Roadtrip gone EPIC

I'm sitting in Macy's Coffee Shop in Flagstaff, AZ, going about my usual routine... Checking email, harassing people on Myspace, looking up weather in Moab; Great Falls, MT; Calgary, Canada; Tok, AK (high of 7 degrees!); Anchorage, AK; Seward, AK; Vancouver, Canada; Seattle...Checking out maps of my possible routes north, finding out which cities have Hostels I can stay in if it's too cold to camp...

My intentions were innocent enough from the start. Visit Maria in Flagstaff. Hang around Arizona and Utah, see some new sights, maybe visit Tim at CO National Monument. Be back the 9th or 10th. But sometimes, plans change.

Now, with the blessings of many friends and family, a few useful phone numbers of people along the way, it looks like I just might be on my way on an epic journey across the US, British Columbia, and... Alaska.

Crazy?? No. Maria and I decided we are both at huge "crossroads" and sometimes, travel is the best therapy. In 7 weeks I will have a puppy; next spring I may have a term position with the Park Service; right now, what do I have?? No commitments. Lots of spare time. A little bit of money to spend. And really... why not??

We'll see just how far I get. I'm going to take my time, see the sights, camp when it's not too cold, stay in hostels when I can't camp, and make this the roadtrip of a lifetime. I've wanted to do this since high school, and although Steve can't come with me like we used to dream of, it will still be EPIC. It's not even so much about the destination, but the journey. I might not make it; I might turn around at Glacier National Park. Who knows. But I'll try to keep ya'll updated along the way. When I can, I'll stary with my photos from Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

Now, off to Moab!

PUPPY!

Got my first baby picture of my puppy! Well, ok it's one of two that I will probably pick from - I do have pick of the litter, SWEET - but he's only a week old. Really not much to see but a fat little black body, but it's SOOOOOO  CUTE!

Probably going to name him Logan, but my mom said it's a good name for my first born son... if I ever have kids... And I have to agree, I'm kindof keen on Logan! ;)  But that's way off in the distance, ha ha. (To my poor mom's dismay; I think she's getting used to the idea of having grand-puppies instead of grand-children!)

I just rode my motorcycle the 1/2 hr from Boulder to Lyons back from the shop, she runs like a DREAM! But did I mention it's all of ohhhhh 35 degrees outside at MOST; throw in the shade and the wind; my fingers literally HURT from thawing out. I thought I was going to lose at lease one of them. Needless to say, I don't exactly have the right gear to ride in anything colder than this (nor do I have the desire to do so!). The windshield on would have helped; finding my warmer gloves would have helped; not having it break down in the first place would have helped a lot! But they did some stuff to it to make it run better here at altitude and it needed to get done anyway.

Time for a warm shower. It will hurt too much if it's hot. ;)  I've got puppies on my mind and can't wipe the grin off my face!!!

Bachelorette night at home

Yep, that's right. Tim's out of town. I'm watching a CHICK FLICK. Failure to Launch. So far, pretty freaking funny for a chick flick. I've decided I really like Zooey Deschanel - as an actress, and as the bitter beer drinking roomie in this movie. The cynicism is right up my alley. ;)

Found out tonight that one of my friend's wives has the same heart condition I do - mitral valve prolapse. She's younger than me and her symptoms can be much worse than mine... but she explained a lot of things that the docs never told me. So hey, maybe it will get worse, maybe it will stay the same... but I'm not gonna stop doing what I do - firefighting, mountain climbing, getting into trouble - and if it freakin' kills me so be it! At least I'm having fun. ;)

Motorcycle is fixed! I went down to Boulder to pay for my bike (picking it up tomorrow) and they started her up... and boy she sounds freakin' fantastic! I didn't know my bike could sound so good. Bob's Motorcycle Shop did a great job.

Just found that they updated the Bassetts Fire webpage with a lot of really sweet photos - not from anybody I know, but they are definitely worth looking at!

I didn't take this but it's a pretty neat picture of the fire before dawn.

Besides that, just looking forward to visiting Maria in Flagstaff this weekend!

 

Hillbilly Ball and puppy news

Bettie Page

Paul and I at the Hillbilly Ball

The Halloween party at the Rock Inn was fantastic! Here's a few pictures from that, and from visiting Matt at Keystone. Whitewater Ramble played and there were some fantastic costumes - the winner was dressed as Steve Irwin... complete with a sting ray coming out of his chest. Yeah, it's a little twisted but at least we all knew who he was. Needless to say, most people didn't know who Bettie Page was, but those who did said I looked just like her. It was just fun running around with a riding crop and 6" stilettos, ha ha!

