It began to rain like crazy in Red Rocks; we found out from the rangers that it was going to snow over night. On Friday night, we saw a brake in the weather. As fast as we could, we broke down the camp, packed up the car, and drove south to beat the storm...but what we ended up doing was driving into a snow storm in Arizona. Brilliant. Thanks to our iPhones, we got a reservation at a Quality Inn before it started to snow too bad. We did not know it was going to snow as bad as it ended up snowing, so we thought we would be safe. But alas, we were not. We hit snow at Kingsman, AZ which is about 80 from Flagstaff. As we drove, the snow kept coming. I (James) drove the whole time to get to Flagstaff. I was convinced that I could make it. We did make it, but going only 35mph (and damn that is slow!), it took us about two hours to drive 80 miles. While driving on the highway, we only saw one snowplow in that 80 miles.
When we arrived at the hotel at 3am, we were "welcomed" be the night manager. We fanticized that he would say something like "Thank goodness you got here - what horribe weather!" or "We almost sent out the search party. We were so worried!" But no, what we got was "Sign here" and the answer to our late check out request at 1pm was "So that means out at 1pm not dilly dallying and out by 1:15pm, correct?" What a dick. Go drive in the snow. We retired to our room, watched a B horror movie, and fell to sleep.
The next day (well, technically it was the same day) we woke up to the sound of screaming children running up and down the halls. Lovely. The manager on duity called us and requested that we move our car so they could plow. We walked outside and found our car and bikes completely covered in snow! The plow man told us that many guests had taken pictures by our snow covered car in the morning (because of the bikes - see picture).
Monday, February 9, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
When the road gets you down, you find a god
So right after we left Joel from the great dinner we went to the gas station to fill up on gas and water (for those of you who do not know, JTree has no water in camp sites and no stores in the park, which is cool by me but town is 14 miles away one way). A nice old woman in the best old Chevy truck said "Your front tire is flat now." I went to fill it with air and at the pump a saw that we had a screw in it. Well now where do we go to get a flat fixed when it is 7pm on Super Bowl Sunday?! We drove to Yucca Valley to see if one of the car shops was open, but alas no. What we had to do was go to the worst place in the world; yes that is right Walmart! We wet into Walmart and found Fix-a-Flat, went back to the car to put it in the tire. While we were in the midst of this all, a Walmart employee came over and asked if we were ok. As luck would have it, this very nice guy used to work for the tire department and told us to come back and get it patched before we hit the rode again. We headed back into JTree on the 14mile trek to the camp site, hoping that Fix-a-Flat would work.
The next morning, we realized that Fix-a-Flat worked, thank god (if there is a god to thank or what god or gods). We treked back into Yucca Valley to get the tire fixed for real, which only took 20 minutes. Sweet and now back to JTree on the same 14 mile drive! We got back to camp and decided to take a good and long bike ride.
FUNNY STORY: We biked to Jumbo Rock (about 12 miles away) to see another part of JTree. We got to Jumbo Rock and rode down to the end of the camp site. We turned around to start heading back when I see this tan blob out of the corner of my eye and i say out loud "Either I'm crazy or I just saw a wax buddha." I stopped, headed back found that it actually was a buddha candle with just the top of his head had melted a tiny bit. So Kristen said, "I'll put that in my jacket and ride back to camp with it" which is what we did.
We finally got to go climb for the day, but just a bit of bouldering. We headed to Gunsmoke and we both got smoaked that day by this blouder problem. It is a pumpy traverse that is probably about 120 feet long, give or take, and graded at either v2 or v3. We met two locales that day at Gunsmoke. One of them traversed it three times and then pounded a Budwiser. He told us how one day, some older guy traversed it 47 times in a row back and forth. The local told us that about every 5 passes, the old dude would sit on a rock, smoke a cigaret, and then get back on the traverse. Boy what a day...
We left buddha in the camp site in hidden valley at site 17 under a rock so it is now protected from the elements. Rest in peace buddha and thanks for the good time.
