That bear just ate my cat!

It was only a dream, but it left me awake wondering how I could have prevented it from happening.

My dream was very simple, I don't recall it being connected to another dream, and it was not long. It felt like just a few minutes. I dreamt that I was running from a bear. It was very mad, and it was chasing me down. I somehow got out of the way -- I climbed a tree, I think. As I looked down I saw this bear scoop up my cat and just zip out of view.

That was the whole dream. I was pretty horrified by it. I mean, my dear sweet kitty had just been eaten by a bear. A bear that wanted me, and I didn't even know she was there to be eaten. As I lay awake, I tried to dive back into my dream and somehow do something different to protect my cat. I couldn't get back into my dream. I was locked out.

I tried to find some information about dream interpretation, as that was a very strange dream for me, and very vivid too. There is some information on the symbolism of a bear, and a cat. But nothing on a bear eating a cat. Its probably means nothing, but it wasn't like a nightmare where the night before I watched a scary movie, or anything like that. It seems to be a completely disconnected dream.

"To dream that you are being pursued or attacked by a bear, denotes aggression, overwhelming obstacles and competition."

"To see a black cat in your dream, indicates that you are experiencing some fear in using your psychic abilities and believing in your intuition."

Wow, I didn't even know I had psychic abilities, but maybe I had them for a second and a bear ate them? Of course there are other beliefs of what those symbols mean. For me, it meant a bear ate my cat. Bad bear, bad.

Radical Left-Wing Liberals

So, while on our two week tour of the western states, I had very little radio. But one moment in time has stuck with me. It was while crossing Idaho, going through the Lava Hot Springs, when I was surrounded by Hannity, Fox Sports News, and Hannity.

What in particular would make me listen to someone who clearly hates America, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and everything else that is great in the country? Clearly, a brief moment of insanity. Although, apparently half the country is insane. You'd have to be to listen to someone who would say the ACLU is a radical left-wing libral group, simply because they want to protect people from unlawful search and siezure. As Hannity said "What gives this radical left-wing libral group the power..." Apparently, he has never heard of the Constitution, nor does he care about it.

There you have it...the most comprehensive talk news.

And now, we have Pat Robertson, who suggests that we assassinate Venezuela's president. Such great christian voices. Seems like these so called christians should spend a bit of time reading their bibles. And those that listen to these so called christians should remember 2 Peter chapter 2 (I think). The lies and decite these people spread, the lies of their politics are simply and without doubt to deceive using the spiritual teachings and mislead those of faith.

It amazes me how easily this country is so quickly mislead. I guess that is how you identify those who are true to their faith and those that just follow because its easier than thinking for themselves.

I'm with the shut-the-f***-up posse

Well I finally wrestled the blog back from Sara.

Where were we? Oh, yeah, on our way to Post Falls. We got to Post Falls, and Idaho wasn't the place to stay. The camp sites were basically gravel truck stops on the highway. We ended up in Riverview (Riverside?) state park, Spokane. We stayed for two very nice days, and met some wonderful people from B.C. (Donna and Dave) who had a funny little dog that just had to show everyone she was boss. We also got a wonderful water color painting which is basically the only souveinor from our trip besides our pictures.

Our first day at Riverview started traveling around to several climbing locations. The first crag was beautiful -- Deep Creek. It had two problems. Neither of us had lead climbed in a while and the routes were pretty difficult overall. That and the abandoned vehicle, high centered with lights wearing down and a gun in the drivers seat. This made Sara pretty uncomfortable so we headed on to the next crag, Minnehaha. Unfortunately, like so many crags, the locals don't take care of the park. Lots of grafitti, dog poop, broken glass, and left over porn were around the park. We decided to move on, but at this point we were both kind of frustrated.

We finally headed to Post Falls again, and the park was great. We set a top rope and repeated the climb a couple of times. It was nice to be back on the rock. Friday, we leasuirely packed our camp and headed for Vantage. What we didn't know was "The Dave Matthew's Band" was performing at the Amphitheater. We let the sun set a bit, and did some evening climbing. This was pure genius.

As we settled down to sleep, the local youth and concert goers started to arrive at the Feathers camp ground. This isn't a state camp ground so there are no quiet hours, and the only care comes from those in the climbing community that want a safe place to climb. The feathers plays host to many non-climbers that use the grounds for there own personal party zone. Unfortunately, like many public crags often the partiers break bottles and leave crap all over the place.

