A Man, A Jeep, No Real Plan

Amazing Stories and Adventures

The Adventures!

We climbed a mountain and lost the nuggets. Our Stumble home.

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Hello folks! Sorry for this update taking so long, life came at us 1000 miles an hour last week and I am just now catching my breath.

Or last adventure in Mineral County was to take the 4 wheel drive trails up to the top of Mt. Bristol Head. Instead of cramming all of us into Jackson, Mom and Dad rented a friend for Jackson to play with.

The drive up was beautiful! We wove through the high meadows and the spruce groves. Granted the groves were littered with dead spruces that were killed by beetles years ago, but it was nice to be in an area untouched by the fires.

We stopped just shy of the tree-line for a picnic. Caitlyn spent most of it taking pictures. Grant spent most of the time playing in the soft, sand-like dirt. I fed my face like a fat kid. We all did exactly what we wanted.

As you can see, the top was absolutely breathtaking. Both Pretty Lady and I got some amazing photos!

I’d like to take a moment to talk about this one in particular. While Caitlyn and I were taking photos, my mom kept an eye on Grant. I absolutely love the above photo. They were standing close to the edge and they were talking about everything from birds flying to why the mountains looked so small. When we get the shop up and running I am calling this photo “Grandma Why?”

The Drive down was just as beautiful as the drive up. I drove most of it and Caitlyn kept having me stop so she could take photos. We also may have sent Grant ahead in the other jeep… There were just too many artistic opinions in the vehicle on the way up…

At the end of the trip, we stopped and took turns driving across the river. I am pretty sure this is another one that we’ll end up with in the shop. I just love the way that the water is interacting with the tires, the open sky with enticing clouds, and a very happy woman enjoying feeling like a badass who can’t be stopped. I think I’m going to call this one “Try and Stop Me”

Last weekend we finally started our stumble home. Our first stop was the Great Sand Dune National Park. It is exactly what it sounds like, they are massive piles of sand. When I say massive… I’d like you to note that the photo of the dunes above is taken from about a half mile from their base and they are blocking the mountains behind them… They are big.

Our first night was camping in Colorado Springs. We also had a lovely evening doing a socially distanced visit with my friend Hannah, her husband Zach, and their daughter Ari. It was great! We hung out in their back yard, had dinner, caught up, and watched the kids fail to social distance. That being said, it was an amazing time and Hannah has set the bar high on being a gracious host.

Next stop was in Kansas City. On our way to Kansas City, Grant could not keep ahold of his chicken nuggets to save his life. We tried twice and both times he got 1 bite, and then lost all of them on the floor. The first time I notified Caitlyn that the nuggets were down. I have to tell you, if you have never driven 1300 miles with a 3 year old, it truly turns everyone’s brain to mush and the phrase “nugget down” will make all parties involved laugh hysterically.

Once we arrived in Kansas City, We stayed at KOA (against my better judgement). We had breakfast the next morning with my friend Amanda, her Husband Jake, and their Daughter Liz. Once again it was a pleasure the Adults talked and the kids destroyed Amanda’s living room. Breakfast was great and the added bonus was that it wore Grant out so he slept a bit more on the drive than we would have expected.

Speaking of Grant sleeping in the car. How the hell does he get comfortable in some of these positions? I mean I understand that young children are more flexible than us adults, but it’s not fair that I wake up hurting if I spend too much time asleep with my arm under my head, but he can sleep slumped over with both of his feet above his head and a blanket covering his entire body. It’s just not fair.

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Fishing, Golfing, Hiking, and a Drive Through the Mountians.

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Hello all! Sorry I have been radio silent for a few days, but it is really hard to generate content when you spend 5 hours trying to stay awake and not catching any fish. To be fair, we hit our bag limits on trout by hour 7, but prior to that the only thing I caught was a sun burn.

The following day I went golfing with my father. To be more specific, he golfed and I stuck to what I’m good at: drinking, driving (golf cart only), and heckling. I must admit, I only had one beer, but I was as aggressive with that golf cart as one dares to be when the course is literally built on the side of a mountain. I was certainly not as aggressive with my heckling though… I mean yes I did have to comment when he donated golf balls to the Rio Grande, but when he mulliganed four balls off the side of the mountain in a row… I just didn’t have the heart… or was it that I couldn’t stop laughing… Regardless a good time was had by all!

