotive logo designs look sportier is to associate it with automobile parts. Normally, the designers use the basic components of automobiles such as their wheels, handles, steering, etc. Also, you will find a large of number of automotive logo designs having images of cars and bikes in a very creative and amusing manner. For instance, automotive logo designs can have a tattoo type of design showing a car.

Color scheme used in automotive logo designs:

The colors which are normally used in automotive logo designs are mostly of an igniting nature. Colors like orange, fiery red, black, etc are used in automotive logo designs.

Fonts used in automotive logo designs:

Usually bold and big fonts are used in automotive logo designs. The reason is that the automotive industry is an amazing yet serious industry.

My name is Sania, media and corporate contact for http://www.logo-brands.com, we believe in making our clients happy by giving them personalized attention 24 hours and an incredible professional service that lives up to their standards.

Most importantly we off 0% risk, $0 to initiate any logo design package http://www.logo-brands.com

I’m not currently a college student. Haven’t been one for awhile…at least in the undergraduate sense of things. But I hang out with college students. I work with college students. And I work full time at a University as the Director of Campus Life (the coolest on-campus job in the world).

Plus…I really like college students.

It’s one of the greatest times in life. When do any of us ever get to hang out with hundreds of friends for four, five…dare I say…six years? It’s like going to camp..except they give you homework and you have to read 800 pages a night.

So if I could sit you down, with a slow drip of coffee being shared between us (intravenously or by the cupful if you prefer), and share some ways that I believe you could not only make the most of your time in college, but really, really enjoy it and succeed at it – here’s what I’d say…

1. Meet people.

One day you’ll walk across a stage, and a very smart looking man or woman in a really nice, long, black gown will hand you a piece of paper that says “Bachelor” (even if you’re a girl!) on it. You’ll graduate from college. Do you know what you’ll remember most?

The relationships you’ve made.

My advice is to meet everyone you can. Be friendly. Smile. Talk to people (not in class…that could be dangerous). Go to places where people hang out and hang out with them. Your friends are what make college special.

Some day you’ll come back to campus as an alumni and the place will feel weird. It will feel different. That’s because all of the people that you were friends with during your college years aren’t there. It’s the same college, but different people. It’s the people that make your experience unique. You are going to make friends that you’ll have for the rest of your life.

Like I said earlier, I work at a University. My boss (yes…he’s smarter than me) is a good friend that I went to college all four years with. It’s been a great relationship for all this time. I don’t know of any other place you create these types of relationships at this age. So get out there. Get busy meeting people.

2. Talk to your professors.

This one continues on with the theme of number 1. Go ahead and do everything you can to meet your professors. Make an appointment with them as soon as it is possible in their schedule. I have discovered that I learned so much more from a professor when I had some kind of personal relationship with them.

Professors are people to. Respect their time and make sure you communicate clearly with them. Don’t waste their time with excuses for not doing the work or simply not showing up to class. The goal here is to establish some type of relationship.

Whenever I think about a subject or content I learned in college it is tied to the face of a professor. If I think of learning German – it’s McKinney; if it’s creative writing – Nelson; if it’s communication – Jackson. My knowledge came from a person more than it came from a book.

One of my favorite movies is Orange County. It’s a story about a high school senior that wants to get into Stanford. He’s enamored with the writings of a certain professor there. When he finally has the chance to meet the professor and sit down and talk with him, it changes his entire perspective. While those types of conversations might be rare in your experience because you go to a large University – seek them out anyway! They’ll be some of the best memories you take from your time in college.

3. If you need help ask for it.

One of the reasons you’re in college is because you don’t know everything. If you can learn to admit that, you’ll be ahead of most freshmen at your school.

Independence messes up most teenagers in that they want to do everything by themselves. So when a moment comes when they can’t do something or don’t know something, there’s an inner struggle. I encourage you to put the pride aside and ask for help.

If you need help in class, get a tutor. If you need directions to the financial aid office, ask for them. If you don’t know how to complete an application for an internship, look for someone who does.

Your school will have people that can proofread your papers, help you learn how to do your laundry the right way, and even give you some good advice on how to stay in shape (because we all need our health!).