We tried to get to sleep but the noise just grew. I wanted to walk over with a big baseball bat and say "I'm with the shut-the-f***-up posse." Had I actually done that, I probably would not be providing a blog update. Sara and I decided instead of staying awake until two AM, that we'd might as well just head home. So we wouldn't get to climb in the morning, but we'd get to sleep in our own bed. We scrambled to pack up the car, and started the three hour drive home at 10:00 PM. Sara was so tired, but I apparently was refreshed from the climbing earlier and got us in the house and to bed by two AM. I only sped a little. No really, I never went more than five over. And I only swerved off the road because when we packed up we brought along a few bugs -- I had to swat at them.

The road trip is over. We lounged around the house, went to the movies (saw 40 year old virgin -- hilarious) and overall just rested our bodies. This trip was amazing. I have lots of pictures and I'm planning on getting them up somewhere to share. I cannot wait until our next road trip.

On the road again...

We made it into Dillon Montana last night, and camped at the KOA. It made for a nice, clean, quiet night, and we weren't in Utah. Despite my lamentations about camping, we've decided we have more fun overall when we camp, as long as I get a shower occasionally. Being in hotels is kind of just like home... the TV is sometimes on, one or the other of us is usually on the computer, Hana plays a bit of ball and lounges around like she's the queen of the house. Camping we're at least outside, reading books, and chatting a bit more.

The morning got off to a great start when we found an espresso stand in Dillon. I pulled up and ordered a double tall soy latte and then realized I may not be in frequent-soy country so amended it to an americano. The coffee guy looked at me and said, "So how many shots do you want?" At that point, I remembered I'm not in Seattle anymore, Toto, and translated into non-Seattle coffee language... the guy was offended by my Starbucks mug, and very excited about his "Italian" coffee, which must be a big deal out here, but let me tell you... that is the best cup of coffee I've had on this trip so far. I'm a happy camper. Literally.

Today's aim is Post Falls, Idaho. We're hoping to stay two nights in or near Post Falls, Coeur D'Alene, or Spokane, and get in a bit of climbing and camping, then head for Vantage on Friday morning to climb and camp and home on Saturday.

We're presently at a gas stop near Missoula pirating internet access (woo hoo for wi fi) in the trucker lanes because that's the only place to get diesel. In our little wagon we get some funny looks from the truckers... not to mention the auto shut off didn't shut off with our little car, so Chris is now covered in diesel fuel. Smells almost as good as when we went by that roadkill skunk a few miles back... at least wet wipes can help with the diesel smell.

All right, all right. I get it. Don't mess with religion.

Well, apparantly I've angered the gods (Sara again). The weather in Salt Lake City sucks. We planned two days of bouldering here, and got up this morning to head to Little Cottonwood Canyon, which, much to our surprise because of no mention in the guidebooks is a watershed where dogs aren't allowed. We thought we'd head up to Ogden but a closer review of the guidebook showed that even if dogs are allowed, it's not the kind of place we want Hana sniffing around... plus, the further north we got, the crappier the weather looked.

So, we're checking out early for destination unknown. We've decided we would rather be anywhere, on the road, than in a hotel room in Salt Lake City. We'll try to keep you all posted, once we decide where we're headed next. It may be toward southern Idaho, may be toward northwest Colorado, may be toward Oregon, and may be toward home, to do some climbing in Eastern Washington.

Sorry, this time it's me.

Mostly on here you'll hear from Chris, but I guess with him doing all the talking I feel a little bit left out, so Sara here. Tonight we're in Salt Lake City. Thank god last night there were no camping sites at Arches National Park so we had to get a room and Chris suggested the La Quinta he saw coming into town... they've been promoting themselves as dog friendly, and boy howdy. The one in Moab had a doggy potty play area, and even a doggy trail with trees and lots of room to stretch road-weary legs. It was lovely. Since it was such a lovely place to stay, we decided to make La Quinta our home on the road when the temperature is too high for Hana to camp, or, more likely, when there's thunder and lightning and rainstorms predicted (why did we come to the southwest during lightning season? Not my finest planning ever).

So, reflections on Utah. This place is really... um... different. The land is spectacular. Even when we're on the beaten path, in the middle of a city, the views are lovely. Beyond lovely. But oh my gosh. The billboards are whacked. Creepy whacked. I love Mormons. I have a surprising number of Mormons in my life. But these people have some really nutty billboards. The highlights were the advertisements for "missionary kits" featuring smiling blonde people in the telltale suits.

