As I write this, my music is drifting in and out. The sound of the rain on my roof softly drowning it out. The pulsating rhythm is conspiring with the wind to rock me to sleep. They would have been successful hours ago if it weren’t for the echo of thunder, reverberating off of the mountains around me.
After that stressful rescue/shenanigan I headed to the hostel for a shower and a good nights sleep. I ended up talking to a middle aged couple that were hiking the Colorado trail. Then a girl who was obviously high hijacked the conversation and started talking about coyotes and spirits, so I slipped away and headed off the silver dollar to play shuffleboard before bed. I lost. The next day I just wandered around Vail and saw a sweet double rainbow. While I was sitting in my truck hating the fact I was going to have to run out in the rain and set the back up for sleeping I got a text from Daphne. She said her, Steven and Andrew’s roommate were making pizza and watching a movie did I want to come over. YES! So I headed over and we watched the Fountain. It was pretty trippy but I really liked it.
After that stressful rescue/shenanigan I headed to the hostel for a shower and a good nights sleep. I ended up talking to a middle aged couple that were hiking the Colorado trail. Then a girl who was obviously high hijacked the conversation and started talking about coyotes and spirits, so I slipped away and headed off the silver dollar to play shuffleboard before bed. I lost. The next day I just wandered around Vail and saw a sweet double rainbow. While I was sitting in my truck hating the fact I was going to have to run out in the rain and set the back up for sleeping I got a text from Daphne. She said her, Steven and Andrew’s roommate were making pizza and watching a movie did I want to come over. YES! So I headed over and we watched the Fountain. It was pretty trippy but I really liked it.
Artist's Interpretation
Busted out and headed to work. Steven, John and Myself were supposed to work a climbing day at Roof Rock. But as Steven and I headed out there in the truck the weather turned sour. We called it and headed back to town and took the kids climbing inside. It was ok; some kid started crying about something, I just handed him off to his chaperone.
Some kids tried to break into my truck while I was sleeping in the back. Unfortunately for them, the door was locked and my gun was right next to me. I scared the living shit out of those poor kids, jumping out of the truck in my boxers yelling and holding my rifle above my head. Priceless.
Oh my God the 4th of July party in Vail was insane. John said to show up about three pm but I thought “What kind of party starts at three?” So we hit Finnegan’s Wake for a bit and headed to the party about nine. We should have got there at three. The party was already well into its 2nd or 3rd wind. We missed the couple fistfights, the Vail PD’s first visit, and the DJ’s first bitch fit about everyone being too drunk to dance. I knew things were going to get out of hand because we rolled up blaring Gimme Three Steps, with an 18er of bush light and some 40’s of Sol to donate to the party cooler. We walked in and it was a bunch of hipsters and bros drinking expensive micro brews and dancing to some sort of crap music that hurt my head. We were looking for the only person we knew at the party, John, and we saw him across the party just hammered drunk with his American flag pearl snap unbuttoned and a look on his face that said “screw it”. So to recap a couple of rednecks showed up late, with cheap beer, and the only contact at the party was three sheets to the wind. Ryan’s girlfriend came and got him because he was sure he would end the night beating the hell out of some one. I stayed because some more people I knew showed up. It got rowdy as hell, the cops showed up again and told everyone to move it inside or they were gonna start writing tickets. Then some drunk dude, who may or may not have been messed up on coke knocked my sombrero off and spat on me. I told him in return for not knocking all his teeth out that he was going to wipe it off on himself. He did. About 4 hours later I decided enough was enough, I was done with this party, and I went to bed. Last party I will ever go to in Vail. The next day we all went out for breakfast and recounted the kick ass party over, biscuits and gravy, bloody mary’s and coffee.
Some kids tried to break into my truck while I was sleeping in the back. Unfortunately for them, the door was locked and my gun was right next to me. I scared the living shit out of those poor kids, jumping out of the truck in my boxers yelling and holding my rifle above my head. Priceless.
