Homeward Bound?

I feel like I can drive from Colorado to California with my eyes closed now. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but I feel pretty comfortable and confident with the drive. I've done it a few times with my pops, once with Alyssa, once with Lara, and most recently with Bligh and Alistar. The drive is beautiful from Fort Collins through the Rockies, into the desert and finally into Southern California.

This time I packed up my belongings in the David Douglas and headed out solo, well, with Ally. I was planning on meeting my friends Dustin and Brad in Joe's Valley for a little sandstone bouldering, but when the weather turned sour I decided to keep on truckin'.

I didn't hit the snow that I was expecting, but I did get a bit of rain. Here is a short clip. Ally spent most of the ride like this, with her nose wedged between the windshield and dashboard.

The Storm from Julie Aseltine on Vimeo.

This is a little video I took to capture the beauty of Nevada. A little shout out to Kate, the musical mastermind behind the mixes that filled my truck for 16 hours. The 90's disaster mixes and all the bad hip hop kept me going.

Untitled from Julie Aseltine on Vimeo.

Shortly after this video I found myself approaching the booming metropolis of a city, Las Vegas. I got ahold of a friend and asked for directions to Red Rocks, figuring I might be able to meet up with some folks and hop on a few routes.

Before entering the park, I decided to take a little peek into their newly built visitor center. What a beauty.

The Visitor Center from Julie Aseltine on Vimeo.

To my surprise, probably not to the surprise of some, I ran into an old friend. I hadn't seen Justine Jenkins for a couple years, but it was like now time had passed. Justine, along with about 60 other outdoor educators take a couple weeks in November and camp, climb, bike, and hike in and around Red Rocks. I pretty much unintentionally struck a gold mine in resources and networking with these folks from Naturalist at Large, Outward Bound, NOLS, and Boojum.



It was a great unexpected stop. So, homeward bound? I don't know. I feel (insert slightly hesitant voice) at home here. But I'm thinking of it more as a transition place, rather then home. This bike tour with Acey and Davin is the only thing that currently has me grounded. I know I miss the mountains and the snow but I have taken a great liking to the words my friend Claire, enjoy being home free for awhile. And also enjoying the words of another friend, Paul, just chill the fuck out. So with those two being my current montras, I think everything is going to be ok. And it's going to be awesome.