Adventurers Club: A Non-Adventure with Wally

Wally relaxes and reminisces about the Adventurers Club

- by Walter Octavius March, February 7, 2011

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KUNGALOOSH!

My fellow adventurers, what a couple of exciting wanders we've had, eh?

First that rhino, then the pirates - oh boy, I haven't had that much back-to-back excitement since I saved a whole team of dogs from going over a cliff, and then I had to free a baby beluga from the ice later that same week.

Let me explain what I mean...

I was in Alaska for the Iditarod and one of the mushers asked me to be his shadow. He was ill and wasn't sure if he was going to make it through the race, so I agreed to follow him and ensure that he finished alive.

At one point between Rainy Pass and Rohn, my driver friend lost consciousness, and his team began moving toward the edge of the mountain. Thinking quickly, I cut my own dogs loose and let my sled speed up without the dogs to slow me down. I steered toward my friend's wayward dogs.

As I got close, I jumped from my sled and belly-whopped down the frozen tundra and grabbed the lead dog's harness, slowing him and changing his direction.

After I woke my friend and made sure he was alright, we gathered my dogs. Even though he was officially out of the race, I helped him pilot his dogs toward Nome.

A few days later, as we were sledding between Koyuk and Elim, I noticed something in the frozen water in the Kwiniuk Inlet. Moving toward it, I found it was a small beluga whale that must have been separated from its pod. Quickly, I made my way across the ice with nothing but my knife which I used to chisel out an area around the whale as I talked soothingly to it.

When I had gotten all the way around its body, I gently pushed down on the cut-out and helped it dive beneath the frozen water. A little while later I saw the majestic beast breach and knew that it was going to be just fine.

I last told this story at the Adventurers Club in Downtown Disney. I loved that place! But if you are looking for it nowadays, you won't find it.

My Adventurers Club on Pleasure Island has been closed down and boarded up. With this fantastic building shuttered, my friends have scattered around the world, but I still have my memories. I remember the people, their stories, and the excitement that filled the air as I told my adventures.

For example, I remember drinking a Kungaloosh on the night that I helped Merriweather Pleasure pronounce the Club Motto. I can still hear his words ringing in my ears. And since that night, I have tried to live my life by those words: "Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you, but always dress for the hunt!"

Some of my favorite days, not on safari, were spent in that wonderful place, with those wonderful people. I recall repeating the Adventurers Club Creed on the night I joined:

We climb the highest mountains,
just to get a better view.
We plumb the deepest oceans,
because we're daring through and through.
We cross the scorching desert,
martinis in our hand.
We ski the polar ice caps,
in tuxedos looking grand.
We are reckless, brave, and loyal,
and valiant to the end.
If you come in here a stranger,
you will exit as a friend.
KUNGALOOSH!

I remember sitting in the Library with Sutter Bestwick and Chilton Thompson discussing important matters of the day as Fingers Zambezi played for us. I enjoyed my days with Otis T. Wren discussing the fish of the world. I even relished my times with that blow-hard Hathaway Brown as we discussed the ladies we had known. But my fondest memory will be the last night I was in the Adventurers Club.

It was a Tuesday night. Otis and Pamelia were broadcasting an episode of 'Tales of the Adventurers Club'. I always enjoyed listening to them and their broadcasts, and that night they had people listening all over the room and even some outside in the hallway.

After their show and a few refreshments, my good friend and fellow Adventurer Emil Bleehall asked to speak with me in the Mask Room. As we got there, our conversation was interrupted by Arnie and Claude (the talking masks). Those two cracked me up! I wonder what became of them.

Ah, well, back to my final visit...

After Emil and I left the Mask Room, we made our way to the Main Salon where Emil told me about a gem that had been found in the desert near Morocco.

The gem was supposed to be as big and as important as the Hope Diamond. The Colonel even chimed in that he had heard about it. Emil told me that he planned to leave the following week and hopefully find more of the same gems.

Never one to steal another's adventure, I bid him good luck but wondered aloud if I could go to Morocco and share his adventure. He welcomed me along, saying it would be a very nice surprise and that he would see me there. As I bid him adieu that night, I told him that I would see him Casablanca.

I never saw him again

He never showed in Casablanca and when I got back here to Pleasure Island, the Club and my friends were all gone. I did hear that Emil and Pamelia are planning to open another Adventurers Club of their own. I heard this news from Otis Wren. And after hearing it, I do recall that Otis and Emil and I were always the three fighting it out for the Adventurer of the Year and the Balderdash Cup.

So, maybe this is why Emil sent me away on a wild gem chase and hasn't been available since I returned from my many African adventures. His loss is your gain, because had I been with him, I wouldn't be Wandering Disney's wonderful World.

Hmmmm, hmmm, hmmm - Sorry! As I was finishing my drink, I started to hum the Club Song; if you know it sing along:

Marching Along
We're Adventurers Singing Song
of Adventures
Up or Down
North or South
East or West
An Adventurer's Life is Best!

Until next time, KUNGALOOSH! And keep your eyes open for Adventure!

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