Look at it this way: You will become smarter if you ask for help when you need it. If you don’t ask…you’ll remain ignorant. I’m not advocating that you shouldn’t try to find things out on your own. But there comes a time where you’ll discover that learning happens better in the context of “we” and not just “me.” And you might also discover that the best way to meet people is to simply ask, “Hi, would you mind giving me a hand with this?”

4. Get some sleep.

One thing that you have in common with every other person in the world is that each person needs to sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, bad things start happening to your mind and body. I know this is difficult to hear, and I’m probably beginning to sound a bit parental by saying this, but go to bed.

I’ve pulled my share of all-nighters. I’ve had to study, cram, write, and just get it done. I’ve also stayed up too late because I kept losing at Halo and had to play just one more game. Either way, it messed me up for the next day. My body had to play catch up. I wasn’t sharp. If you string enough late nights together, you are not going to be the learning machine that you need to be.

I know you’re young and invincible. But sleep is so necessary. Research says that a night of sleep deprivation is like being mentally impaired by the legal blood-alcohol level. When you don’t get adequate sleep, you’re body ages faster. Sleep also helps to relieve stress…so if you’re stressed out – you may simply need a good nap.

Ultimately, getting enough sleep is a matter of prioritization. Just because you CAN stay up, doesn’t mean you SHOULD stay up. You need to be mature enough to know when you need to get some sleep so that you can be an effective college student.

5. Get organized.

Everyone needs a plan to accomplish all of the things that are required of you in college. It is extremely easy to start living from event to event, assignment to assignment when you’re neck deep into your semester.

My number one piece of advice for getting organized – get a calendar and stick to it, live by it, and look at it everyday. Now there’s lots of types of calendars out there. I like to use Google Calendar. It’s online and I can access it from anywhere. Since I spend a fair bit of time on the computer, it’s always handy. Plus, I’ve got it linked up to my email and the datebook software on my Palm Treo. But that’s my way. I made a choice one day that Google Calendar was going to be MY calendar. You’ve got to decide and stick with it.

Some colleges will provide you with a paper-based calendar like a planner. This may include dates of important events for your college, key deadlines, and class schedules. If you are pen & paper minded, this may be the route for you. I also recommend the Moleskine planner. It’s smaller and easier to carry.

Once you’ve chosen your calendar, you need to get busy putting EVERYTHING into it. That’s right. Put every assignment, every deadline, every part of your extensive social commitments. Remember, you don’t want to be surprised. It’s a horrible feeling to realize that you had a vital paper due yesterday. At the beginning of each semester, sit down with all of your syllabi and fill in that calendar. Set reminders a few days before big projects come due. This will also help you to see when you will have difficult weeks with lots of obligations so you can get cracking ahead of time.

Now that you’ve chosen a calendar, put all your information in it, you’ve got to manage it. At the start of each week, look over the week ahead. KNOW WHAT’S COMING! If you only look at each day as it arrives, you’ll miss opportunities to be excellent.

That’s the beauty of being organized. It creates space for you to do your best work. You know when something is coming and you make the appropriate time to do your best.

6. Have a lot of fun.

This is one of the best parts of college. You are going to have a ton of fun…especially if you follow the other pieces of advice in this article. College is one of the funnest experiences you will ever have. You are living with a lot of other like-minded people who are in the same situation that you’re in. It’s like Survivor (especially in the school cafeteria), but no one gets voted off the island.

I laughed a lot in college. I liked to hang around people who made me laugh and didn’t take themselves so seriously. There were lots of events to attend. My buddies and I would take some great roadtrips during the breaks. There is a lot of freedom to do a lot of things while you’re in college. I chose to have as much fun as was humanly possible.

The other benefit of having fun is that it makes incredible memories. I can remember some phenomenal pranks that have become lore at the college I attended (I won’t say what it is or my own level of involvement because the statute of limitations has yet to expire). While I didn’t play sports in college, I was an intramural animal.

Also, I don’t want you to get the impression that all of the fun occurred outside of the classroom. When you discover what you’re unique strengths are and land in a major that falls in line with your passions, learning becomes tremendously fun. I can remember projects and classes that I really enjoyed and looked forward to them. I think there were some professors who really made learning fun.

