Wyoming.

Filed under: Blog

It’s like a massive golf course.

Another “eghh”.

Filed under: Blog

So we drove 14 hours yesterday, camped the night in the car in Colorado Springs (hooray Walmart), and woke up at 6am this morning. It was 32 degrees, and REI and the Garden of the Gods visitor center didn’t open until 9. A bit of cold exploring GoG (which is really beautiful, by the way), didn’t really like what I saw climbing-wise. I read online that the protection wasn’t great, and that there is another crag across the highway, the Red Rocks Open Space. Apparrently the place was made by sport climbers by me who wanted good protection. After peeking at the guidebook when the Visitor center opened, we hiked out. The first wall had routes that must have been about 20 feet tall, and slanted. Pathetic climbing. Slab sandstone, eghh. We found another wall with routes, although no idea what the grades were. I decided to try one. I saw a line of bolts and 2 anchors at the top, so I started climbing. After about bolt 7 I got a good look at the anchors at the top. No rappel rings. But of course. Which means that I would have to top out, make a toprope, clean my gear on the way down, and then hike up to the top to get the toprope down. As soon as I made that realization I got to a part of the route where all the holds had broken off. Egh, sandstone. I fell a few times, breaking a few more holds off, and killed my spirits (I also educated a group of little teen climbers doing a class what a lead fall looked like. Oh yeah.) At that point I had to downclimb some 50 feet and clean all my gear off, which was awfully difficult to do on sandstone. By the time I got down I just did not want to climb anymore, so we chased some geese around trying to get them to pose for a midair picture and hit the road. Boulder, CO just has a ton of trad and bouldering, so we may hit up some climbing spots in Spokane.
Anywho, after half a rotissere chicken apiece, Mike and I are aiming to see how close to Spokane we can get in one go. Only 15 hours left.

Across the US again.

Filed under: Blog

Basically exactly what it sounds like. Washington, here I come!

Another day, another place.

Filed under: Blog

Sooooo, tonight I find myself in my sister’s apartment in Austin. How do I find myself there, you might ask? Well, let me tell you a story.

There once was a nice man named Trent. One day when the sun was shining he painted a fence for his granny for like 7 hours straight. His head then decided to punish him with a migrane that seriously rated an 8 on the Worst Migraine Ever scale. The next day he got up and decided that despite the nice weather the last thing in the world he wanted to do that day was paint more fence. So he drove to Austin to visit his sister.

The End.

Compelling, huh? I thought so too. Brings me to tears every time.

Today was a fun day though. I finally got to sleep around 2 after a few ibuprofen kicked in, woke up with the migraine almost gone, and headed to Austin. Stopped at a Starbucks in Bee Caves for some WiFi, finally figured out my itenerary for flying back from Washington in May (woooo), then met Kristin at her apartment in Austin. We went grocery shopping at HEB, where I left my sister and her friend speechless with my unending wisdom and knowledge of grocery stores. No, I’m not bragging. I’m not proud of that. We made chicken salad back at her place, and then headed to the Greenbelt for a picnic lunch. Many un-upload-able pictures and skipped stones later, headed back. After a couple trips to shifty gas stations for gas and ice cream, we watched an episode of House and called it a night. Well, she did. I lied and then went out to the couch to type this. Feel special, my viewers. I am willing to lie to keep you updated and entertained.

Anywho, now it’s time for more House. ‘Cause it’s that awesome.

-T

Boo for rain.

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I’m sittin’ out on the front porch with Grandma. She’s telling me stories from before I was born. Its been humid and rainy all day, so no painting. I sat around all morning, we went to Schlotzkys (sp?) for lunch, home depot, walgreens, post office, etc. Got back and sat around more. The weather finally looked like it was dry, but as soon as I got dressed and outside it started raining again. Got on my bike from when I was 8, went out for a ride, and found a drilled out rock wall by the side of the road. Had a nice run-in with the local cops, apparently someone had called in about me “looking bad”. Yay for small town folk. He checked me out and let me go, and with that ended the most exciting part of my day yet. So now it’s porch time. Tomorrow morning might be sunny! Hoo-rah.

That’s all for now, folks.
-T

Woot for paint.

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So here I am at night 3 at my grandmas house. My hands are covered in burgundy primer and my back hurts. Yayyyy.

