Chapter 3... a brief encounter with destiny

I took a bus from the airport to downtown Denver. It was a cool and cloudy day which was great to walk around in with a 30 pound backpack. My main objective was to explore the city till the afternoon when I was supposed to meed up with Destiny. There were a few things I needed for the trip such as a water bottle and soap, so I thought I'd check out the REI downtown Denver.
I was in high spirits walking up to REI. I got to Denver safely, and from what I'd seen it was going to be an enjoyable morning. In front of REI there was an incredible gift waiting for me. On top of the garbage out front there was a box of pizza with 2 good slices still in it, and next to the garbage there were 2 donuts in a box. With Kaki King in my headphones I smiled, grabbed a piece of the pizza, and danced around feeling good while consuming my breakfast. A man walked out of REI. I raised my pizza in a toast and simple said "good morning sir" with a smile on my face. There was no return. No eye contact, no "hello", no nod... NOTHING! But what the kind sir did was he grabbed the remaining slice of pizza, and the two donuts, and walked silently back into the store to throw them away. wait.... WHAT? My smile quickly turned to a frown in disappointment. I don't know why, but I still proceeded into the store and bought my items. At the front counter there was a friendly young face. I told the girl in front of me the story about the dick fuck out front. The "asshole" manager. I asked her if my breakfast could be given back to me. She told me that might be a problem, but I guess a few free cliff bars wouldn't be.
From here on out I would walk around the 16th street mall. Its kind of funny how similar every city in america really is. What can you really do when exploring cities? Im not out to shop... I just spectate all the funny shopping families that generally all look the same. Sometimes, ill sit and talk to another traveler or bum, but nobody else has anything to say to me. So I decided to walk behind the scenes. The alleys are WAY more fun than the strip. I immediately had people to talk too, graffiti to admire, free shit galore just waiting for me to take, and all the "behind the scenes America folk"; aka dishwashers, cooks, janitors, garbage men, all the other shitty jobs where their smoke brake was the best 5 minutes of their day. I ended up laying in a patch of grass, wishing I had a sketchbook, and watching all the children nearby get their faces painted.
Around noon I received a call from Destiny...
Let me give you a quick bit of history and information. Destiny and I were together during my first year of art school. She was at one time my biggest inspiration when it came to my creativity. We would sit in my room and do nothing but artwork. There was a bunch of substance abuse involved, but even so, we would create artwork on top of artwork on top of artwork. We did this for the entire year and ended up splitting up at the end of the school year. There was no communication between us at all for 4 years. That's not to say I didn't want to keep communication between the two of us, I just had no way of getting a hold of her. 2 weeks before I left Asheville, she randomly got a hold of me and I was extremely excited because she now lived exactly where I was traveling too.
Maybe I was dreaming, but I envisioned so many good things when we would be in the same room again 4 years later. I cant write all the things I wish too here on what happened, but it wasn't all the beautiful things i envisioned those 2 weeks in between the time she got a hold of me and the time i walked into her apartment. There were some trues. She was indeed absolutely beautiful, her artwork was just as amazing as ever before, and she was much healthier than I previously remembered. Destiny and her boyfriend were very welcoming and upon entering I immediately felt at home and in a good place.
Her boyfriend was in and out all day giving Destiny and I time to catch up and speak of the crazy times we shared 4 years prior. She gave me a couple drawings and photos of the days at CCS, and a half filled sketchbook for my travels...


I believe the most important thing for me did happen. She once again inspired me to create art, and now with her sketchbook in my hands I started drawing and painting in her studio. Destiny, Anthony and I had some drinks, she made us food, and the two of them departed from the apartment.

Destiny went to work, while Anthony went out drinking. I immediately went to bed on the porch out front...

I was lucky to fall asleep at 10 pm, because I awoke to a couple people still partying at 6 am inside. I awoke and joined them. It was early morning, so I didn't take part in the case of beer they would drink until noon. But none the less it was entertaining and obnoxious at the same time. As much as I would love to write the full experience, I will not go into all of the details of this bizarre morning. Not looking forward to the possibility of it all happening again I decided to leave denver earlier than expected. My plans were to stay with Destiny for a few days, but it just wasn't the atmosphere I traveled across the country to experience. Sometimes I dream too big.
I awoke destiny from her sleep around 3 in the afternoon, and said good bye. I jumped on a bus out to Boulder, still not sure of the decision I made to not give denver another nights experience. As much as I wanted to spend more time with Destiny, it was time to head out to Boulder and spend some time with one of my best friends... Brandon.