I guess with any aspect of college you can make the choice to have fun or to stress out. I encourage you to choose fun – even in the midst of hard work.

7. Get involved.

During the first semester of college, I joined a fraternity. I had to do some really silly things (I have fond memories of onions and “thank you sir, may I have another.”) to join this group, but it changed my entire college experience. When you arrive on campus, there will be a lot of ways that you can get involved in college besides going to class.

Your college has multiple organizations that are centered around social or academic themes. There are clubs and councils that are always looking for new members. You may have a bent toward student leadership and I encourage you to jump in and apply for those positions. It has been proven that those students who get involved in extracurricular activities have a better college experience. They also have a stronger attachment to their school when they become alumni.

I can remember our graduation day from college. When it came time to announce the valedictorian for our class they introduced a student whom none of us recognized. Now don’t get me wrong here…I want you to do all that you can to get good grades and pass your classes. But for our graduating class – the person with the best GPA was an anonymous person. He wasn’t involved in anything. We didn’t know who he was.

Now hear me out. My GPA wasn’t stellar, but I did graduate with a 3.6 in all of my major classes. Not bad. But I also was the Student Body President, was in a fraternity, joined many clubs, worked Security, and lived in a dorm all four years. I wouldn’t trade that for a four-point-whatever and be anonymous.

8. Handle money wisely now.

Right off the bat I must tell you – watch out for credit cards. It is the easiest thing in the world to get suckered into a credit card offer and start charging things on the plastic. Here’s the catch – you have to pay it all back – with interest.

My advice to you is to avoid the credit card route at all costs while you’re in school. I know that it’s probably unavoidable, so just use them for emergency purposes. Get a card with a LOW limit. Pay those things off every month. If you find you can’t do that, then you shouldn’t be using them. Most college students leave college with debt. There’s the necessary kind that comes from student loans. But it’s really hard to graduate in a financial hole because you have credit card debt.

With the money you do actually have, I think it’s wise to learn how to budget. Start a savings account. Learn how to balance your checkbook and do that every month. Bounced checks are no fun. The goal here is to live within your means. You may not have as much as other students. That’s alright. You are a college student and you’re supposed to be broke.

If you are in desperate need of cash, go to your college’s career center. They typically have a listing of odd jobs that students can do to get some income. Another thing you can do is to benefit from the ability to borrow rather than own. You don’t have to personally have everything, just know some of the people that do. When you live in a dorm, you begin to understand how easy it is to share. I remember that I looked better in my roommate’s sports jacket than he did. Don’t be a mooch. But learn to share what you have with others and you’ll find that they’re more willing to share what they have with you.

If you spend less money than you bring in…you’ll be in good shape.

9. Learn to write well.

One of the lessons I’ve learned from Scott Ginsberg is that “writing is the basis of all wealth.” I think he’s on to something there. I would add that writing is the basis of your success in college. While you are a college student, you will read A LOT. But you will also be required to write A LOT. Your writing skills are a KEY factor in how your work will be perceived by a professor.

You can have the best content in the world, but if you aren’t able to deliver that through good writing, your work will get lost in the translation. I am surprised how many college students can’t spell, don’t know how to structure a sentence properly, and use poor grammar. If you struggle with writing, then I encourage you to re-read #3. You must get this one down.

One of the reasons that I started this site (CollegeStudentsRule!.com) is to help college students become better communicators. If you can write better, your work will be better. If your work is better, your grades will be better. I realize that you may be the best person in your class at text messaging…but those little acronyms don’t hold up too well under a professor’s scrutiny.

Along with writing, I would encourage you to take a typing course. The computer is here to stay and if you are typing with two fingers, you’re wasting time. I think that you should work to be able to type at least 60 words a minute. Faster would be even better. Can you type without looking at the keyboard? This is a skill that won’t only benefit you in college, but in the workforce as well.

One final note on writing well is in regards to proofreading. Please don’t type out a paper and print it out and turn it in. Think in terms of drafts. If you turn a first draft into a professor, he or she will know that it’s a first draft. This post that I’m writing won’t be published until the third or fourth draft. It would be even better if you could get someone else to proofread your work. That person will probably catch mistakes that you can’t see.

