Its Friday the 13th! The drive began with a lot of rain and wind, but the day quickly cleared up into a beautiful morning. My destination for the day is Chapel Hill, NC deep in the heart of tobacco country!

I dawdled around DC attempting to re-kindle my feelings for the place I had spent three months exploring a couple years ago, but I ended up getting turned around and lost. Nothing seemed familiar, for some reason, and when I found myself back out of the highway headed south I decided it wasn’t time for the visit.

I’m staying with my buddy Tim tonight and will see how I feel about sleeping in my car the rest of the trip. Nothing past this point is planned. I just have to be in Fort Worth by Monday night to be working bright and early Tuesday.

In a week, I’ll be driving to Texas from NYC! This is the first draft of my route.

After the long long road trip adventure last year, I’ve been sticking with planes or the city. Its getting to the point where I’m missing the mountains and find myself dreaming of the roads between Santa Fe and Denver.

After last year, I promised myself that I wouldn’t go for any crazy long distance drives through the midwest. Getting caught in blizzards in the middle of Kansas is more adventure than I am interested in experiencing any time soon, so, I’ll have to push my fantasies back into the summer. Where to go?

Wyoming! Its about damn time I hit up the Tetons again, so, I’m going to plan my life around a backpacking trip in July where the largest mosquitoes ever will be out for my blood. Usually, I plan trips around my big birthdays, and, well, I’m only going to turn 30 once.

The sleepy tree above is in Central Park, but the photo makes me roadsick for the mountains. Time to get planning!

I’ve been back in NYC for a little while now after a short jump to Illinois to spend time with the family. A week after my crazy road trip, I started a new full time job and am currently attempting to settle into a life where I don’t leave all the time.

By a “long time” I mean to say that I’m buying plane tickets to Thailand in June after a short stop in Texas to see all of my favorite people. It I plan a trip, it makes me feel like all is well in the universe.

In NYC news, the weather is getting to the point where, when its not raining, I’ll be able to pedal my way in circles around Prospect Park to my heart’s content. I’ve not ridden my bike, any of my bikes, since I’ve arrived in NYC last November. I’ll have to dust off my toolbox to clean the chain and check the brakes and shifting before I head out into the streets.

Instead of cycling, I’ve been hitting up Brooklyn Boulders after work for a few hours three times a week. Its the largest indoor climbing gym in NYC and has the most densely set walls I’ve seen at any of the gyms I’ve visited across the country. The people are super nice and the problems are well thought out with several different kinds of inclines and overhangs to make everyone happy. As for top rope climbing, though, its a bit lacking in comparison to some of the gyms out west with a lack of ceiling and long overhanging routes. Nothing like Rock’n and Jam’n in Denver, but, really, a place like that is a gem, as far as I know, when it comes to indoor lead climbing.

From New York to St. Louis to Denver to Albuquerque to Fort Worth to Austin then back to Fort Worth and St. Louis I only have 16.5 hours of driving left for my final push back home to NYC after 1.5 months!

Home… I can’t wait to be able to sleep in my own bed, climb at the same gym week after week, eat brunch on Sundays, nest in my own (very own!) apartment, clean my own dishes, walk on the streets, take the subway, eat Porchetta (!!!), and watch spring blossom in the city…

I’ve had a great time on the road, but, damn… it’ll be good to put books on my own shelves and cook for my own roommate… my very own roommate! AND maybe (maybe) meet people and go on dates and stuff without the “I don’t live here” issue!

“Your transfer case is broken. You need a new transfer case.”

Sweet.

After a crazy time driving through the snow in Kansas, the roads cleared up just in time for my front wheels to lock up and strand me for 3 hours in a rest area a few miles outside of Limon, CO. I’ve been hanging out in Denver for the past two weeks after having my Pathfinder, Chisos, towed 63 miles into town.

I ordered a new transfer case, but, after waiting a week for it to arrive, only to realize the company had sent the wrong one.

So, I’m still here, in Denver, surrounded by amazing people and the mountains waiting for another transfer case. Hopefully, by the end of the week, I’ll be somewhere in New Mexico or Texas… but, I’ve given up on planning. In fact, I’m making new friends and starting a life here.

I do miss New York a lot, don’t get me wrong… I’ve just been here long enough to start feeling like I live here… too.

According to plan, I have been climbing at a local rock gym called Rock’n and Jam’n. The bouldering area struck me as odd because, instead of the usual V rating system that I see at other gyms, this gym has 4 ratings: recreational, intermediate, advanced and hard. The plentiful recreational problems seemed to be on the V0 to V2 range and the intermediate problems where at and just above my climbing level. There are lots of problems to choose from, allowing me to spend 3 hours after losing track of time. Got to say, I like this gym more than the Upper Limits gym in St. Louis because there is more to work on and, well, the people are nicer.

Next time, I’m bringing my climbing harness and trying out the top-rope area. They have enormous top-rope climbing walls, the tallest I’ve yet seen, but I didn’t have a partner and am really just interested in bouldering anyway. I did sit and watch some of the climbs, and they setters seem to want to keep the routes interesting all the way through. Lots of long lead routes that lead sideways and under huge overhangs. The walls are just beautiful.

There is something very distinct about the great Midwest, and I can’t say that I’m too fond of it. My visit is due to family. My grandmother is ill and newly in a nursing home and is in need of visitors.

I am finding the Midwest beautiful, which must mean I’m either getting old or have lived among hills or building for so long that being able to see unknown miles out across the flat land to the flat horizon is breathtaking.

Since I’ve been rock climbing indoors consistently for the past 6 months (after years of attempting to make it a habit) I have visited the Upper Limits rock gym twice since my arrival. I can only compare this gym to the 6 different gyms I have been to since I started tinkering with climbing 5 or so years ago, and I have to say its a bit lacking in the bouldering department. Bring a harness and find a partner. There are auto belay devices, but not so many its worth the day pass fee if you’re used to going to a more densely routed gym without a partner. Really, I was there to boulder so bouldering is what I’m reviewing. The problem rating is up there with the harder gyms I’ve been to, which would be awesome if there were more problems for beginners. I was able to locate 2 V0′s, 1 V1, and several V2′s which would be much too difficult for anyone trying to get into the sport. I went ahead and started some of the top-rope routes just to get more warm up and down climbing strength whatnot in, but it was crowded outside of the bouldering area and I felt I was in the way of the top-rope crowd. I did get some good time in and the boulder problems were really great, I just wish there were more to choose from.

Brooklyn Boulders and North Austin Rock Gym have completely spoiled me due to their size and Summit Rock Gym in Grapevine has spoiled me due to the friendliness of their regulars and quality of their bouldering problems.

At the nursing home, a nice older lady has taken to me. She calls me “boy” and tells the nurses how cute she thinks I am. Every time she sees me she says something, never remembering that we had ever spoken before. Sometimes she compliments my smile, other times she asks what school I went to or tells me to comb my hair. Its hard when she asks my name, though, because she’ll call me a liar when I say I’m a girl.

I love how uncomfortable the nurses get throughout the whole interaction. Considering we are in a small Midwestern town, everyone is so polite it makes things like this all the more awkward, deliciously so.

This woman must have hit on everyone she ever thought was attractive.

Tomorrow, I leave for Denver! Another 25 hours day.

This is what January currently looks like for me. I will be driving.

Destinations include:

• St. Louis, MO
• Denver, CO
• Santa Fe, NM
• Fort Worth, TX
• Austin, TX
• Little Rock, AR
• Nashville, TN
• Chapel Hill, NC
• Washington, DC