July 3rd was my mom’s Birthday. I am unsure (probably by design) of her age, but she has celebrated her birthday in Creede, CO pretty much every year of my life. She always celebrates her birthday with a meal at a particular establishment. Covid-19 made this a challenge this year, but I am happy to say that the tradition was continued and once again, a good time was had by all!

Post birthday celebrations, Caitlyn, The Little Man and I went on our own adventures. We started at the Mining Museum, which we all failed to get any pictures of. That being said, the Mining Museum is awesome! They literally drilled and blasted out tunnels in the mountain to build the mining museum. The guided tour is led by an old timer who used to work in the local mines before they closed. The exhibits start with the old school hammer and hand drill method of drilling holes for dynamite to modern day techniques. I highly recommend it!

After the museum we went on a drive and found the Upper Clear Creek Falls. they were beautiful!

They also were the location of alot of the photos Caitlyn posted in her last update.

Dad and I decided to take the little man on a hike this past Sunday and let Mom and Caitlyn go shopping. We selected one of the few trails that Dad has not done in this area before. The average hiker covers about 2.5 miles an hour. We managed to get Grant about 3/4 of a mile in an hour and half. The Tiny Terrorist was more interested in looking at every ant hill, chipmunk hole, and oddly shapes rock than walking. Eventually Dad and I gave up and we just stopped for lunch and then headed back.

Grant was even less cooperative on the return trip to the car. So Dad and I took turns carrying him back. Once we got back to the car we strapped him in and he was out cold as soon as the car was rolling.

At this point Dad and I decided to drive into the mountains and find the other side of the trail. This was the begining of us formulating a plan for the next day.

The plan was simple, we talked our wonderful partners into taking us into the mountains and dumping us on the up hill side of the trail. They and Grant walked with us for the first mile and then we were on our own. I want to go on record stating that I firmly believe the ladies are witches, because witchcraft is the only possible explanation for how they got Grant to hike further than Dad and I did. They didn’t even have to carry him… (Or have to carry his pack. He lead the way the whole time. -Caitlyn)

At any rate, for Dad and I, it was a 9 mile downhill stumble that we did in about 3.5 hours and dear god am I out of shape. I mean we didn’t really stop other than short pee breaks, and long enough to drink some water. It was a strenuous hike, but dear god did I hurt the next morning.

Yesterday we drove over to Lake City. The drive was amazing, the city not so much. I won’t blast individual businesses, but they were openly hostile to the concept of mask wearing, to the point that one business asked me to remove mine. I declined and then was hurried out the door. There was also a business with a confederate flag with the message, “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone” printed on it… yeah, I have spent my last dollar in Lake City.

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Are we adventuring yet?

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Flowers outside our cabin

I have the dreaded writer’s block sitting here in our cabin. Not so much due to a lack of things to write about, but due to a lack of words. This is my first time in the Rocky Mountains. The beauty, magnitude, and impressiveness of these mountains is so hard to capture in just a few words. I am also trying daily to capture it with my camera and am also finding that to be challenging. I think I’m managing it fairly well though!

We have been having adventures together almost every day, even if it is just us hopping in Jackson and going for a drive. Speaking of Jackson, my poor Jeep. He is doing great and taking whatever we throw at him like a champ but he is getting tested on this trip. We have taken him on multiple trails that had me holding on for dear life with my eyes close and have only gotten “stuck” once. I say “stuck” because he wasn’t really stuck but I made Tyler get out and look at the rock we were trying to go over before continuing.

Every adventure we go on, I try to take a picture of Jackson at the adventure. So when you see a picture of Jackson, it is the start of a new adventure pictures. Enjoy the pictures of our adventures, I’ll only chime in sometimes otherwise this posts will mostly be pictures!

Monday June 29th

These pictures are from Monday, our first adventure together out here. We went across the road to a trail and then parked Jackson to take some pictures. Grant loved the chance to run around free after being stuck in the car for two days.

Normally we do images in black and white but most of these flowers pictures just lose their beauty in black and white. I was surprised by how many wildflowers there are up here.

Tuesday June 30th

My favorite picture of Jackson so far!

On Tuesday, we had two adventures! In the morning, Tyler and I took Jackson on some 4×4 trails and ended up at Ghost Lake. It was so worth it, even if we did get “stuck” leaving. Then we took Jackson on the Bachelor Tour Loop. Which is a 17 mile loop through the old mining areas. Tuesday afternoon we headed out with Tiny Terrorist.