My puppy was born on Wednesday, but unfortunately there were no solid blacks. There are some very dark ones and that's fine by me, and it might look like Scout, one of their other dogs:

I'll get to pick one out in about 4 weeks, take it home in 8. Woo hoo!

I was so psyched my friend Matt was in Keystone, and even more pumped for that snow storm we got! Matt had tried to warn me before I drove out there, telling me to be careful in the snow. I just figured there were some flurries or something on Loveland Pass... I showed up at the Inn at Keystone and still had no idea. We sat in the bar next door to the hotel, drank a little bit, shared shots of Jim Beam, and caught up on the last year of our lives. The Avalanche were on tv - LOSING! - and then the Wings came on - WINNING! - and somebody mentioned the huge snowstorm we were supposed to get.

"What snowstorm?"

Matt laughed and said "What, you thought I was just talking about some flurries, that I don't know what a lot of snow is since I'm not from Colorado?! We're getting hammered tonight!"

And we sat in the bar, laughing and drinking and remembering the past and musing over the strange places we seem to cross paths... watching the snow pile up... I tried really hard to convince him to blow off the training he was in town for and hit the slopes at A-Basin instead. All that fresh powder...!! And what goes better with a late night blizzard than hot tubbing?! The front desk guy said that hot tubs are required to close at 10 pm in Colorado (seems strange to me)... I pleaded that well that's just silly, I'm sure there's some way to get some hot tubbing in, and he was cool enough to mention that "Well, the nigh man already made his rounds...I'm the only one here at the front desk... And the locals, well they just jump the walls!"

Cool guy. ;)

We went downstairs and poached the outdoor hot tub, snow piling up outside. I love this time of year!

The next day Matt had to go to training and I was going back up to Estes. Of course, when I tried to leave is when I found out I-70 was closed! Darn, I was forced to snowboard at Arapahoe until it opened. ;)  I went back to Estes that evening; I was going to go back down to Keystone on Friday night, and hoped Matt was coming up to Estes for the Hillbilly Ball, but plans changed and we didn't get to meet up again. It was still great to see him though, and we joked about the next place we're going to hang out... Alaska? Maui? Always an adventure, that's for sure!

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Here's the link to the photos from the party and a few from Keystone/Arapahoe Basin. Shutterfly is being stupid and won't load correctly so I'm back to Trekshare. I have pictures all over the freakin' internet!!

 

Fire and Ice News

A few newsworthy items of interest:

A California wildfire killed 4 firefighters and 1 is still in critical condition - I guess it's the deadliest wildfire since 2001. Very sad to hear, but these things do happen. I did get a couple text messages from people I haven't talked to in a while, making sure I wasn't down there. Thanks guys.

My friend Matt from Virginia (we were in the same program at U of M) is out at Keystone for training, so I went out to visit him (back to the same area that I was this past weekend - a 2 hour drive to Arapahoe area)... he asked if I was ready for the snow... to which I replied, "What snow?"

Shortly after that conversation, we sat in the bar in excitement and anticipation as a blizzard covered everything with about 1 1/2 feet of snow all night. I had absolutely no idea. I guess it's the biggest October snowstorm to hit in years. Rocky Mountain got 2 feet; Tim says Bear Lake got 2-3 feet.

The next day, I was going to come back up to Estes. Needless to say, the freeway was shut down. Know what I did? Went riding (however ungracefully) at A-Basin again. ;)  Life is good, friends, life is good. I'll put a few pictures up when I get a chance.

In the meantime, I'm supposed to go back to Keystone tonite to party with Matt some more, but I'm tired of driving so I might just go back on Saturday morning, snowboard all day, then come back and go to the Halloween Party at the Rock Inn. Trying to convince Matt to go too - and his 6 other coworkers. Tim is leaving for Colorado National Monument on Sunday night (after we watch the Eagles game, of course) and will be gone for 2 weeks, so I might just stay in tonite and watch Northern Exposure with him. ;)  I am going to Flagstaff on the 4th to visit Maria; she is defending her thesis soon though so just going to make it a short visit, then putz around Arizona for a couple days, then maybe see tim at the Monument. I'm so busy! But I am finally getting rid of Verizon and going to Cingular, so I can actually answer my damn phone! Woo  hoo!

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This just in: Puppies were born!! I don't know if there are anyblacks, but there are 7 male and 2 female. I'm a mommy! ;)

Here's a picture off the website of the first male born.