I think Chris mentioned we bouldered today -- but I want to show you just how studly he is, hence the picture above. He sent this "V0" that I couldn't, and made it look easy. Unfortunately I had to spot for him, so I couldn't get pics while climbing, you have to settle for the "after." If you can see, he has a grin from ear to ear on.

Otherwise, we're here tonight and tomorrow climbing at Ogden and Little Cottonwood, we hope, weather permitting. They're calling for (surprise surprise!) thunder and lightning and rain for the next couple of days, so we're crossing our fingers for at least a few good hours in the morning then wacky billboard spotting the rest of the day and then nice, soft, warm bedtimes at our new favorite home... whichever La Quinta is closest to the crag.

Worlds smallest RV

We got ourselves a campsite in the Grand Canyon park for two nights. Such lovely nights they were. Our neighbors cat, yes cat, ran off. Big surprise huh? It was to them. Apparently, this cat has gone sailing off the western coast from Alaska to Mexico, and has been camping with them for years. The cats name was Muffy (actually -- I think it was "Lucky," which is even more ironic. -Sara). I use it in the past tense because during the two days we were there we had huge thunderstorms. The first night was a breeze relatively. The second we spent hiking around until about 2pm. Then a storm came through. I have this great picture of Sara and Hana in the trunk of the wagon (oh my lord, I can't believe he posted that. My ass is the size of Texas. -Sara), while I stood in the rain to take the picture :) The funny thing was that you can see the tent. It was a much more comfortable and dry place. Some how though, the metal poles and lightening just don't mix.

That night was fun too. The last comment from Sara I remember was "My God! Your asleep?" around about 2:30am. Sara has some difficulty sleeping through a thunder/lightening storm. Hana and I had no problem at all. Sara was a bit tired in the morning. She said we should have gone back to the our RV. I knew we'd both be tired for our drive the next morning if we'd done that. (Actually, the couple who lost their cat had a van... the wife was in the van, the stubborn husband in the tent. Had I known, I would have snuggled into their van with the wife. -Sara).

We left the campground at the Grand Canyon and headed to the east exit, the cat had not returned by the time we headed out. And then north to Moab, Utah. You know how Utah is associated with Mormons, and all that? Well, let me tell you about driving through south eastern Utah on a Sunday Morning. Everything, and I mean nearly everything, was closed. Even the visting center was closed. You could use the public bathrooms but that was about it. Some of the gas stations were open. But most of the quickstop stores at gas stations...were closed.

Fortunately, the car was not in need of fuel. The drive from Arizona to Utah was amazing though. We went through Monument Valley, and the views were amazing. The drive to Moab was only about 5.5 hours, so even with all the stops and pictures we had plenty of time to visit the Arches National Monument. We have tons of pictures, and Sara even showed me how to take a panarama picture. Our camera is so cool.

Now it is Monday morning and we are leaving Moab already. We have decided Moab is an oasis in Utah. It doesn't have as much of the "religious" feel that we experienced on the way in. Yet, we are off to Salt Lake City. We did some fun bouldering at the Big Bend, and now are planning a couple days of climbing and bouldering near the SLC area. (Chris is being modest. He sent two challenging V0s that I couldn't top, and made them look easy. He did super. -Sara)

Okay, gotta jet. Check out is at noon, and it is 11:29AM.

Slight Chance of Thunder Showers

We started the morning in Santa Fe. Maybe jumping into red and green chili on the first night was a bit too hasty. Oh, but so delicious. In the morning we took our time and had a nice visit with our friend Susan, and her children Emmy and Ben. For lunch we went to the Plaza and ate in the park. It was wonderful...and enjoyed more of the red and green chili.

We headed out around two-ish for Gallup, stopped in Albuquerque to get gas, shoes, and water. That was a great idea, though neither of us thought about the rush hour traffic. Once out of the traffic we had a fantastic drive west on I-40. And the 50+ miles of thunder showers was spectacular. Every direction you looked, including the rear view mirror, was lightening bolts.

Sara and I were quick to call and get a hotel reservation, which was smart as the rain was going to make camping pretty miserable. Apparently, the thunder showers have been going on for several days now. When we told people we were going to the Grand Canyon, they seemed to think we are a bit nuts. Lots of smirks and chuckles. Fortunately, it looks like things may be clearing up and we might actually have some nice weather.