Ghost Lake
Of course he had to climb on it.
The trail that we took to get to Ghost Lake

Seeing all of the burnt trees and the destruction from the fire was eerie. It was very quiet, nothing in sight, and all around uncomfortable.

Till I saw these daisies. Daisies are my favorite flower. It was a good reminder for me that sometimes destruction and “fires” are a part of life and needed to start over. Beautiful things can come from things that we thought destroyed us, when really they were making way for something new and better.

Taking pictures of him taking pictures might be a new hobby of mine.

On our way down the mountain we stopped at Love Lake. Grant really loves when we are able to put his bell on him and then let him run free.

Friday July 3rd

Friday it started to rain. We decided to take Grant to the Underground Mining Museum. I didn’t get any pictures inside the museum because it was too dark but I did get some pictures of this chipmunks that hang outside of the museum because they feed them. You can tell which ones have been there longer than others.

After the museum we went to North Clear Creek Falls. This was another beautiful site to see and I tired to capture it but did not do as well as I wanted too.

Sorry for the image overload. Like I said though, it is a lot easier to try to show you guys the beauty that is the Rocky Mountains rather than describe it. We are here for another week so expect much more to come. We are going to try and not wait so many days before posting a post, that way they are not as long.

Be safe this holiday weekend!

-Caitlyn aka Pretty Lady

7/1/2020 We’re on an Adventure!

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There is almost nothing that can phase me while I’m on an adventure. Jeff can break down, storms can blow in and try to kill me, I can end up sleeping in sketchy truck stops… Doesn’t phase me a bit.

However the youngest member of my team needs 45 minutes to adjust to the idea that the seats fold down in Jackson. That being said, last Friday we packed up Jackson for his and Grant’s maiden road trip with A Man, A Jeep, No Real Plan.

This adventure stays true to the spirit of this blog. We have a rough outline, but nothing set in stone. We also are being joined on this trip by my parents, who normally go to the cabin this time of year anyways. Luckily the also embrace the “winging it” mentality…

So, on Saturday morning we embarked on what ended up being a 32 hour long stumble westward.

According to google, the trip is about 20 hours of actual driving. How did we spend the other 16 hours? Well there was some time spent betting my father that he couldn’t fit through holes in random objects. As of writing, he has not gotten stuck yet.

We also spent a good chunk of time trying to find open businesses that also have open bathrooms. I knew going into this trip we were going to have some issues due to covid-19, but I didn’t expect it to result in driving over 100 miles while having to pee because literally no where had a freaking bathroom.

The only other notable thing is the fact that it is damn near impossible to find a hotel with 2 rooms in Kansas on short notice. When it was determined that it was time to stop for the night, I started calling hotels in a town about 50 miles ahead of us. according to google there are 15 hotels in this town. The first 13 of them I called didn’t have a single room available… Hotel number 14 had exactly 2 rooms available, so I booked them from the road. Upon arrival at this establishment we were greeted by a loud party in the parking lot. Thankfully the walls in this hotel were more sound proof than one would expect.

On Sunday evening we arrived at the cabin just in time to unload the vehichles and put Grant to bed.

Monday was spent getting used to the altitude. In the morning we took Jackson out and got some dust on him in the morning. When we stopped Caitlyn got a bunch of photos, I only got two. The above one I am falling in love with. When I get my act together and start selling prints, this one is definitely going to be available.

The other one photo I got is also likely to be available. Once Caitlyn was done with her photos she came and found Grant and I as we explored the various different types of bugs found at high altitude. He loves the grasshoppers up here. Caitlyn does not… At any rate, I snaged this photo as they were walking away and he was telling her all about the grasshoppers.

Monday afternoon we went into town for lunch and to find better wifi. While Caitlyn worked on her school stuff, Grant and I went exploring the beautiful town that is Creede. There was a distinct lack of tourists and some of my parents favorite shops were closed due to Covid-19 (some of them temporarily, some permanently). Luckily for Grant, the old train is still in the small park, and that is all of the exploring he cared to do. Mom and I ended up tag teaming who’s turn it was to play on the train and who got to go look in the shops.

