Just Drive - Tour America Twenty Twelve

Day 1 – June 19 - Tuesday

We woke up at 5am to get an early start on the road. Despite thunder, lightening, & rain all through Houston, Caleb managed to sleep until almost Dallas where we only took one wrong turn & peaced out an entire container of donut holes.

The drive was uneventful & fast… we made it to the Springs by 6:30pm! Our goal is to take pictures by every state line sign, but we missed New Mexico! But we were ready for Colorado!

Who needs English music when you have Spanish???

After hitting up REI in the Springs for some last minute supplies and dropping our stuff at Rob & Nancy’s (Caleb’s old sponsor family), we met up with some of C-dogg’s buddies for dinner at Chilies.  The day would’ve been perfect if only the Thunder would’ve won…

Day 2 – June 20 - Wednesday

 

Woke up at 5:30 am due to the sun streaming in the window. Went back to sleep until Cabe woke me up at 7:30  to go for a quick 2 mile run. My big talk the day earlier about running 2 miles EASY came back and kicked me in the face when I couldn’t breathe after 1.7 miles. Only a little embarrassing. There is seriously no oxygen up here! Took a quick shower before packing up and heading to the mountains of Colorado for a quick M9 shooting lesson. 

It’s a miracle that Le-ah didn’t fall apart on the incredibly bumpy dirt road there! I won the first competition (consisting of shooting an empty milk carton off a log from 40 ft & then running 20 feet away to the other side of a tree & shooting an empty Sprite can off a branch from 20 ft away), but Caleb soon beasted it with a 10.7 second run. 

He was so busy celebrating his incredible time that he didn’t even see the mountain lion I saved him from! He turned just in time to see me jump in front of him, slide down the slope a bit, and majorly scrape my arm on a rock, drawing the first blood of our trip.  It will be one of those humble victories where no one saw the real danger but me…

After that we headed on up 25 North, aiming to camp at Yellowstone that night.  Along the way, we saw endless miles of blue Wyoming sky and rolling hills & flashing red and blue cop lights in our rearview mirror. 

Thankfully my 6 year no-ticket streak paid off and we made out with just a warning! 

We ended up stopping at Grand Teton National Park, just a little south of Yellowstone, so that we could set up camp and eat dinner while it was still light out. 

We were able to get a free annual interpark pass for all National Parks for FREE (thank you UH-Merica!)! Hollaaa!! We camped at Lizard Creek campsite right off of Lake Jackson… beautiful! 

We found out right after we got there that we had just missed a bear strolling through… bummer! Fun first night of camping… spaghetti for dinner, roasting marshmallows, hiding EVERYTHING in our food storage bin (I might have been a little overly cautious about the bears), and trying to warm up in our sleeping bags (shorts might not have been the best idea). FYI – lemon beer sucks.

Day 3 – June 21 – Thursday

 I woke up freezing & dying to pee at 6:30. Took care of business and then tried to warm my hands up by boiling water on the camping stove to make oatmeal. Seriously, shorts was a bad idea. Finally gave up and went back to burrow in my sleeping bag & sleep a bit more until 7:45ish when C-dogg woke up and we went for a 2 mile run. This morning was MUCH better… didn’t feel like I was about to die at the end! We ate a quick breakfast, took down camp, & headed out for Yellowstone. 

Side note: hardcore bikers in leather jackets think silly pictures by signs are ridiculous. We were happy to entertain them. 

Also, Yellowstone is HUGE! We were able to see: Old Faithful & a bunch of different geysers, Yellowstone Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Lake & the Falls, & all kinds of wildlife (bears, grey wolf, bison, & deer). 

We hiked up Mt. Washburn in a record 1 hr 15 min. Lots of snow on the path and still hiking in Chacos? Of course! (Emily – this reminded me of Lake Tahoe when we did this! Although it wasn’t THAT bad!)

 Caleb’s quote of the day: “I hike like I drive, nobody passes me.” Heard dat! Also, I think half of the mountain heard him shart louder than I’ve ever heard in my life and then yell, “Oh my gosh, did you hear THAT?!?” I haven’t laughed that hard in a lonnnng time!

No blood or broken bones today… just some really sore muscles. We have now been in 5 different states & have dubbed the trip: “Just Drive – Tour America Twenty Twelve”

We arrived in Great Falls, Montana around 10pm to RhiRhi cooking up some amazing lasagne! We stuffed our faces, managed a bit of coherent conversation, took some showers, and fell into bed. My sister-in-law should get an award for how amazingly she hosts! 

Day 4 – June 22 – Friday

We are currently hanging out in our pajamas drinking coffee and taking the morning easy. As soon as Rhi gets home from work we’re gonna hit up the golf course and then hit up the GF tonight too see what all the fuss is about. Ben gets here later tonight and then we head out early tomorrow morning for Glacier National Park for some camping this weekend!