So, we have not yet camped and it looks like our first two nights may be done in the worlds smallest VW RV. I'm looking foward to seeing the Grand Canyon. From what I have heard, there is really no way to describe its spectacular views and size.

We'll take lots of pictures...I'm sure that will help.

Six Days

Day One

We began the day by driving me to work. I fulfilled my required time and then we left for Pendelton, OR. The drive was pretty uneventful. The scenic views were as pleasent as always in Washington.

Day Two

This was a long haul. Our goal was Rock Springs, WY. We made our goal. The highlights were the cat pee'd in her crate (I guess 12 hours is a long day for a cat), Surfing for radio and only getting Hannity, Fox Sports, and Hannity. And my personal favorite -- Sara stopping, I pulled up next to her in my mom's car and ask her what's up. She said "Just wanted to look at the map and get my bearings." I pointed to a sign ten feet ahead. It read "Welcome to Wyoming."

Day Three

We slept in and made the last six hours to Denver. The pass to Fort Collins was amazing, and truely one of the more interesting sights. Once we hit I-25 we saw how people in Denver drive. This just reaffirmed my belief that people should be re-educated every five years on how to drive.

Day Four

We explored some outdoor climbing. This lead to Hana laying down on the trail, and pretty much insisting on heading down the mountain. It was 90+ degrees, and so we rushed her down the mountain. We got to the bottom and my nephew, Justin, as not doing well. Maybe Hana was trying to tell us something?

Day Five

Had we been moving quicker we might have been able to get outdoor climbing, but with two boys and six of us all trying to get out the door that wasn't likely to happen. Instead we visited the Red Rocks Amplitheater which is an amazing place. We followed this up climbing in a lock gym. The gym was very different than those in Washington. In Denver they had auto-belay systems so you can climb without a partner, and they don't anchor the manual belay. The boys had fun, and we ended the day with a wonderful dinner out.

Day Six

Sara and I head for Santa Fe, NM. The drive was amazing. We decided to travel to Toas, and visit the Rio Grande first. The drive was ... amazing. I'll get the pictures posted soon. Sara will download them to the computer first though.
Now, we are in Santa Fe. It's good to be home...er...well, I'd like it to be our home. But after eight ravens, two guys peeing, too many mountains falling on cars, along with too many trees falling on picnic tables, and one dairy queen, we now rest, and review what we have missed in the last several days.

T minus zero

We begin our road trip today. Its starting off great. We bought this roof soft top carrier. When we bought it we understood it to be perfect to connect to our existing rails. It turns out that it needs front and back crossbars as well. So our first stop is REI. That will be another $18 for our dividen.

So hopefully once on the road we will have better luck. A quick stop at REI and installation of the rack and then on our way. Its going to be a long day.

Sara and I are planning to try and keep the blog current, and we'll definitely have some pictures to share.

Camp and climb

Had a lovely weekend. Friday night we headed out to Fort Ebey for a night. In the morning, we casually headed up to Mt. Erie to check out the climbing. For a first experience, it was terrible. The guide was poorly done, the trails are tretcherous, and the other climbers were very unhelpful. The view on the other hand ... amazing. We hiked around trying to find a way down so we could climb but finally decided that the approach just wasn't worth the effort.

Instead, we decided to head south to Exit 38, where we went to Deception crag. This was nice. We got there around two in the afternoon, and walked up to a nice "easy" 5.6 climb. I quote easy because at the third bolt there is nothing to hold, and the rock is slick as snot. It was next to impossible to get a good smear to make the move.

Sara had some "climbers constipation" and strugged. It was kinda weird. Sara usually powers through problems like there is nothing to it. I finished the 5.6 lead, and then continued onto the 5.7 right next to the first on top rope.

We went and stayed with Sara's aunt and uncle who only live 25 minutes away. That was nice. We don't usually drink but we got all toasted and had a wonderful meal of salmon and corn.

The next morning we did some toproping in the shade, and had a nice crack climb using the man-made structure. In the afternoon, we meandered onto other climbs. I did my first rappel which is just fantastic. I love to rappel.

So now sara and I have refined our camp and climb experience, we are really looking forward to the next two weeks. This will be an amazing trip east to Montana, South through Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, then north through Utah, and lower Idaho, back home. We have lots of camping, and climbing planned. And lots of hiking. Hana will be whoopped.

I am really looking forward to no alarms.