10. Get out of the country you’re in.

This is an idea that is becoming more and more realistic in our day and age. At our University, opportunities to study abroad are growing each year. We also offer short-term mission opportunities to other countries. There are so many ways for students to experience other cultures.

Our world is becoming more globally focused. In some ways it’s shrinking. Companies are branching out across national boundaries. Any type of experience you can have outside of your home country will benefit you in your career and perspective on life. If you can get somewhere…go for it. You are young and you don’t have many of the responsibilities yet that could tie you down to your local geographical area.

I understand that some of you may have difficulty (financially or otherwise) getting out of your country. If that’s the case, find ways to learn about other cultures (watch the National Geographic Channel). But nothing beats actually going there and walking on foreign soil and being immersed in another culture.

11. Keep growing.

It may seem obvious to you that you would be growing since you’re in college. But I meet a lot of college students who gain knowledge, but don’t gain growth. I guess I’m talking about maturity. There are many experiences that you’ll have in college that can help you to grow up if you’ll let them.

Current research says that adolescence is being pushed farther out – to the mid 20′s. They are calling it delayed adulthood. Many young adults are simply pushing back some of the major decisions: marriage, career, home purchasing, etc – to later in life. But being young doesn’t mean you have to be immature.

There are many ways to grow outside of the classroom. Life has a way of providing it’s own type of classroom. Each of us has an opportunity to grow emotionally, relationally, spiritually, psychologically, and physically. Take the experiences you have in life and spend time reflecting on how you can use those to become a better person. Growth isn’t an automatic process. It takes work and it takes time. Use these exciting years in college to develop yourself.

It’s exciting to watch Seniors walk across the stage at graduation and remember what they were like when they came in as Freshman. There is so much potential that is wrapped into each one. I love being apart of the process of unlocking that potential during their time in college. That’s why I’ve written this article. If there’s something here that you find helpful, then I’ve succeeded. As with any list, there’s so much more that could be added.

Tim Milburn develops student leaders through his organization, Studentlinc. Please visit Studentlinc at http://www.studentlinc.net. You can subscribe to the Studentlinc blog by following this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/studentlinc. Also, check out Tim’s latest project College Students Rule! [http://www.collegestudentsrule.com]

You’ve never been into hiking, your spouse has never been into hiking, and you’ve never taken your children hiking. But you’re planning on visiting a national park, and you want to be able to hike the trails to be able to see the sites. Or, you want to get out with the family, and you’ve decided that a great way to do this is to hike. Both of these are excellent reasons to start hiking together as a family. Hiking together can also have other benefits, such as increased family bonding and great memories that you and your children will take home with you, not to mention that it’s a great way to get exercise.

I am part of a large family, and we’ve hiked together for years. Part of this is due to the fact that our parents love to hike, but another part of it is that we enjoy walking together and seeing new and interesting places. However, it can be daunting to try and figure out how to get all of the children to the end of the trail and back again. In this article, I will try and explain how to hike with a large family. Remember, however, that this is from my own experience, and that your experience will likely be different than mine. Mix and match my ideas and your own ideas and expectations to create something that will work for your family.

Preparation

We didn’t wake up one day and say, “Hey, let’s start hiking 10-mile trails.” This has to be worked up to, especially if you are hiking with several children. When we first started, we were walking the 400 ft. to overlooks. As we grew, our abilities grew, and we began hiking longer and longer trails.

Therefore, you will need to work up to hiking long distances. This can be accomplished by walking on local trails that are somewhat similar to the longer trails you plan to do later. For example, you can begin by walking mile or for a certain amount of time (such as 1 hour) and then work up to longer trails and longer timeframes. This will also help the parents gage the abilities of their children, and help them select trails that are not above their own abilities. Great places to hike are local parks, state parks, rails-to-trails areas (these are flat and often easy to walk on but usually lack nice views), and other local wild areas that have trails. The internet is a great resource for finding trails in your area. In this article, when I talk about “hiking”, I mean walking trails that are at least a mile long. This information may also be useful for shorter distances, but in general this information applies better to longer trails.

