These past few weeks have been interesting for me. I've more or less committed to resting from rock climbing. I've been climbing one to two days a week on things i've never really been on before. Leaving sunny, full of life Hueco and coming back to the freezing cold, currently uninspiring, vortex that's flagstaff sucked a lot of the life out of me. The bago lifestyle was definately challenged by snowy weather. Fortunately, Tempe was a welcomed, warm retreat. Waking up to an inch of snow reminded me I need to a bit more religious about checking the weather. One weekend of stress, then another housesitting while the bago rested in Tempe brings me to today. The long distance bago shuffle prompted me to commit to something more life changing. I want to sell my 4Runner. It's highly likely I'll let it go January 5th before I leave AZ. Some other changes that have develeped. I'm not going straight to Hueco. I'm going to the Southeastern part of this country based on Nicks good word. My friends Nick and Jill recently moved back to Boone, NC. They told me I'm always welcome, they're not currently working and are psyched to climb a lot. It currently seems like Boone will be too cold and wet but deeper into the south we should be in luck. I've had a much more positive outlook on work lately which makes me feel better. The count down is on until I have total control of my schedule. 3 weeks. In one month I'll be hitting the road. The Bago hasn't had any mechanical issues in 6500miles and seems to be running like a top. My camera has been charged.. now i need to remember the damn thing, my apologies.
What little climbing I've done the past few weeks was in spite of some pretty serious back pain a few massages and a lot of stretching ultimately set at bay. The routes have been good. Nick and Jill showed me The Blackhole at the Priest Draw before they peaced out. Then I found a route at the Homestead on the ol' mtnproject that no one had done and appeared to be an open project. Went out there with Chris did a really fun route called 'Johns Meat Market' then i got myself up the project. I tried it on toprope and did all but one move. Went back the next week and rope soloed on it did all the moves, it'll take some work to link the top section. I also soloed on Tufa the Soul. I'm not going to say I'm too short to do that route but that's a long move. I'll try it next time I'm out there. Then I had a positive week at work! Next weeks climbing went down out in Queen Creek. Tried to do some bouldering. Brings me to today where I'm starting to contemplate getting back to getting and ending this 3 week long break from climbing regularly. I'm about to enter 3 months of serious bouldering. As much as I want to start climbing again I want my body/mind rested well enough to keep the psyche and feel healthy through the next few months.
I'm thinking of staying in Flagstaff through my birthday and leaving for Joshua Tree from here Dec 23. Back to Flagstaff to pound out some work and the roadtrip begins. Sometime between now and then I'll turn it on again and get my forearms ready. Might not be today though.