Cue the Theremin - stories from JTree
Imagine yourself going back in time (cue the theremin), so that we can fill you in on our adventures at Joshua Tree. We arrived at Joshua Tree Indian Cove camp area late Saturday evening, January 31st. We met up with our dear friend Joel (from SF), Jeff (his friend from LA), and the dynamic trio of Shannon, Carl, and Milo the incredible crag dog. We enjoyed some food and beverages, slept, and rose early for some climbing.
The next day, we hiked into an area near Hemingway wall (important note: Keen Mary Jane's are NOT good approach shoes!) and climbed Double Dog Leg, Candy Crack, and a weird 5.9. Joshua Tree, as I've mentioned, is all granite that eats your fingers. What I haven't mentioned is that it's FULL of cracks, which entail a fairly different method of climbing. You jam pretty much anything that will fit into the cracks (not meant to be a dirty joke by the way, you sick minded people.): your hands, fingers, toe of your shoes, arms, etc. Because the rock is so rough, it helps to wear tape gloves on the backs of your hands so you don't end up leaving your blood behind. Joshua Tree also has a fair amount of slopy friction climbing, where you just have to really trust that your climbing shoes will stick to the face of the rock. Total Spider Man climbing.
After we learned that dogs cannot be away from the main roads in JTree, we packed up and made our way back toward camp. We got a new site at Hidden Valley campground, tucked back away from the driveway. Little did we know at that point that we were about to come into contact with the best post climbing food: Chips and Baha.
We encountered Chips and Baha at Crossroads Cafe and Tavern (go there http://www.crossroadscafeandtavern.com/, but beware of their mid-week rest day on Wednesdays). Chips and Baha is a full plate of thick and crispy blue corn chips with a large bowl of blue cheese dressing and salsa. Sound icky? Think again. This is the most amazing combination, that we would not have had were it not for Jeff and Joel.
We looked forward to getting another round of chips and baha on our way out of town, but our plans were thwarted by the dreaded Wednesday. However sad we were, we are Team Ahimsa and we do not let thoughts of craving and aversion get us down! We made lemons into lemonaid and made our own by combining blue cheese dressing in a half-full can of salsa and then scooping it out with chips. Delicioso! Try it.
More soon.
Love,
Team Ahimsa
p.s. another little known fact about James: he made a Theremin and busts it out at parties! What is a Theramin, you ask? Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin
p.p.s. For those of you who have iPhones, check out the Sci Fi ring - it's a theremin!!
The next day, we hiked into an area near Hemingway wall (important note: Keen Mary Jane's are NOT good approach shoes!) and climbed Double Dog Leg, Candy Crack, and a weird 5.9. Joshua Tree, as I've mentioned, is all granite that eats your fingers. What I haven't mentioned is that it's FULL of cracks, which entail a fairly different method of climbing. You jam pretty much anything that will fit into the cracks (not meant to be a dirty joke by the way, you sick minded people.): your hands, fingers, toe of your shoes, arms, etc. Because the rock is so rough, it helps to wear tape gloves on the backs of your hands so you don't end up leaving your blood behind. Joshua Tree also has a fair amount of slopy friction climbing, where you just have to really trust that your climbing shoes will stick to the face of the rock. Total Spider Man climbing.
After we learned that dogs cannot be away from the main roads in JTree, we packed up and made our way back toward camp. We got a new site at Hidden Valley campground, tucked back away from the driveway. Little did we know at that point that we were about to come into contact with the best post climbing food: Chips and Baha.
We encountered Chips and Baha at Crossroads Cafe and Tavern (go there http://www.crossroadscafeandtavern.com/, but beware of their mid-week rest day on Wednesdays). Chips and Baha is a full plate of thick and crispy blue corn chips with a large bowl of blue cheese dressing and salsa. Sound icky? Think again. This is the most amazing combination, that we would not have had were it not for Jeff and Joel.
We looked forward to getting another round of chips and baha on our way out of town, but our plans were thwarted by the dreaded Wednesday. However sad we were, we are Team Ahimsa and we do not let thoughts of craving and aversion get us down! We made lemons into lemonaid and made our own by combining blue cheese dressing in a half-full can of salsa and then scooping it out with chips. Delicioso! Try it.
More soon.
Love,
Team Ahimsa
p.s. another little known fact about James: he made a Theremin and busts it out at parties! What is a Theramin, you ask? Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin
p.p.s. For those of you who have iPhones, check out the Sci Fi ring - it's a theremin!!
what would u do???