I woke up Monday and drove down here, arrived mid-evening. Tuesday morning I started sanding all the rust off the fence I’m painting. Finished sanding and washed the whole fence by 1, siesta, got the rust preventative on by dinner time. We went out to the Tall Texan for dinner and listened to an old drunk guy talk on his cell at the bar. This morning we went to town and got paint and groceries, and I got started taping. Tried painting, but it was too windy and hot so the paint dried too fast. More siesta, mowed the lawn, and got started painting again by 7. Went a lot better, except for the fact that it took 3 hours to paint about 15 feet of fence. I’m gonna be here a while.

I took some cool pictures (been working on my self-photography skills) and bought a new camera body on eBay. I would upload the pictures, but my 7 year old camera is not supported by Windows 7. I figured it out to where I can sell my current one and the accessories with the new one and spend like $30 on a +2 model upgrade. Canon Rebel 400D (XTi), for anyone who cares. I’m gonna get a 2.5″ screen, USB 2.0, 4 more megapixels, a faster card write speed, 2.7 frames/second, and a bigger buffer. Exciting, huh?

Anywho, I’m gonna try to fall asleep on this mattress that my back does not like. Yayyyy.

-T

3 of 41

Filed under: Blog

It’s been three days already, but busy ones. Not exactly to say that I have a lot to show from them, more that I just definitely have not been bored. I slept for a few, finally got the truck unpacked/cleaned, and the topper off, and got my room set up here. Went to visit an old HS teacher with Corey (she wasn’t there), and ended up getting free burgers at Scotty P’s, which is always a good start to a day. Went to FOCUS Thursday night and got to see everyone, which was also fun. Another long nights sleep in a real bed, followed by one on the floor at Matt’s house after a fun LAN party. Not much LANing was done, mostly due to Matt’s computer not working. Walmart being the only story open at 3am (and not selling power supplies) made that problem somewhat unfixable. I slept most of today and then hung out at Seth’s house for a little poker time. Tomorrow is another planned out day– church, bike-fixing with Seth, Lifetime, CORE, and packing to go to Austin on Monday.
Woohoo, regular life. How I missed thee.

Oh, I really need to upload the last chunk of pictures, too. Not that typing that is going to make me get up and do it, but it will at least alert all my readers that more are on the way. At some point.

There aren’t any lemons, but I can sure make a mean lemonade.

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I’ve been back for almost 12 hours already, and I’ve already got plans to go across the country again. Funny how life works, eh?

Trips:
-Austin, TX to work for my grandmother/help sister move (soon)
-Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, AR for a few days of awesome climbing w/ David and Sebastian (sometime)
-Riding along with Mike, a buddy from school, on his trip home to Seattle, WA (which, don’t quote me on this, but may include a day trip through Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs if I get my way) and flying back (May 7-11)
-Driving or flying out to Prescott, AZ for my summer camp counselor job (May 25- Aug 1)

Looks like I can’t get rid of that map just yet.

-T

Home, James. Home.

Filed under: Blog

Hey everyone. Sorry for disappearing for a few days. I had an unexpected change of heart from my climbing partner Nathan. Not being able to climb solo or afford the rest of the trip by myself, I had to cut the trip short and head home.

Obviously the website will no longer be used as a travel log, but I have enjoyed posting and will use the site as a personal blog relating to events surrounding my life as they come. This is a great way to communicate on a large scale with all of my friends and readers and I hope you continue to be apart of my blog as I continue updating.

You can’t beat the odds of a double sided coin, I suppose.

-T

Day and a half.

Filed under: Blog

Yesterdays totals:
7 hours of sleep
7 miles of hiking over 5 hours
700 feet of climbing over 8 hours up 7 pitches
100+ harness adjustments
6 shoe removals
1 hour of rappelling
4 bagels
1 bag trail mix
1 ziploc cold fettuchini (sp?) pasta
16 energy bars
1 gallon of water
5 different taped blisters on my feet
4 minutes of photo exposure (8 pictures @30sec) on the trail back
3 different mice trying to eat our food
2 gallons of water via camp shower in 60-degree windy picnic area
4 outside temperature changes over 30 degrees (3 due to altitude changes)

1 long, fun day.

Haha, that looks like a Visa commercial. I’m not that lame. No, really.

Anywho, today (rest day!) I decided I didn’t want to drive anywhere. So I walked to church, and now I’m wandering around via Las Vegas bus system (a bargain at $5/day).
Gotta keep life interesting

-T