It's Finally Arrived....

I can't believe there's only two days left until we start on this trip. Although we have most everything planned and figured out for this trip we still have a couple crucial elements that are still in the unknown category. The biggest being our trailer, which we plan to carry the surfboards and extra gear in. After a lot of thought and an unexpected find on craigslist, I decided to buy a trailer instead of our original plan to custom manufacture one ourselves. It will still need to be modified so we can tow the surfboards in it, but at least we're not starting from scratch. And the only other problem with that is that it still hasn't arrived. I've been tracking it for the past two days since it left Sacramento and it should arrive within the next couple hours. I have more anxiety over this trailer than waiting for Christmas morning.

Other than all the planning, list making, and collaborating over all the 'what-ifs' of this trip, I had a great trip to Utah which I realized is way more rad than people give credit for. Obviously spending time with family was the highlight of my visit but I'm blown away by the easy accessibility to the mountains where you can enjoy stellar climbing (bouldering, sport, trad, and alpine), mountain and road biking, kayaking, trail running, skiing, and the list goes on and on within only twenty minutes of Provo. It reminded me a lot of how easy it is to access the mountains in Europe as well, very much unlike the Northwest. Got a couple days of both awesome road rides and mountain bike rides in and a bunch of trail running including my first summit of Mt. Timpanogos. After realizing all the potential in that area I definitely want to return and explore this area some more.

One of the best feelings was flying into Seattle. I've been craving trees, and mountains, and clean air for months and seeing the Great PNW from the air was a great way to be re-introduced to 'home' again. Since I've been back its been a lot of times spent with friends and a lot of preparing for this adventure that starts July 1. I wish I was able to stay for a couple months to see everybody and get out in the Cascades! I'll be back soon enough.

The next post should finally be from the road, which we will try to update regularly for the few that care.
Simply
T