Ok so your eating breakfast in a restaurant and your half way done with the biggest bloody mary you've ever had, when an annoying tv crew comes in and starts to ask the patrons "What would you do?" They attacked this old couple of women that just finished their meal. I really don't know what the question was that he was asking. What I would have done if he came up to me: I would either (a) throw up the good food on him and ask him "What will you do now" or (b) grab him in the nuts and say "Put this on tv, you ass."
So what would u do?
So what would u do?
Friday, February 6, 2009
A quick note about Funny Stories
Hello blog readers!
If you are only interested in chuckling, please note that from here on (and also in the below post) I'll highlight those pee in your pants humorous moments as: FUNNY STORY.
Hope this helps.
Love,
Kristen
yup, still in the armpit of creation
If you are only interested in chuckling, please note that from here on (and also in the below post) I'll highlight those pee in your pants humorous moments as: FUNNY STORY.
Hope this helps.
Love,
Kristen
yup, still in the armpit of creation
Fear and loathing OF Las Vegas
Las Vegas is absolutely the armpit of creation. Are those words too strong? For those of you who are of the Facebook nation and familiar with the 25 little known things thread that's going around, here's a fact about Fargnoli: he lived in Las Vegas for four months. Yes, it's true. Right here in the armpit of creation. We went to see "Coraline" today (in 3D - really please see it this way! It's incredibly cool and such a good movie.), which was unfortunately being shown at the Red Rocks Casino theater. I've never been into a casio before and am happy to now know that I am not missing anything. Did you know that they actually pump fresh oxygen into the casinos so you'll stay awake, squelch every shard of natural light and make clocks contriband so you don't know what time it is?! Insane. No prana in there.
BUT it's not all bad! Red Rocks is stunning and the climbing is fantastic. I lead my first outdoor climbs yesterday (two 5.8s) on the Hunter S. Thompson wall and we did a couple of climbs in the Black Corredor. Coming from Joshua Tree where the granite eats your fingertips, we welcomed the kind touch of the red sandstone. Our campsite minutes away from the park and we have wonderful Canadian neighbors. Speaking of whom...
FUNNY STORY: we met two of the Canadians (Francois and Chris) yesterday at the Hunter S. Thompson wall. While I was climbing and about three clips from the deck, James was describing one of the climbs - a 10.a - that Chris was doing to Francois. "Great climb, really fun and consistent. It's A all the way!" I started laughing. "Oh, you can do it!" James called up to me, thinking I was laughing at the difficulty of the climb. "A all the way?! That's a hilarious thing to say to a Canadian!!" Get it? A...pronounced as "eh"...Canadian, eh? Ha ha ha. Ha?
James, the picture man, will post pictures of our recent adventures soon. Pictures of the above, and also of our fantastic breakfast today at Hash House A Go Go (go go there!). James got a bloody mary the size of his head!!
Signing off now.
With love from the armpit of creation,
James and Kristen
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Where are we from? The Road, USA.
Hey there friends, family, loved ones!
Here we are on the road. Yes, when people ask us where we're from we say "The Road." Apparently this is something James has always wanted to say to people. Sweet.
Before we get started with pictures, stories, etc from The Road, USA...a little background info. We are driving from San Francisco to Boston from January 31-February 28, 2009. In the week leading up to the 31st, we packed all of our belongings Tetris-style into two Door-To-Door moving pods, four FedEx boxes, one USPS box, and road items into James' Ford Escort. We then hit the road, embarking on a month-long cross country rock climbing/adventure trip. Our name is Team Ahimsa (Ahimsa is the Sanskrit word meaning to do no harm) and we have two mascots, Ganesh (the Hindi elephant god typically envoked at the beginning of events to clear obsticles among other things) and Mr. T the Chipmunk (from the Mandika tribe...he sings "Eye of the Tiger" in a piercingly high-pitched voice when you push a button...enough said).
Today is February 4th (our two year anniversary!) and we are settling down for a peaceful night's sleep. More soon - with pictures and stories from, you guessed it, The Road, USA.
Love,
James and Kristen
Team Ahimsa
Currently in Las Vegas, NV
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