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Trips to Remember
(Reprinted with permission of The Virginian-Pilot)

Adventure Alternatives takes the word ordinary out of its vacation vocabulary. For some, planning a vacation trip means deciding between the mountains or the shore. With Bob Callahan it is a choice of sea kayaking, bike touring in Nova Scotia, mountain climbing in the Rockies, canoeing in Canada, and/or a combination climb and safari to Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti in Africa. Callahan, 48, is president of Adventure Alternatives, and that is the menu of trips he offers to prospective clients who want to do something a little different for their next vacation.

Whether he is answering the call as a volunteer EMT for Princess Anne Courthouse Rescue 5, doing recreational rappelling on a cliff or taking a group on a wilderness trip, adventure is always present in Callahan's life. During his 30 years as a resident of Virginia Beach, Callahan has been passionate about obtaining the most advanced training in both his profession as an eco-tour guide, and in his volunteer work with the rescue squad. "My training and experience from 15 years of volunteering with Virginia Beach Emergency Medical Services has provided the backbone of my teaching skills," said Callahan.  "I am on the Critical Incident Stress Management regional team and have Advanced Life Support/EMT Cardiac Tech certification. As a result, I feel comfortable about handling just about any type of emergency when I am leading a group of fellow adventurers miles from civilization." Callahan said fortunately he's never had a serious medical emergency on any of his trips.

The other members of the Adventure Alternatives management team are Tim Robinette, executive director, with 20 years experience as an experiential outdoor educator; Troy Day, director of operations, who is a wilderness first responder and coastal kayaking instructor; and Shawn Callahan, Bob's son, who has a degree in outdoor recreation from Ferrum College, and literally grew up in the business. Adventure Alternatives grew out of a wilderness probation program Callahan created for troubled juveniles, called  "Sierra II." He and Robinette are both former probation officers, Callahan in Virginia Beach and Robinette in Chesapeake. The program offers juveniles in trouble an alternative to the standard office visits with a probation officers. Groups of 10 or less have weekly meetings and weekend outings, where they are taught survival skills. They train locally at False Cape State Park or Rudee Inlet in preparation for a wilderness trip, the most popular being Canaveral National Seashore in Florida.

The program was so successful that Callahan and Robinette left their probation officer careers in 1987 and formed Adventure Alternatives in 1992. Both had wilderness guide jobs before they founded Adventure Alternatives. Their new company was hired on a contract basis to continue the wilderness probation training. "As compared to the television program 'Survivors' which is designed to only have one person prevail, our object is teamwork, and team accomplishments," Callahan said. "We want them all to be survivors, not only in the wilderness adventure, but in life. We teach them the African term 'Indabba,' which means 'all becomes one.'"

Corporate tours are becoming a large part of Adventure Alternatives business, with both military and business organizations scheduling wilderness adventures as team-building programs and travel incentives. The third segment of the firm's business is personal or group vacation wilderness adventures. The company has a 15-passenager van that is used to transport both people and equipment on most Eco-Adventure Tours in the United States and Canada, which minimizes the travel costs.

Pete Hangen of Virginia Beach went on a March trip to the Everglades. "We drove straight through in the van," he said, "which was the most tiring part of the trip, but we wanted to maximize our time in Florida. We saw some spectacular wildlife and wilderness terrain. One of the most delightful parts of the trips was the eating. Tim Robinette is a real gourmet chef, and he kept us well fed." The group sleeps on the water in the middle of Tiger Key in the Everglades, on floating platforms called "chickees." After kayaking all day, we had no trouble sleeping."

Both the cost and the physical requirements are tailored to the group. "We have taken family groups, including children," Callahan said, "And we have taken adults who have checked out physically for the rigors of mountain climbing. Whatever the places or objectives, we promise the 'Adventure of a Lifetime," Callahan said.