Oh my God the 4th of July party in Vail was insane. John said to show up about three pm but I thought “What kind of party starts at three?” So we hit Finnegan’s Wake for a bit and headed to the party about nine. We should have got there at three. The party was already well into its 2nd or 3rd wind. We missed the couple fistfights, the Vail PD’s first visit, and the DJ’s first bitch fit about everyone being too drunk to dance. I knew things were going to get out of hand because we rolled up blaring Gimme Three Steps, with an 18er of bush light and some 40’s of Sol to donate to the party cooler. We walked in and it was a bunch of hipsters and bros drinking expensive micro brews and dancing to some sort of crap music that hurt my head. We were looking for the only person we knew at the party, John, and we saw him across the party just hammered drunk with his American flag pearl snap unbuttoned and a look on his face that said “screw it”. So to recap a couple of rednecks showed up late, with cheap beer, and the only contact at the party was three sheets to the wind. Ryan’s girlfriend came and got him because he was sure he would end the night beating the hell out of some one. I stayed because some more people I knew showed up. It got rowdy as hell, the cops showed up again and told everyone to move it inside or they were gonna start writing tickets. Then some drunk dude, who may or may not have been messed up on coke knocked my sombrero off and spat on me. I told him in return for not knocking all his teeth out that he was going to wipe it off on himself. He did. About 4 hours later I decided enough was enough, I was done with this party, and I went to bed. Last party I will ever go to in Vail. The next day we all went out for breakfast and recounted the kick ass party over, biscuits and gravy, bloody mary’s and coffee.
I went to climb Shavano and Taubgache but ended up turning around because my sunburn stuck to my pants with every step. The cycle of stick, step, tear, got old really fast. When I got back to my campsite I washed my pants in the river because they were full of sunburn juice and blood. I decided to just turn the weekend in to a car camping weekend. Got out the map and figured, I got a whole tank of gas I bet I can hit Gunnison, Crested Butte, skirt the Taylor Reservoir to Tin Cup, take Cumberland Pass to Pitkin then meet up with the road by Monarch and head back to Leadville, and that’s what I did. I saw tons of old mining camps, walked through the Tin cup historic cemetery, and even made the drive to the old Alpine Rail Tunnel. With is way the hell out in the middle of nowhere at like 13,000 feet. It was a great drive, with beautiful views, and I stopped often to admire them. On one of these sightseeing stops, on top of Cumberland Pass I returned to my truck only to realize that all of my pockets were empty. My keys were hanging in my ignition, in my locked truck. I realized I was at 12,000 feet and a good days walk from the nearest town. The only thought going through my head was vocalized, almost involuntary, as a groan. “shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit”. I ran to the back of my truck and the shell was unlocked! I dove in and went to work on the sliding window with my knife. It opened with a pop and I was in… well I was in up to my shoulders because there was no way I could fit any further. I looked around my truck for something to grab the keys with. I saw nothing, but my rifle. So I there I am in the middle of nowhere squeezed into my back window trying to fish my keys out of the ignition with a gun. Sadly the gun was not long enough but I was able to find a stick and get the job done. I spent the rest of the weekend, as Alabama said, "just being natures friend" in a laid back way I had almost forgot was possible. Below are some picture from that weekend, click to enlarge them.
Things that happened after I failed at blogging
Frontier Days – Tons of fun
7 day wilderness trip – also fun, great kids, best co guide
Hanging out with coworkers – as always fun
Kickball whose only rule is that you have to always have a beer in your hand – speaks for itself
Absolutely terrible base camp – suck and it was Daphne’s last job
Absolutely awesome base camp – worked it with John Scheid, sweet
Made moccasins and a new sheath – being productive is fun
And so other stuff I guess, I know, weak sauce.
Everything from my wilderness trip to now is a blur that I don’t remember and don’t really need to. All the days seem to run together out here. I do know I wasted a lot of time with good friends in beautiful country. It was fun.
Frontier Days – Tons of fun
7 day wilderness trip – also fun, great kids, best co guide
Hanging out with coworkers – as always fun
Kickball whose only rule is that you have to always have a beer in your hand – speaks for itself
Absolutely terrible base camp – suck and it was Daphne’s last job
Absolutely awesome base camp – worked it with John Scheid, sweet
Made moccasins and a new sheath – being productive is fun
And so other stuff I guess, I know, weak sauce.
Everything from my wilderness trip to now is a blur that I don’t remember and don’t really need to. All the days seem to run together out here. I do know I wasted a lot of time with good friends in beautiful country. It was fun.
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