Inside the Inbetween

Heads up: I didn’t really write this on New Year’s Eve, 2010. I actually wrote this in July, 2011. I love the date changing capabilities. Thanks Blogger!

I’m catching you on my life, and this is the best way I can think to do that. Or at least, it’s the way I feel like doing it.

So, back to New Year’s Eve. 2010 was crazy. wild. weird. a year to remember. a once in a lifetime experience.

We started the Colorado Trail on Monday, June 7^th and it was incredible! I cannot even explain how amazing our time on the trail was. Unfortunately, it was also short-lived. My knee was injured Friday, and thankfully we made it to a trailhead Saturday. Two extremely nice guys picked us up and drove us all the way back to Littleton to our Tahoe. They really were heaven-sent!

Of course we were extremely disappointed. Heart broken really. We had been so set and so excited about our journey that to have it cut short by something beyond our control was terrible! We weighted our options and decided that our summer was only ruined if we let it be. So we created plan B! This is how plan B looked:

15000 miles in 2 months. We slept in our Tahoe most of the time and took showers at National Parks and KOA Campgrounds. Oh, and we lived almost entirely off of McDonald’s Dollar Menu. I can’t stand the smell of Mickey D’s anymore. Yuck.

After wrapping up our Grand Tour and visiting family for a few weeks we came home to our warm, homey… extended stay hotel room. Interesting to say the least. We moved in to Colorado on August 7^th, and El found a job pretty quickly. He started on August 15^th and we moved in to our rented townhouse on the 19^th. The whole process didn’t take very long really.

We met and became good friends with Bubba and Paula. They’re pretty amazing. I think they pretty much rock.

I got a job at WAY-FM, a Christian radio station, at the end of September.

Life continued. That brings us to now, New Year’s Eve.

My oldest- little sister will turn 16.

In the next half a year, El’s friend Chris will move in with us, and then move out.

We will meet new friends Jason and Rachel. They are amazing. 

We will be under contract for a house for over 3 months, and still not know if we actually be able to buy it or not.

We will visit El’s sister and her family in Reno, NV for Easter.

My mom and sisters will come and live with us for about 6 weeks.

Life is amazing.

Weight in Pictures

Two weeks away!

  Here is a sampling of what we'll be carrying on the Colorado Trail:

Yeah it's a lot. And this isn't all.

Honestly, it's only about 2/3rds of what we'll be taking.

We're taking boots and crocs, so our feet will have a chance to dry out at night. Also, we each have a light down coat and a rain jacket.

Cool Whip containers to eat out of, a water filter and back-up water drops, headlights, and about 178K other things.

My muscles hurt already.

Pack Shock

  Wow. We just tried out our backpacks for the first time. Wow. I knew it was going to be heavy and big, but to see just how big, and feel just how heavy that pack is... WHEW!!!

  Mine weighs about 35 lbs, about 3 1/2 feet tall and bigger around than I am! I put it on and El had to help me adjust it, then I walked down our three flights of stairs and back up, and my back is still sore! 485 miles? What exactly am I thinking? We’ve gone to a local reservoir a few times and walked the track around it. It’s a three mile track and I’m so tired at the end! This is us on the track:

 

 

  I am also shocked at just how much stuff we have to stick in that bag! Tons of food, clothes (only about one extra set, but they take up a lot of room), rope, toiletries, camp shoes, sleeping bag, stove, fuel, on and on. It truly seems like the list never ends. We still have a lot to buy, and we haven’t decided on water purification system yet. We saw some at Bass Pro we liked, but we aren't sure yet.

  Elliot discovered that my pack has a built in waterproof cover, so that's a blessing! We have yet to get El's pack. Mine is North Face, but he likes REI, or a Kelty.

  Preparations go on!

The Colorado Trail

  After my last post, I’m sure some of you are wondering what in the world happened to our brains. Let me explain the background on what exactly we're doing…
 

  The Colorado Trail starts in Littleton, CO (which is part of the South Denver Metro area), and ends in Durango, CO. Although it only takes about 4 hours to drive the distance, we will be on the trail for around 5 weeks, maybe 6. The CT is 485 miles long, not including side journeys or hikes into town. The average elevation is just over 10,000 feet, and the trail crosses six wilderness areas, eight mountain ranges, 7 river systems, and tops out at above 13 thousand feet.
 

  We'll be heading out around the beginning of June, hope to be back to civilization about the second week of July. We originally thought about following El's sister’s footsteps and hiking the Appalachian Trail, but since we're planning on moving to Colorado this summer, we decided to look check out trails there. I’m actually much happier with this choice than hiking the AT.

  A lot of people have asked us why on earth we would want to do something this crazy... I mean, this is a pretty ridiculous plan. Not to mention the no job, no house part, the trail itself is rather inhospitable. No reliable source of safe water, massive lightning storms forming daily, and the literal possibility of enduring heat stroke, hypothermia, hail, rain, lightening, snow, and altitude sickness… all in one day, makes the trail sound like a rather formidable foe! But what is life if lived the safe route? People live and die on the safe route everyday. I’d much rather take the adventure filled road.

