A World Traveller Visits

Jennifer Travels the World

(Rotarian Frank Berndt thanks Jennifer with a donation to the polio eradication effort of Rotary International.)

Jennifer McCague, Rotarian Kelly's cousin, is a local girl.  She was born in Alliston and raised on a dairy farm just outside of town.  She is a librarian at a local elementary school and believes strongly in volunteering and giving back to the community.  She is a third generation McCague to be a member of the Alliston Lions Club and has been the only female president, taking the position fifty years after her grandfather served in the same capacity.

Jennifer is a marathon runner and triathlete who recently completed an Ironman competition.  She is always planning her next trip and always training for her next race.  She has crossed the Antarctic Circle and the Arctic Circle and told us a little about those exciting trips.

In order to reach Antarctica, Jennifer began her trip in South America.  Upon arrival she discovered that her luggage had been lost and no one knew where she was because there was no internet and no WiFi.  She quickly learned about the kindness of strangers who helped her out when they could.  She travelled to Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Brazil to see her friend Jennifer Bertram and to hike in the rain forest, Chile, and Easter Island.  She kept a blog so her friends and especially her students could follow her travels.  When her students saw her photos of Easter Island, they remarked, "Those stone dudes are so cool..."  Finally she boarded an ice-breaker for Antarctica.  Jennifer had always been struck by the sense of desolation and the remarkable fact that the land is desert-like.  She spent two weeks on the boat, visiting the Antarctic continent as often as the passengers were allowed.  They had to be hosed down as they disembarked and boarded the boat and couldn't carry even a Kleenex tissue, so fragile is the ecosystem there.  Jennifer did manage to cross the Antarctic Circle, even though there were some other things that she couldn't do that she would have liked to have done.  The return trip was very rough and she found out that green apples tend to help prevent nausea!

After that trip, Jennifer decided that she wanted to cross the Arctic Circle as well.  So she started in Finland and ran a marathon which included crossing the Arctic Circle - another dream come true.

Next will come a trip to Poland to visit the POW camp where the Great Escape took place.  Her grandfather was one of several Canadian prisoners of war who were involved in that event.

Jennifer is certainly a young woman on a mission.  She is full of wanderlust and has a huge heart that was made to travel the world!