successfully navigated his first hurdle

I think I would have said negotiated his first hurdle.

And all the heat in the universe
Is gonna cool down,
'Cos it can't increase
Then there'll be no more work
And there'll be perfect peace

So, then, since heat is energy, and energy is heat, when all the heat finally cools down, where will all the energy go? Since there can never be any more or less energy than there is now (in this universe, anyway).
I really wanna know.

"There is no stoppage and never can be stoppage,
If I, you, and the worlds, and all beneath or upon their surfaces,
were this moment reduced back to a pallid float, it would
not avail in the long run,
We should surely bring up again where we now stand,
And surely go as much farther, and then farther and farther.

A few quadrillions of eras, a few octillions of cubic leagues, do not
hazard the span or make it impatient,
They are but parts, any thing is but a part.

See ever so far, there is limitless space outside of that,
Count ever so much, there is limitless time around that."

--Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

(hey, thanks, Walt, that's a good start!)