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Sometimes you have to concede. After three weeks of schedule shuffling, Maddie and I decided to get some rest and relaxation during the last week of the trip. Chris and Sophie were down at the beach with Matt and Donna and the girls, so we decided to push through and drive from Estes Park, CO…

I haven’t spoken about this on the blog, but I wanted to take a minute to thank Powdersville First Baptist Church for allowing me to take this trip. Many of you who are following our journey aren’t members at PFBC, and I would like for you to know that we serve alongside a wonderful church…

Having car trouble away from home makes you feel helpless. Getting the car back after the repairs is a helpless feeling as well. Everything seemed to be working properly, so we headed to the next thing on our five-time modified schedule. There is some good news and some bad news about our campsite for last…

If you know me, you know that I don’t care for sitting still. If anything, I typically put more into a day than I should. A close friend has called me a “Martha” many times. She can do that because it takes one to know one. Right, Dot? We have been in a motel for…

Peace is an interesting thing. It means so many different things to people. To some, it means getting along with those around them. To others, it means being in some zen state. Years ago, I was introduced to a peace that transcends all understanding. More on that later. For the last two nights, we have…

Some views just stick with you. I can remember the first time that I ever made the drive into Arches National Park with our friends Tad and Sonya. Even though I have seen the same views several times, I remember the first trip well. I can remember the first time that we drove down into Yosemite…

We awoke to much cooler temperatures and a beautiful morning. The breeze was still blowing, and I wasn’t drenched in sweat. We loaded up to try to beat the crowds to the crag. I guess the heat scared everyone away. If you look in the lower lefthand corner of the picture below, you will see PB&J all…

When we become acclimated to our surroundings, anything out of the ordinary seems to be tough to deal with. So far for me, the heat has been the crux. Last night was a slop fest. My cushions were ringing wet when I woke up. I was able to talk the picture below through the dirty…

It wasn’t easy leaving our air-conditioned lair that we were in for a day and a half. I remember the desert heat well, but this is one thing that I couldn’t train for. As soon as the sun is up, it becomes stifling hot. As I was packing the Jeep, I met a young man…

Sometimes your tank is just empty. I can remember the three-week trips that Chris and I used to take before we had children. I would return to work four twelve-hour night shifts after three solid weeks on the go. I could get away with that as a twenty and thirty-year-old, but now, in my fifties,…

I’m sorry that I didn’t post an update yesterday. We were camping in the middle of the desert with no cell service. You guys will get a two-for-one today as I will try to recap what happened over the last two days. Sunday morning, we headed into Moab just in time for church service. We…

We left Brant and Beth’s house this morning with plans to climb a four-pitch sport route in Maple Canyon called Tachycardia. When we stopped for gas just south of Provo, I ran the numbers, and we hit over twenty MPG for the first time. That brought our average MPG up to 17.45. On the downside,…

Yesterday was somewhat of a rest day for us. With the schedule shifting from Western Wyoming to Southern Utah, we moved up our visit with my best friend from high school. Brant lives just outside of Ogden, Utah which we drive through on the way to Maple Canyon. This is the view on the grade…

What a day! When someone says that, you need to hear a tone or see their countenance in order to understand whether it is a good: What a day! or a bad: What a day! In our case, it isn’t our tone or our countenance, it was what time of the day it was said.…

I failed to mention that the Wild Iris climbing area is at almost 9000 feet. I closed the last post with a picture of our view when we crawled out of the Jeep. This was the view a couple of hours later as we were heading to the crag. When I say that the clouds…

The rain didn’t let up. It went from heavy fog to steady rain. After driving the 8-mile dirt and gravel road up the canyon and back to get familiar with the area, PB&J was a muddy mess. There is no way that we would have been able to climb in Ten Sleep for a couple…

I forgot to mention in my last post about having my first Buc-ee’s experience. Despite popular belief, it is possible to walk into a Buc-ee’s, go straight to the restroom, and then walk straight out the door. There was way too much for me to take in; I could have wasted an hour in there…

Maddie and I headed out after church yesterday as planned. I ate entirely too much food at our 4th of July meal. My dessert plate was about the same size as my hotdog and hamburger. Thanks to those who made special desserts for me. The good news: We have made pretty good time. We are…

Believe it or not, it’s hard for me to believe that Maddie and I head out for our trip after church tomorrow. As slow as time seemed to pass when lugging that backpack up the treadmill, overall, time has flown by since we set the July 2nd departure date. I spent most of yesterday loading…

From the time that I started rock climbing, I have had people tell me that I’m crazy. Some have actually been upset with me for partaking in such an “unsafe” activity. My responses have varied over the years, but I have been pretty adamant that climbing really isn’t that unsafe. Several of our church members…

We decided to go to the climbing gym last night. One last time of stretching the tendons before the trip. I resolved to go for a lactic acid bath over shoulder wrenching harder routes. I spent time doing laps on easier stuff until my forearms were as hard as a rock. It was surprising to…

T-6 Days for those counting. I spent some time yesterday afternoon packing what I thought I might need for the trip. We will see a wide range of temperatures. In the Tetons, we will surely see below-freezing for our alpine starts, and in the desert of Utah, we will see 110 degrees or more as…

I hope that you aren’t like me. I often fail to thank people for the things that they do. Chris has been in Kentucky this week with our UN1SON Mission Team. With her being out of town, my day-to-day responsibilities have increased. It amazes me when I pause to realize all that takes place on…