  Besides, this is something we really want to do, and what better time? Since we're moving anyway we won't have to worry about paying rent while we're gone, or taking time off work. We're young, and as of yet have no children so we're jumping on this opportunity!

Changes in Motion

  Like most people, I have oodles of goals, plans, dreams, ideas, hopes... sometimes it almost seems like life is just too short for it all. I just happen to be one of the lucky few who married someone similar.

  Anyway, we’ve recently been evaluating our current life in comparison to our goals and dreams. And sadly it seems that we’re a bit off track, which is why we've decided to change it up a bit.

  For starters, we aren't attending Rhema Bible Training Center anymore. Yes, I know: shock, confusion, disappointment, you're-out-of-the-will-of-God... ok, are you done now? Good. It's not like we didn't pray about it. It's not like we made a rash decision. We prayed, listened, had a peace, and followed it. Now we're able to put the money we had been spending on RBTC on our credit cards, or savings, or toward accomplishing some of our short-term goals.... which brings me to another point.

  Now that we have more time and are focusing more on accomplishing some of our goals, and learning Spanish is one of them, we splurged and bought Rosetta Stone Levels 1 & 2. This means I should be speaking Spanish in 7 days + 10 minutes. {For those of you who are slightly less radio-commercialized, the software takes 7 days to be delivered, and they promise you'll be speaking your new language in "10 minutes or less!"} We'll see how that goes.

  Also in that ‘goals' category falls 'move out of Oklahoma'. The less politically correct version is ' get the heck out of this boring, flat, barren state'. In June we will be gracing the beautiful state of Colorado with our presence. We have quite a plan in mind.

  At the end of May we will move out of Tulsa and drive to the Denver area where we'll stay for about 5 days. We’ll rent a storage unit and put everything we own there, we won’t look for an apartment, and we won't get a job.

  Instead we're going to go on an insane journey hiking the Colorado Trail. It’s a 485 mile trail through the Rocky Mountains, stretching from Littleton, CO to Durango, CO. I really can't wait! I'm so excited!

  So, changes are in motion. Once again, I’m breaking the mold. And I love it.

Of Sidewalk Musicians & Sore Mucles

  Last weekend we drove the flat, boring 73 miles to Oklahoma City, and somehow ended up in a magical, almost whimsical, bit of forgotten life. Downtown OKC seems like a million miles away from the normal, dirty, gang-ridden downtown scene.

  El and I wandered through the narrow streets, listening to the clip-clip-clip of hooves against the brick-paved roads, the high-pitched ringing of bicycle bells, the low rush of water as bright yellow gondolas passed underneath our bridge. There's a tall red-head in a black velvet dress playing violin on the street corner. She has quite a crowd gathered around her, and her small son, dressed in a mini- tuxedo and top hat, is playing with the coins left by appreciative listeners. Just past her is a lanky bicycle-carriage driver. Judging by his passenger’s curious looks and whispers, his dread-locked hair and big smile are fascinating to them. White lights are reflecting off the river beneath us, where a guitarist is singing and couples stroll down the sidewalk with eyes only for each other.

  We stand there for what seems like hours, until El gently tugs on my hand and reminds me that we both need some sleep.

  By the next morning the magical remainders of our night have long vanished, now replaced with a crazy, silly, excitement. Pack the bags, check out, and head to the water park! Windy, warm morning... perfect for hitting the water slides. The sun lives up to expectations, keeping us hot and darkening our previously fading tan. Eight hours, a foot-long corn dog, and the best workout I've had in months, we finally head home to Tulsa. And I can hardly move. Talk about aching muscles! I hurt in places I didn't even know I could hurt.

Our weekend still isn’t quite over… now we're headed to the drive-in movie theatre. and then home. and sleep.

story

–noun

1. a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader; tale.

2. a narration of the events in the life of a person or the existence of a thing or such events as a subject for narration.

3. a narrative that follows a set pattern of three main parts: introduction, climax, conclusion.

  Someone once told me that the definition of a story creates simply a story, but the difference between a good story and a masterpiece lies in the phrase "and they lived happily ever after."

  It seems a lot of people have a misconception of that phrase. For some reason completely unknown to me they think that "living happily ever after" should come at the end of the story. I don't understand this reasoning at all. Ok, maybe I should say I don't agree with this reasoning at all. Their line of thinking usually follows along these lines: Happily ever after implies that life is great from this point on, there will never be another unhappy moment, never another argument, never another tear shed or heart broken, or a hint of danger, or a sense of the new or unknown.

Most people believe that the story is over, so they stop writing.

  My line of reasoning is more along these lines: and they lived happily ever after. Whoever heard of a wonderful love-filled life that hasn’t endured heartache and tears, broken people, danger? If you think that those times spell a bad life, then please, put the magic phrase at the end of your story. Stop writing! The only problem with that is... if you stop writing, you die. You end your story. Yes, you may still be breathing, but you have stopped living.
So, back to the beginning.

  Someone once told me that the definition of a story creates simply a story, but the difference between a good story and a masterpiece is that a good story ends with "and they lived happily ever after."
A masterpiece begins with living happily ever after.

4. Life.