Cottonwood Pass, heading to Crested Butte to chill-work-play with Kristi
I have to admit, this part of the adventure is just painful. Hours of organizing, packing, weighing, re-packing and never being able to shake the feeling that you are both forgetting something important and bringing something useless.
Tomorrow I fly to Beijing solo. This time I'll bring a slightly bigger boat, my Pyranha Burn, which the airline will charge me an additional arm and leg. This one weighs more so I can't pack gear into that bag, making for a larger, bulkier carry-on. I'll throw in some school books to prep for the fall semester as well as a few extra fun dresses, since this is vacation after all. Crossing fingers for under 50 lbs.
This particular packing session is also more overwhelming due to the harsh and abrupt transition leading into it. Just a few hours ago I was safety-boating for FiBark's 26 mile downriver race, as well as organizing 5 other boaters positioned throughout the course. This after 3 days of fielding WCKA questions from curious parents and excited students at a booth I had on the boat ramp for this legendary paddling event. Since my skills were needed for safety and conversation throughout the weekend I opted to just watch competitions, rather than participate. My healing shoulder and increasingly dilapidated wildwater boat also contributed to this decision. Although I think it was the beach ball-sized boulder that rolled onto my forearm, then the stern of my fiberglass boat after a practice run that sealed that deal. (No worries--only the boat broke, not my arm) Thanks to Mariah from Dawson school for the fix on that one!
Here are a few shots from the weekend...
Geoff and Peter duking it out in the head-to-head Wildwater Sprint. These guys make this incredibly challenging way to paddle downstream look too easy.
Althea, Hannah and Ben Dann enjoying sun and a great wave
Griff in the wave
A couple shots of the WCKA booth
Haley Thompson and Peter Lutter, two of the strongest Jr. paddlers I've ever seen, trying out the C2 together for the first time
Big crowds and this great event
A small world moment...
Memories of my childhood in South Carolina would not be complete without Bonnie Gerlaugh: days at the pool, playing in the creek and, of course, many sleep-overs. After moving to Pennsylvania in middle school, contact drifted away, until facebook brought us back together. Since then she has similarily come down with the travel bug and has trekked around Europe and other distant lands...not too dissimilar from my current lifestyle. Turns out, our paths were to cross, in unlikely Fairplay, CO during a congregation of couch surfers and vagabonds from everywhere.
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