I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing…many of our friends and church members seem to be as excited about our trip as we are. Things seem to be moving really fast at this point. Maddie is in full swing as a whitewater rafting guide in Asheville. When I asked…

The closer we get to July, the faster time seems to be moving. We are down to three weeks before we head out on the trip, and I don’t have everything ready. The two large “to-dos” besides continuing my training are: finalizing and building the drawer design in the back of the Jeep and ordering…

This week has been pretty busy. We are doing Vacation Bible School at church every evening, and the calendar during the day has been pretty full as well. I have been able to continue my training. This morning, I completed 90 minutes on the torture device at a 10% grade with 40 or so pounds…

I was climbing with Maddie last week, and I decided to get on a route that was too hard for me. It was a climb that ascends a dihedral. The hand holds were pretty small, but if you use a climbing technique called “stemming,” you can use opposing forces to inch your way up the…

Some words are encouraging. “Steadfast” is one of those words for me. Rarely do we use this word. Committed, devoted, or dedicated are much more common in our day. In years gone by, my climbing goals were much different. Hard routes or boulder problems topped my “goal” list, but this time around, honestly, my goal…

I was blessed to serve in the United States Air Force back in the early 1990’s. The career field that I was in was called “463” or Nuclear Weapons Specialist. That’s a fancy way of saying that I did maintenance on nuclear missiles. I didn’t get to go to Desert Shield or Desert Storm. Praise…

The Mountain Laurels are in full bloom in late May. On the tree, the blooms are bunched up to make larger flowers that are awe-inspiring, but when they fall to the ground, each individual blossom is just as beautiful. I love the shape of the inside of the flowers. Maddie and I were back at…

Nine years ago, my oldest little girl (Maddie) was finishing up the sixth grade. She came to me at the beginning of the summer and said, “I think I want to run Cross Country for Byrnes next year.” I didn’t hesitate. I told her to get her tennis shoes and follow me. I took her…

Sometimes, people do stupid things. Throughout my life, I would fit more on the “most of the time” side of that scale. A friend that I worked with at AFL was a rodeo announcer on the side. He came to me one day and ask if I would like to ride a bull for charity.…

Maddie was home for a few days before she starts her whitewater guide job for the summer, so we headed to Looking Glass Rock between the showers. This is a traditional climbing area in North Carolina. If you have ever driven on the Blue Ridge Parkway, you have seen this large granite gumdrop in the…

I ran across this picture from 2004 this week. Chris and I took a couple that was in town from Australia out to Rumbling Bald to boulder for the day. This picture was taken over Thanksgiving weekend, and this poor couple got a crash course in Southern food…more on that later. By this time, Maddie…

I’m not sure about you, but it has always been easier for me to motivate others than to motivate myself. I am a coach at heart, and I love to see people grow. From baseball, to softball, to climbing, to running, I’ve been blessed to encourage people to set and work towards a goal. Many…

Honestly, I have been frustrated with this awning for the past several weeks. I have already shared about it in an earlier post. I like it, but I am struggling with one aspect of it. There are zippers that line the edge of the awning to allow walls to be zipped in to make somewhat…

The above picture was taken from one of our camps on our 2018 trip out west. We were enjoying our supper as we watched the happenings across the valley. On the left, we have a rainbow, and on the right, we have a storm. There are lots of cliches that I could use for this…

Yesterday morning, I met a goal that I didn’t think was possible. When this climbing trip idea came about, I was, well, how do I say it, very out of shape. I was heavier than I ever have been, extremely out of shape, and somewhat unmotivated to get up off the couch. The first climbing…

Sophie has shown an interest in climbing, and she has made a few trips out to the crag with me. Yesterday, we took off midafternoon to get a few routes in at Big Rock. She is learning to belay, and yesterday, she rappelled for the first time. It has been a long time since I’ve…

Even if it’s not on paper, we all have a list of our favorite places. The Overlook makes my list. This is a cool climbing/camping area near Cedar City, Utah. It sits at just over 10,000 feet, and it is far enough from civilization that there is very little ambient light. An additional perk is…

Sometimes, things just don’t turn out how you want them to. We lose games with our biggest rivals, we fail tests that we studied hours for, and on rare occasions, that meal that we looked forward to for a week can’t even be eaten (that’s a story for another time). We call this “disappointment.” I’d…

Don’t think for a minute that I have fooled myself into thinking that gravity is stronger these days, but rest assured that I have tried. It’s amazing how quickly you lose muscle and how long it takes to build it back. When I compare where I was to where I am, it’s frustrating. The problem…

The picture above would easily be overlooked by most. Who takes time to look at a haul bag sitting on a treadmill in a messy garage? Not many. What most people don’t know is this Dynamic Duo beat me down this morning. No matter how much I do it, training is still hard. 40 to…

Christy’s Jeep will be our house for The Last Hurrah trip, and it needed a ton of modifications to be somewhat comfortable. We have been working on it for a few months. In this picture, we had just added the awning. This will serve as a cover for our pullout kitchen and shade for the…

Maddie and I were climbing at Big Rock last week when I saw a climb that looked interesting. We didn’t have time to climb it, and it was graded higher than I am currently climbing. It looked doable from the ground. I thought about this climb on and off all week. I have been climbing…