Tuesday morning Caitlyn and I left the Tiny Terrorist with my parents and took Jackson out to play. We drove him on several 4×4 trails, the most challenging of which was up to Ghost Lake. I am proud to say that Jackson was able to go everywhere I wanted him to, even a few places that Caitlyn would rather I hadn’t tried. That being said I am still confident that Jeff can kick Jacksons ass. Eventually we will let them play together and find out.

Jackson wasn’t the only one to get to play on Tuesday morning. I wasn’t at 100% yet, but I was close enough to do some climbing. Nothing too major, just climbing ontop of some 20 foot bolders… It took the wind out of me…

You see, the cabin sits at about 9,000 feet above sea level. To give you some perspective on that the tree line (altitude where the air is too thin for trees to grow) is around 12,000 feet above sea level. So the air is a bit thin around here to say the least and over doing it before your body adjusts is a legit fear.

Another fear up here is wildfires. On Tuesday afternoon we picked up the little man and headed towards the scorched remains of The West Fork Fire Complex of 2013. This fire consisted of three seperate fires that were started by lightning. The individual fires were the West Fork Fire, Windy Pass Fire, and Papoose Fire (between the three fires over 110,000 acres was destroyed).

I have to tell you, walking through the destroyed forest 7 years afterwards is eary, as you can see above, its beautiful but unsettling. If I were to have an exhibit of these photos it would be called “Remains of the Temple”. My words just can’t do justice to what I saw.

On our way back from the fire area we stopped at this beautiful lush lake and hiked around a bit. I think the best part was watching the look on mothers of small children as the realized the genius of putting a bell on your preschooler while out in the wild. It’s great, Tiny Terrorist gets to free range in the wilderness, and we always know he is within ear shot and where he is without needing to hover.

At any rate, as the moon started to rise over the mountains, and the sun still beat down on us, we decided to call it a day and head back to the cabin.

Stay tuned for Caitlyn’s takes on our adventures and for the rest our adventures. We will be here for another 10 days and I think we all know that is plenty of time for me to have a few adventures!

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Write Drunk, Edit Sober

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Since my last post I have been struggling to make another… I try to write at least twice a week, as much to have some quiet introspective time to reflect on my adventures as to entertain everyone… Well it’s been radio silent for two weeks for many reasons.

I mean yes I have been doing boring “adult things”, but also I’ve been in kind of a funk. This funk has resulted in some mild insomnia and some SERIOUS writers block. So, I am taking advice that is often incorrectly attributed to Ernest Hemingway, “Write drunk , edit sober”. Fun fact while he was a notorious drunk, he always wrote sober. That being said, this evening I am not sober and I make no promises to sober up before editing is complete.

About a week ago I was up late watching TV and I suddenly realized that there were engines idling outside my window. I pulled back the curtains to see flashing lights, stopped traffic, and… two sheriff deputies parked in my driveway. So of course I did what any rational adult would do… I turned on the porch light and asked the officers if I needed to give my attorney a heads up about anything…

The good news is that they were not here to see me. The bad news is that my road was shut down by 4 sheriff deputies, 2 state troopers, an ambulance, and a fire engine… There was no accident, no fire, nothing to indicate that there was a problem other than the large contingent of emergency services… Why were they stopping traffic? I shit you not, when I asked, I was told, and I quote, “redneck stabbing at the boat ramp.”

Apparently there had been a massive brawl at the boat ramp near where I live that resulted in someone getting stabbed. Due to the remote nature of where I live, the authorities take a while to show up. So they decided to set up road blocks to try and catch involved individuals who were fleeing the scene.

So, I poured myself a drink and watched the chaos. When they finally decided to start allowing the normal flow of traffic, they had four cars full of people being detained and god only knows how many people they caught still at the ramp…

Over the next few days I discovered that the local newspaper doesn’t care what happens out here… or at least not enough to mention the chaos. So all I know is that there were some rednecks who got into a disagreement. I’m choosing to believe it was over whether Bud Light or PBR is better, but someone got stabbed…

Speaking of chaos, the house renovation is still underway. We are officially over half done with redoing the siding. Which honestly I can’t wait to be done with, I mean yes it’s hard work, and it’s hot, but… I am allergic to something in these walls and I basically work as long as I can handle, and then do nothing for 3 days while I wait for the rash to stop itching. As soon as the rash goes away, I dive back in like the idiot I am. If this doesn’t prove my unwavering dedication to making this damn place my own, then I don’t know what will.

