Technical Support. Lorie McGraw is a web designer from South Carolina.

****2004 Update****

“The American Frontiers experience made me appreciate how fragile the hold is on the lands that I hope will belong to my great grandchildren,” reports South Carolinan Lorie McGraw, South Team Cook for half of the Journey and Computer Techie for the other half. “I have taken that message into the Scouting environment, with increased interest in Leave No Trace training for myself and others and preservation and conservation of our natural resources.

In exploring America’s public lands McGraw found plenty within herself to explore. “Perhaps the most enduring difference that I find in myself is the change of attitude that I have towards the motorized population that uses the public lands and the concept of the ‘5 percenters’ – that 5 percent that abuse the resources and ride off-trail and litter, which then reflects badly on the 95 percent that actually do OHV [Off-Highway Vehicles] responsibly and care about the same issues that I do. The ATV community really impressed me.

McGraw said that she has mixed feelings about the success of American Frontiers. “Sometimes I think that no one saw the National Geographic segments on the trek, but then someone will see me wearing the shirt and ask me if I was on that trek. I think that more media could have been and should have been used. I wish that I could have seen the trekkers on Good Morning America or The Tonight Show. That would have been very cool. It was successful in that the folks that we met and talked to will be changed. And I am changed and emboldened to speak out for public lands. And that sort of education and enlightenment can only be positive.”

“I am forever changed,” said McGraw. “The challenges that I faced will be remembered always. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience for me and I am much richer for it.”