The winter months were slow... I twisted an ankle playing ball with my brother Dave over Christmas... which meant I would look forward to January being a good month of learning to swim decently, so I could keep pumping those ketone bodies through my slowly tapering system. On his short stay here from his work in Austria, Dave got out his telescope and he taught me about the stars. Then we spied on the moon for a while, and I finally located the acre of land I bought from some fake website ten years ago... the cold weather idled for a while this season, and another old injury I got playing ball at the boy's ranch two years ago would certainly make itself evident through the dry bones in my foot.
As my ankle gained strength, the trails opened up... little dirt paths to train on, live on, escape to on the weekends. The local Mojave routes and the pool sustained me those first two months of the year, until my foot was strong again. I knew it was time to explore the big routes again after a brief visit to Austria right before Spring... after a vicious fall on my board down an Alpine black which brought my full weight to bear over my weak leg. I realized after being able to walk away from something like that (after some humble thanks to my maker) that it was time to do some real WALKING again.
With both roommates deployed and a big empty house to leave in the rearview, I grabbed Yeags and drove to Vegas
This first road I met took me to Red Rocks, Nevada. And this same week, my path crossed with some amazing people... as if life were taking me to a nexus of unions and reunions... neat
In LV I met up with my friend Glenn... Yeager and Glenn's dog Max are like peas and carrots, and all four of us, as well as Mrs. Glenn and baby Glenn, enjoy the outdoors... so we spent an afternoon romping around that beautiful park.
That day, we met up with an old mentor, Mike. Mike is currently living abroad, and just happened to be in Vegas for a conference this weekend... he and his girlfriend Linda (also in town) are avid travelers and outdoorsfolk, and it was such a pleasure having them join our little expedition. Mike is one of less than three hundred people who has climbed the seven summits. He has taken both Glenn and me on hikes up Mt. Whitney, and the wisdom, friendship, and motivation gained from knowing such an individual is precious and uplifting.
The next day I set out solo to find the highest peak at Red Rock... called Bridge Mountain. After finally figuring out how to use my phone GPS I found a gateway that necked towards the peak, but without crampons or climbing gear I had to turn around 400 yards short of the base. I opted to slog through another ice patch and get on top of an adjacent peak... and that afforded me a great view of Bridge and the red rocks below, and even sin city itself. What a beautiful day
That night I stole Yeags back from the playfully drooly jowls of Max and we pedaled it towards the sunset... and back home to the CA desert.
Ever read "Into the Wild"? Seen the flick? I met two drifters on my last leg home... they had traveled across the states and were "hiking" their way up to Alaska to work on a farm. The supertramps threw their modest gear in the bed and I drove them to Mojave so they could prepare to attack a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. I told them to check out Whitney (just find some crampons, haha).
If enough neat roads weren't crossing before me, I found a good use for my big empty house a few days later. The Walker family (my gracious hosts two years ago on my wonderful trip to Zambia), eight of their nine kids in tow on a motorhome, got a hold of me. They have been on a short sabbatical back in the states before returning to their mission work in May. They were passing through southern Cali, right now. The next night, every bed, couch, and extra mattress in the house had a comfortable human sleeping in it like a sack of potatoes. We had a great goodbye the next day with a nice Mexican lunch (they do not have Mexican spices/chiles in Zambia). What a treat
And if THAT wasn't enough, I found out that two of my best friends, Liz and Keisha, are headed back to Zambia soon to visit Stan! Liz to practice field medicine for a week, and Keisha to live and work with Christian Aid Ministries indefinitely.
So I'll keep walking... keep finding roads, trails, deserts, and mountains. And who knows what colliding comets will cross these paths next.
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