Blink!

I blinked, again.

After leaving LA I took the southern route home. The heat and the end of my summer journey weighed on me. I spent the night in Phoenix and stopped in Tuscon the next morn for a bagel and coffee. I poked around on the computer for anything fun in the area and found Catalina State Park. The park site listed some mountain bike trails and off I went :) I rode some of the 50 year trail and it was stunning! Not the same stunning as the tall, snow capped peaks I had been hanging around but stunning in a way that only the desert can be. The scenery was beautiful, the cactus abundant. After the ride I jumped into the camp showers and cleaned up.

Later that afternoon I was driving through New Mexico when I got a call from the G-man. He sounded excellent. His crew had worked on clearing trail that week as well as the construction of some kind of wall. He sounded absolutely giddy! He also was high from earning the coveted EP award that week. An award they give kids who go above and beyond what is expected. Nice!

I drove into Las Cruces and found the High Desert Brewing Company and had a really great American Pale Ale with some freakin' awesome Green Chili Stew.

I think you are given what you need and you may not always recognize that. I was given what I needed that day...a welcome home to the Southwest that made me appreciate everything she has to offer.

Saturday I plowed through the long Texas stretch of I 10, but because we know how to drive here they let you go 80 mph! I had one brief stopover at a grocery store in Balmorhea that makes killer green chili burritos. I stocked up the cooler for us and my friends the Hartzells. I arrived home around 7 pm and was greeted by my family...a really nice greeting!

My thoughts keep wandering back to the journey this summer. What I learned, what I can take away...I am still processing but I can tell you for me it is about seizing the moment. I don't understand the whole "there is always next year, next time..." Life is short and precious and full of right here, right now moments.

Plus, I love to wander. Wandering seems to throw so many of those right here right now moments at me. I can wander in the mountains, I can wander on road trips, the trick is to be able to wander in my daily life. To seize all those moments everyday. I guess that's what I am still figuring out.

later, rob

The Long and Winding Road...

that leads to your door...

I probably should have updated sooner because now I can't quite remember the last few days. Some of the highlights included stocking the cooler with my favorite beer in the whole wide world in Berkley, taking a run on the beach in Ventura, bed and breakfast at the Sloans (including a jaunt to Griffith Observatory), watching Dave with his master plumbing skills and impressive tool box fix the toilet!


I am in Arizona today plowing my way through the 113 degree temps back to the much cooler Austin, Texas!

later gater, rob

Bend or Bust

I spent quite a lovely day yesterday in Bend. I ran errands in the morning and found a hacky sack that should work for the G-man. I wrote some letters home and got everything mailed off. After, I headed down to the river. The Deschutes in Bend is kinda like Town Lake in Austin. It runs through the city and has an awesome hike & bike trail that goes along side. I treated myself to a nice, easy 6 mile run. I broke my bike and decided I should run anyway so Gilbert doesn't yell at me next week :)

The temps were quite toasty here yesterday (somewhere around 80-85 degrees) so naturally I had to take a dip in the river when I was done. Aftre, I broke open the cooler and had lunch by the water. Sometime during lunch I realized that the Deschutes Brewery was only a few blocks away and the last tour of the day was soon happenin'! I finished quickly and headed over to the brewery. That was fun! Right off the bat they give you 2 samples of beer, your choice to walk the tour with :) I opted for their Inversion IPA since I have never seen that before and their Black Butte Porter 22, something you can't get in bottles. The tour was way cool and then...we got more beer!!! I opted for the Spelt Beer cause that sounded cool and something else I can't remember.

After the tour was done I headed over to 10 Barrel brewery, a very local beer pub in Bend. It was ladies night which meant a buck off their beers. They were also having a big, ladies bike race and there was betting and door prizes and all sorts of fun stuff going on. The crowd was huge and fun and I ended up winning a water bottle and cage for my broken bike.
I crashed last night in the national forest and am currently having coffee and a yummy pastry at Sparrow Bakery. I start the long journey home today. Looks like the Sloan pull is too strong and I will be taking the southern route home :)

later gater, rob

Parent's day and more...

So Saturday night was parent's day for the Northwest Youth Corps. Originally the G-man had broken the news to me in his oh-so-subtle way that he didn't really want me to come to it. "It's gonna be too hard for you Mom" I believe was his excuse. Turns out the big guy had a big case of the homesick blues, and he was hungry and had run out of cash, but that is besides the point :) I arrived early and had to wait just a bit for all the buses to arrive from the Saturday rec trip. As soon as my boy saw me he gave me a huge hug and I think we both had a little tear in our eyes! I had brought him a watermelon, a loaf of banana bread, a giant bag of Lays BBQ chips (his personal request), a dozen cupcakes, glow stick bracelets for his crew, a couple of books (Stranger in a Strange Land, John Cheever's short stories and something else I can't remember), a ball with a tail, cash and some lollipops.

I saw his tent and immediately started hyperventilating!! (Think 14 year old boy mess times 5). We spent a couple of hours just holding hands and walking around the area. He told me all about his experience so far. The work hadn't been nearly as hard as he thought it was going to be. He mostly gets along with everyone. He spent a good deal of his money on toilet paper and paper towels. (If you know my son you will believe it!) He had been more homesick than he thought he was going to be.

Garrett had earned several nicknames already...Tex was the one I heard a lot of his friends call him. He also was stylin' a pretty fancy Mo Hawk that his crew leader Brentley called Garrett's Curly Hawk! The story goes that Garrett bet his crew they couldn't do the dishes one night in less than 10 minutes! They finished in 9 minutes 45 seconds....Brentley gave him his curly hawk with his leatherman!!!

A couple of crew members made dinner for the group, asking Garrett several times to help because he has earned everyone's respect as a bad ass chef! We all had dinner together, than were treated to a talent show followed by a group circle where the kids took turns telling everyone what they thought were traits of good leaders. It was an excellent night and I was thrilled I got to partake.

The following day I had made a reservation on a shuttle to do the Mckenzie River Trail, one of those epic mountain bike rides you are supposed to do before you die. The ride was incredible! It had all the things you want on a trail...single and double track, small ups and lot's of downs, lava fields, pine forests, a view of the river almost the whole ride, waterfalls, crazy blue lakes and more. The ride was about 30 miles and took me quite a while. After, I made my way to Terwilliger Hot Springs to soak my neck which was talkin' after carrying a pack on a bike all day. The springs were beautiful and apparently a 'clothing optional' area :) though I can tell you that there were no cute naked girls but an over abundance of fat naked men...go figure!!

I camped along the river last night. Made a cozy fire, drank an amazing IPA from Eugene, had fresh organic baby tomatoes with crusty bread and hard salami. Fell asleep in my tent without the rain fly watching the stars. It honestly was a perfect day!

I am in Bend today doing a few errands. The G-man wanted a hacky sack and since the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I am on the hunt for a leather, not woven, sand or dirt filled, not bean filled hacky sack! I also think I am going to do a run along the Deschutes today...just feel like it! Tonight is ladies night at 10 Barrel Brewery and that looks like fun also. I will start heading back towards home tomorrow and any fun along the way!