I should also mention that my Dad is just as vested in this project as I am and it may be the Jack and Coke talking, but he deserves some recognition on how colossal of a DIY we are thus far successfully doing. So in the spirit of Fathers day (which I totally did not forget), thanks for diving down this rabbit hole Dad. It’s all your fault on multiple levels, but I think I can mark “have a grand adventure with dad” off my bucket list.

On the being a father front… This year Pretty Lady and Tiny Terrorist recognized me on fathers day. I mean they would have last year, but it just didn’t feel right to me.

Grant is without a doubt my son. If you know me, you know I can get scary angry from time to time… Apparently “papa bear” mode makes that angry look like a disgruntled puppy… As his former daycare can attest, I don’t just burn bridges, I reroute entire fucking rivers if you mess with my kid. If you weren’t told I was his step dad, you wouldn’t know. He calls me daddy, has my mannerisms, my temper, and allegedly looks like me (apparently we both are fucking adorable, I don’t know…)

I am the only father he has ever known and the gravity of that responsibility blows me away. It doesn’t matter what happens between Pretty Lady and I, Grant has chosen me and I have chosen him.

Some times, he points at me from across the room and I point back. then he’ll run up to me, and I catch him mid jump, turn him upside down and we run around the room squealing. This embarrasses Pretty Lady when it happens in Lowes… but she picked me, and he doubled down. Thus the above adorable photo of him watching me do questionable things on an extension ladder, and worshiping the ground that I would have landed on if I screwed up…

Speaking of screwing up… I have gotten fat… like over 210 pounds of sitting on my ass eating nachos for breakfast fat… I blame a lot of things for this. I mean being in a management role for the last 2 years didn’t help, but mostly I think it’s my indestructible self imagine that has allowed me to get this round. I mean, yes I can balance my drink on my gut while doing the macarena, but I am confident that I can still out climb the average joe and I dare an individual who has worked for me to try and out work me.

Why am I admitting to getting fat? Well, the climbing gym reopened recently and then temporarily closed again, but for the 2 weeks it was open, I was going every other day and while my hands hurt more than they used to, and I definitely was gasping for air, I was still climbing at a level that would be considered respectable. That being said before they reclosed I realized that my fat ass needs to get back into shape if I’m going to live long enough to hear the tiny terrorist’s grand kids bitch about the way I’m rebuilding this house.

You know, goals like that may be why I have the outlook I currently have. Pretty Lady and I were shopping recently and the salesman asked what I do for work. I told him I’m currently unemployed due to covid-19, but I’m not worried about it. We chatted a bit, and he commented that he’s never met an unemployed person who was so nonchalant about it.

I’m not nonchalant about being unemployed. I just don’t base my value on having a gig. I am more than a job. I’m a father, a spouse, a climber, a bourbon snob (with a weak spot for jack and coke), and a bad ass self made individual. Am I privleged by gender and race, yes! But at the end of the day I am proud of what is mine, what I have accomplished, and what I know I can do. So I’m going to control the controllable, enjoy my life, and anyone who judges me for not being a slave of the man can choke on a dick (or whatever genitalia they prefer)…

Sorry, writing drunk… At any rate, I now am on a strict diet, using the home gym at least twice a week, and striving to be in better shape than the dad at Grants day care who has to be using performance enhancing drugs. Seriously, no one over the age of 30 has muscles like that without some chemical help… I wonder if he actually is 30? Am I older than him? Is that diet coke in my drink? Who mixed me an old man drink?

On the topic of older, I am proud to announce that Jeff is officially an older brother. Caitlyn purchased a 2014 Jeep Wrangler. His name is Jackson (after Andrew Jackson) and Jeff is ready to play “follow the leader” and get his younger brother stuck. We have only had one adventure with General Jackson so far, but he is a solid jeep despite his abundance of plastic parts and underpowered V6 engine.

That being said, we will be putting him to the test on my next adventure. On this coming Saturday, we are embarking on a 2 week long trip to Colorado and we are taking General Jackson.

Pretty Lady, The Tiny Terrorist, and I are headed to Mineral County Colorado with my parents for a family “vacation”. I plan on putting General through his paces and proving that we should have taken Jeff, so what if his AC doesn’t work, Jeff is still the superior jeep…

So, please follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and of course here. We will be doing multiple updates a day on the Instagram and Facebook, and a few posts a week on here.

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