Chapter 2... Tennessee

So as the story goes on...
Refreshed and collected from 5 days at the red river gorge, i find myself being dropped off in knoxville. John and I said our "goodbye"s and i headed to the onramp to attempt a hitch over to nashville. I figured a 2 hour drive would be an easy hitch hike, especially in the heart of Tennessee. I couldn't have been more mistaken...
First of all, Tennessee in the summer time is hot... blazing hot. Standing on the gravel and pavement of an onramp does not help the heat. Luckily i was picked up about an hour later. There were two mexicans in a beat up honda waiting for me to hop in. There wasn't much communication between the two of us due to the difference in language, but i sat in back listing to 2-pac and Biggie, and was just happy to get off the onramp. As quickly as I got comfortable was as quickly as I was dropped off. In the worst place possible I might add.
At first the place looked quite nice... It was a very busy truck stop, so I was immediately banking on a trucker picking me up. I went straight to the onramp considering the 2 chico's only drove me 10 miles. It was the most frustrating onramp of the trip. On the back of the sign that was posted in front of me read travelers names dating back to 2001. The boldest font on the sign read, "Hitchhiking sucks!" It was not a good sign. As the hours and continuous people passed, I began to understand making it to nashville wasn't going to happen. I made phone calls to my family in nashville telling them to expect me the following day, and I watched as the sun went down.
I then walked over to a truck stop, grabbed something to drink and sat out front in hopes of somebody offering me a ride west. The only person who confronted me was a cop questioning me on where i was going, and what i was planning on doing with the illegal knife strapped to me. I told him the truth and he kicked me off the gas station property. I moved on to the next one. It was here that there were endless signs saying "no hitchhikers". I ate some chips, blasted immortal technique in my headphones, smoked a bunch of cigs, then found a nice hidden patch of grass to fall asleep on.

The morning wasn't much better. I sat at that onramp from sunrise til about noon, to eventually get picked up by a couple in their mid 70's. They saved the day. They only took me 12 miles or so, but got me off that shitty sun burned onramp. From here on out it was a breeze. They dropped me off after the 3 of us ran some errands to the post office and bank. I was immediately picked up by another mexican who drove me a good 25 miles outside of knoxville. Now in high spirits of actually making it to Nashville, i blasted Xavier Rudd in my headphones and threw out my thumb in a construction zone all the while dancing and being watch by all the workers. I was quickly picked up by an older man in a beat up conversion van. There wasnt much conversation in this ride, but he was driving all the way out to Arizona, which meant I got a straight ride to Nashville. We listened to a book on tape, and just before I arrived to my exit, i watch the miles on his car tick over 500,000 miles. I finished the trip by walking to my uncles.
Over the next few days I spent time with my grandparents. I was very mellow and relaxing, aka boring, but it felt really good. The time spent with them was very important to me and cleared my head a bit about the importance of family and our elders. There was also time spent with my uncle dwight, which I think was the first time in our history that we actually got to sit down and speak to each other as adults and that was really great. The night of the 27th I stayed with my aunt and uncle and awoke at 4:45 to get a ride to the airport. I was scared shitless to fly, as those of you who know me well would expect, but all went well and i arrived in Denver at 8AM.

The Beginning...

I sold my expensive belongings; i finalized time off of work; I accepted the fact that all the security I have received in the last year wasn't what I was looking for, and I hit the road. Provided for me in the last year was an incredible job, incredible boss, incredible place to call home. In the middle of all this luxury was little old me, still seeking out to find a sense of exploration in my life. The constant desire to strip my self of all these luxuries finally collected to a boiling point and oozed me out of Asheville, North Carolina. You must give me credit, I did last almost a year. On top off everything, i am now debt free, on the road out to find what ever it is that keeps me moving...

First stop.... The RED RIVER GORGE, kentucky...

(photo: john thompson)
It was only 1 day before i left asheville... With Nick driving, Allison in the back, and myself in the passengers seat. We were on our way back to the grocery store from the French Broad River. "Messages" by Xavier Rudd was blasting in the warm North Carolina sun. I felt more different emotions during this one drive to the grocery store then i had ever felt in asheville. The constant excitement about future travels, nervousness, passion, ambition, sadness, you name it I bet I felt it. These two beautiful humans were a gift down from Michigan to share my farewell from asheville, and now here i am, listening to "Messages" once again with a huge smile on my face. I'm in the Red, I just climbed harder than i ever have, and I am again surrounded by amaizing people to kick off my travels...

My possessions were stored in my friend Rob's shed for the time i am gone. I have a job waiting for me if i wished to return to my asheville life. John and I jumped into his car and drove up to the red to spend some time climbing. I linked up with a long time and very dear friend susan. We climbed hard for the two days we spent together. There were other good friends to share the climbing experience with such as Steve G and Allison, and all the other amaizing people who climb the Red. It all seemed to progress into today. John and I woke up early and were down in the depths of Muir Valley hiking around the humid Kentucky woods with Susan. Our first assent took place around 9 am... By 1:00pm I led 2 5.8's, a 5.9, a 5.10d, and a 5.10a. At that point the crew grew two more with steve and allison. We drove and hiked up to a different face where i led a 5.9 and top roped a 5.10 and 5.11. It was by far the most pitches i've ever done in a day, and some of the hardest lead climbs i've ever done.




This is exactly what I needed to start up my adventure. To get my feet back in the dirt; fall asleep in a tent; breath in the mountain air; and really just clear my head in a comfortable place before I get on the road and see as much of the country as my body can handle. The RED will be missed. Part of me wishes to stay here for a couple more weeks and kick out some good climbs, but I have a flight out to Denver I have to catch on saturday. So im going to relax for a few days in Nashville, catch up with the family, and continue along my adventure in denver come this saturday...

for more red river photos... http://www.flickr.com/photos/28303021@N05/sets/72157606007788476/