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Time for a roadtrip, the seemingly annual fall pilgrimage to the east. Steep southern sport sandstone time. Julie and I left Flagstaff heading East shortly after Ted. We met up at the Enchanted Tower in New Mexico for some preparatory cranking and to break up the drive a bit. Ted claimed to be "off the couch", but that really meant he had only been climbing once or twice a week all summer - at least a maintenance dose. Plus he had been walking all over Tuolumne Meadows with a pack and was rolling lean and mean.
The first day he on-sighted a 5.12c that I was unable to do despite a number of tries, however I did flash "Rumplestilstkin", a 5.12a, so I was pretty pleased with that. The second day, Ted continued to crush, although a little slower. Julie was also cranking pretty hard, sending Golden Stairs easily, a route that had eluded her in the early summer. We even saw a tarantula downclimbing a 5.10. After 2 finger and skin punishing days it was time to move on, Ted and I headed east, and Julie back to Flagstaff for a brutal work schedule before joining us again later.
We caravanned up past Albuquerque and on east into the Texas panhandle past the biggest cross in the western hemisphere. A little before Shamrock, as a semi was passing me, my left front tire blew out. Because the semi was right next to me, It took a moment to determine that the noise and pull to the left was not due to the truck. I pulled over flashing the highbeams, but the truck blocked my signal to Ted.
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I began the operation to change the tire, eventually completing it and heading back on the road about the time Ted headed back to see if I was ok. He saw me and turned around at the next opportunity, but I never saw him, and looked around Shamrock a bit to see if he pulled off there, and that is probably where he passed me. The next morning, I stopped to get a new tire and called Ted from the tire place. he was ahead of me, and we agreed to meet up in Russelville AR.
Once the team was reassembled in Russelville, we headed north on little twisty roads to Jasper and then on to Chad's house. Chad was still out on a job, so Ted and I headed down to the Horseshoe Canyon ranch to climb some savory sandstone. Things were a bit muggy, but it was nice in the shade, and we managed to get on 4 climbs in the North 40 area.
That night chad and Rhonda got back, and we spent the day doing a lot of nothing - typical rest day activities, take photos, watch movies, cook, eat, talk... Dawn arrived that evening fresh from driving across from Flagstaff.
For the next few days we climbed on open and closed private property (thanks to Chad), Lots of good cranking, although we had to be careful of hostile flora and fauna (briars and poison ivy for the flora, wasps for the fauna). I was cutting my hair one morning, and Dawn decided she had had enough of long hair, but didn't want to part with all of it. So she got the reverse mullet, party in the front, business in back. (or maybe it is the other way around for women?) For another rest day we went to the Buffalo River. Ted and Rhonda fished, but Rhonda caught all the fishes. The rest of us had varying levels of inactivity. I brought out the pack raft and we floated around, skipped rocks, etc. Another satisfying rest day.
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The last day climbing we all got worked, then Chad strained his calf, so it was a mini-epic to clean the routes and get him and his gear back to the car. The next day it rained, and we packed up and headed north and east.
on to part 3, the Red River Gorge, KY