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road trip

7/1/2020 We’re on an Adventure!

July 1, 2020 by Tyler

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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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: adventures, Burnt forest, CO 2020, country roads, Creede CO, Jackson, road trip

33 Years of Bad Ideas

June 4, 2020 by Tyler

Today is my 33rd birthday, and honestly I only care because I can leverage it for an adventure. I have never been really big on birthdays, I mean I literally missed my own 22nd birthday and didn’t realize it until 4 days later when I hopped on FB and saw all of the well wishes. Suddenly all of the missed calls from my mom made sense…

At any rate, I used my birthday as an excuse to drag Pretty Lady on an adventure. I mean seriously, just look at Jeff, doesn’t he look like he’s ready for a good time?

As with all of my adventures, the weather was pure and total shit when I left Bloomington.

Needless to say our departure on Friday took a bit longer than planned on Friday afternoon. Caitlyn was a tad bit skeptical of this whole no reservations, winging it style of mine. Add in a good dose of my ever growing repertoire of “dad” jokes and I am lucky to have survived to the county line.

The drive to the Smokie Mountains was an eventful one. We stopped several times for snacks, gas, to stretch our legs, and for snacks. The most eventful stop was in Southern Kentucky.

I do not have any photos because Pretty Lady wouldn’t let me. That being said, the line for the ladies room was a spectacle. There was a woman in her 30’s who was legitimately sucking on a pacifier. Another individual was a stoned early 20’s girl who didn’t understand that the gas station didn’t have fire wood. She also kept asking if they had a fire stick, which according to this girl is a fake log that you set on fire and it burns for hours. It is not to be confused with a fire starter, she was adamite. The cashier ended up telling her to try the Tractor Supply down the road, they might have a “fire Stick”. There were also several other ladies in line, but those two were very note worthy.

Once we got down to the Smokies, the goal was to find a campground. The US Park Service websites were useless when it came to figuring out what was and wasn’t open. I found one ahead of time that was a first come first serve deal, but it was the furthest away. So we opted to just drive around checking the campgrounds until we found one that was open or made it to the furthest one. Around 10pm we admitted defeat without making it to the last campground (it was probably full anyway) and checked into the Hampton in Gatlinburg. It was not something I would have done solo, but I knew that Pretty Lady was already a bit on edge about the whole “no plan” thing, so we took full advantage of my Diamond Status and got a suite on a steep discount for the night. The next morning we got our Covid-19 mandated “to-go” breakfasts and found out about a private campground not too far away. So we set out.

On the drive I found a pull off with a road side waterfall. So of course I had to go check it out.

Pretty Lady was not as adventurous… but I know she got some great photos (her take on the trip will be coming out soon!)

The Greenbrier Campground was glamping… I mean the basket ball court and playground don’t bother me. The marble bath house, pool table and very nice custom corn hole boards were a bit much for me. Also, I don’t think I’ve been asked if I wanted to attend church so many times since I tried to date a evangelist…

Once our campsite was set up we hiked up to Rainbow Falls. Pretty Lady may not have been the happiest hiker on that mountain, but she pushed through like a champ. To be fair, according to the sign, it was only a 2.6 mile hike one way. Yet some-how our Fitbits tracked us doing 7.3 miles round trip. So lets be honest, there was some cursing, some threatening, and at one point I thought cannibalisms might be on the table, but we made it!

The entire hike, everyone we passed told us that it is worth the hike. A few of them gave landmarks so we’d know how far we had left to go. Several of them even used the tried and true “Mile, Mile and A Half” response. I knew this translates to “I have no freaking clue how far it is, but it’s doable.” Caitlyn however did not understand why I chuckled at this backpacker joke. Just for the record, she does not think it’s funny. That being said, the hike was totally worth it!

The hike back down was a beautiful one and our spirits were a tad bit higher. So we stopped several times to take photos and also to soak our feet in the stream. The water was freezing, but felt amazing!

The next morning we leisurely broke down camp while the church service was going on about 100 feet away. I want everyone to take a look at this couple’s sleeping bag we picked up for the trip. Pretty Lady and I have battled over blankets before, but try being trapped in a sleeping bag with your partner… lets just say we took the whole “laying diagonally across the bed” discussion to a new level.

On our drive over to our daily adventure we managed to snap a photo of the mountain we climbed the day before.

Our adventure for the day was taking a “Double Ducky” down the Nantahala. A double ducky is basically an inflatable kayak made for two. This was Caitlyn’s first time doing white water. This was my 5th or 6th time on this particular river, so she agreed to give it a try since it was my birthday. She was absolutely certain that she was going to die. I am happy to report that not only did she survive, she enjoyed it. Side note, we will be borrowing a canoe and heading out to the lake for some lessons on proper paddling techniques.

That evening we ended up in another campsite I wouldn’t normally have chosen… a KOA. That being said, this one wasn’t that bad. I mean yes we were basically camping on top of the neighbors, but otherwise it was fine.

On the final morning of our adventure, we didn’t know what our plans were going to be, just that we needed to end up back in Bloomington, IN.

So we stopped at a cavern on our way out of town. It was a fun tour, but honestly trying to get decent photos was probably what I enjoyed the most. Especially since Pretty Lady wouldn’t make out with me when they turned the lights off to show us how dark it can be…

The drive home was a good one. We made it home in one piece, still like each other, and I think Pretty Lady now understand a little bit more about why I like to have the kinds of adventures I do!

Also, please note that we are still running the one liner competition on our Facebook. If you really want me to have a happy Birthday you should hop on there, share this post, and enter in the competition!

Would you like an email every time I post something? Would you like to get exclusive content like teasers of the book I’m writing? If the answer is anything short of “Hard Pass” please sign up and prepare to enjoy updates and exclusive content!

Would you like to hire me to write for you? Please email me at amanajeepnorealplan@gmail.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 33 Years of Bad Ideas, couples adventure, road trip, She still likes me, smokies

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