Gaging Your Children’s Abilities

When hiking with your children, assess their abilities as well as their desires. Do they simply not want to go any further when they say they’re tired after the first 10 minutes? Or are they really not up to a long hike? This takes discernment on the part of the parents, and understanding the children. A good attitude on the part of the older children and parents helps: I have found that if the older children think this is some kind of cool adventure, the younger children are often more than happy to join in on the excitement. However, remember that the point of hiking is not to have a forced march that no one enjoys. By having hiked with your children before and understanding their abilities, you can choose trails that are within your children’s ability, but that perhaps push them just slightly further…and then a little further…so that it builds their ability slowly.

You may find that the older children are far more capable than the younger children at hiking long distances. This is not surprising. After all, they have to take two or even three steps to every one of your own! However, this does not mean that you must carry the child. I feel so sorry for the parents I see who are still carrying their 5-year-old. The parent is huffing and puffing, and the child is just there for the ride. We usually carried our children until they were about three years old, and then eased them into hiking on their own, or holding the hand of an older child or adult. Even after that, though, we would occasionally carry a child if they had been hiking a very long time and were tired.

Another way to keep the younger children hiking is to tell them stories. The parents can do this, as can the older children. Some of the younger children can also tell their own, although most of ours preferred listening to the ones we came up with. Stories can be classics like “The Three Little Pigs” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, or you can make up your own.

Older children can be very helpful with the younger children. I really enjoyed carrying my younger siblings, even if I was only 11 and they were 1. Later, when several of us were older (13+), we did all the carrying of the younger children, and our parents rarely carried any children, even on long hikes. Even if they can’t carry a child, older children (6+) can walk with their younger siblings, helping them along the way, holding their hands, encouraging them to keep going, and so on. Often we’d just end up helping them, but sometimes we would be assigned a child, like, “Ok, until the next rest break, you get to walk with your youngest brother” or something like that. If your family has a buddy system, this is a great place to use it. Sometimes children like to run ahead on trails. This may be fine in some situations, especially if the children are older, but you may want to restrain them by, for example, telling them not to go out of sight of you.

What to Take With You

The age of your children and the length of the hike will determine exactly what you need to take with you. For example, if you have very young children, you will need to take diapers, wipes, formula (if you use it), etc. for them. You may even have to dedicate a backpack to this type of stuff. Some baby backpacks come with pockets for such things, but I have never found these to work very well. Also, if you’re taking a longer hike, you’ll need to bring more food and water than if you are taking a shorter hike.

Probably the most important thing to take on a hike is water. This is especially true if the weather is hot or you are hiking in dry areas such as the American southwest. In such weather or areas, it is very easy to dehydrate, so bring plenty of water for each person. We have a plastic refillable bottle (16-oz.) for each person. These are easy to refill and transport on the trail. On very long hikes (8+ miles) we bring extra water in a small water jug (1-gallon) which fits into a daypack.

Another very important item to bring is food. “An army marches on its stomach” and so do hikers, especially children. Small snacks can make the difference between making it back to the parking area in a reasonable time and dragging the children for hours on the last mile. The packs can be heavy in the beginning, but everyone will be thankful for the food later in the day.

Who should carry this stuff? Well, it will depend on the age of your children, in part. Older children (6+) can carry daypacks with food, water, or other items in them. This is especially helpful if the parents need to carry smaller children. Another option is for one parent to carry a child and the other to carry some of the food, etc. See what works for you. We nearly always take at least five packs to spread out the weight between as many people as possible (usually this means the five oldest children are carrying backpacks). The water bottles themselves usually get spread over two packs, or each person carries his or her own.

Hiking as a family can be a fun experience for everyone, especially when there are many of you to enjoy it together. However, each family is different and will need to figure out what works best for them. Once you have worked out what works best for you, you can enjoy many hours of walking and enjoying the outdoors together as a family.

Anne W is a travel writer who has written extensively about destinations in the continental US and traveling on a budget. She describes herself as “A passionate hiker who craves beautiful vistas.” To this end she travels around the country searching out unique destinations and hiking trails for her website, Anne’s Travels. For hiking trails and more travel information, visit http://www.annestravels.net/