PHOTOS!!

All the best pictures we took on the trip (more than 600 of them) are online! Just click on the slideshow ("Memories So Far") on the right of this page to see them up close!

The Glue That Held It Together

I know at the beginning of this trip I said something about hoping this journey would teach us a little something about being adventurous, taking risks, and not worrying about it so much. Well, we certainly did learn something about these things, but in the end I ended up learning the most about completely different stuff. And one of the most significant of these lessons was the importance of rest and of simply enjoying the present.

In school, rest and enjoyment of the present without anxiety for the future are two things that I have a lot of trouble doing. My life in school seems to be ruled by deadlines – projects, homework, tests, extracurricular activities – and my mind is always flitting from one thing on my to-do list to the next. Even when I finish several things, there always seems to be more to do – if not today, then certainly tomorrow or the next day. My mind seems most often preoccupied with the future, when I will get this and that done and what I will need to do after that. It’s a seemingly never-ending whirlwind which leaves little time for rest and enjoyment of what I have in the present, or time to just be. And it’s a whirlwind that I’m finding out I wasn’t made to deal with. As I’ve heard a few different people say, “We’re called human beings, not human doings.”

As humans, we were made to do things a lot of the time, and if someone doesn’t work at all ever, the result will not be good. But we weren’t made to work all the time, to have our minds constantly engaged and processing every moment of every day – that, I’ve found, just leads to self absorption, and any semblance of peace is drained from life. We have to rest, and for me this trip was rest. Some people might call me crazy to say that driving through the night and going on long hikes is rest, but for me physical exertion is an incredibly welcome reprieve from the unremitting mental exertion that characterizes my life at school. On this trip I didn’t have to think much more than a day ahead, and most of the time I didn’t even do that. I just enjoyed. I just lived. The residual effects of school lingered, and when my mind wandered thoughts would pop up: “What am I missing? I should be working on something. What do I need to be ready for when I get back? You have all this time, you should be reading and journaling a lot. You should do this! And that!” And so I had to step in and consciously remind myself, “Rest! Just enjoy! Just be here, now, in the present!”

We must have times of Sabbath, times of rest, times of simply enjoying what God has given us and being grateful to Him for it. It’s part of the character of God (see Genesis 2:2-3), and we were made in His image. We can rest, for Christ has done the work, and God is in control – our salvation is secure, and we are wonderfully unnecessary when it comes to keeping this world going. We can, and should, rest in Christ without worry – this is a truth that many American Christians have forgotten, and that some are rediscovering.

Besides this, there were of course a few other big lessons to be learned from this trip. First, I think my first reaction going into any of these places was that GOD is BIG. Massive beyond any comprehension I will ever have while I inhabit this mortal perspective. You look down a canyon, and it’s ridiculously huge. But honestly, it’s a tiny part of the earth. Just the world we live in is enormous beyond imagination, and we won’t even talk about anything in outer space. God made it all, and He is everywhere in it. Ridiculous. And then there are people living all over it. Billions – and that number itself is incomprehensible. Yet most of the time I forget that much of anything exists besides me and the people I see every day. I’m selfish – and that’s another truth that was quite apparent to me on this trip. When you’re in close quarters with people it means there are others right there to serve, and so it’s really obvious when you choose to serve yourself over them.

And yet even the selfishness and pride of each of us on this trip did little to overcome the strong bond of brotherhood that we have developed over our time together at school and on this trip. Considering that we really had no major fights during 19 days at constantly close quarters, I’d say that bond is pretty strong. I count myself exceptionally blessed when I consider the kind of people God has placed in my path as friends, these men chief among them. We are very different people, and nothing but the Grace of God and His Love could have brought us together as we are. We were dead in sin apart from God, but have been redeemed by the Life, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord and Friend, Jesus Christ – and therein lies our unity and our bond. Our brotherhood is strong because we do not love with what little affection we can muster up, but God who is Love flows into our lives and relationships. We are all broken, but we can forgive each other our faults and help each other out of them because God has forgiven us and offered to heal our brokenness completely. Because of the love of Christ we respond to each other in love. This is the Gospel – the good news that defines us and is making us into who we are and who we were meant to be. This is the glue that holds our brotherhood together.

This was an awesome trip, a truly once-in-a-lifetime journey. It was filled with laughter, adventure, majestic views, small friendly animals, food (very important), rain, snow, sun, fellowship, rest, wonder, a little bit of hardship, and so much else. This is at least a bit of what it feels like to suck the marrow out of life. And looking at this list, I am struck by the number of these things that are available to me right here, things which may be found without driving across the country. Who’s to say that we can’t live this fully most every day of our lives?

Be God's,
Dan

The Rush to Rushmore (and Beyond)

OK, OK. I know this is late. Like really incredibly, exquisitely late. But it just didn’t feel right to me to fail to document the last three days of our trip, especially when some quite interesting things happened during said days – things we might want to remember and you might, for some odd reason, want to know. So now, a two weeks after the fact, I’m finally recording the final legs of our epic journey. Fortunately, I think at least the major details are still pretty fresh in my mind.

The second to last segment of our journey began bright and early on the morning of Tuesday, May 31^st, 2011, and it would take us from the Grand Tetons all the way across Wyoming and into South Dakota, to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. I really can say “bright and early” without hesitation because we got up at 6:00AM and despite the clouds and snow the night before the sun was out – FINALLY! It was the first clear morning (or clear span of time at all) that we had seen in the Grand Tetons, and man, was it beautiful. That early in the morning the sun was coming through a thin veil of mist which, along with the new layer of snow, seemed to diffuse the morning sunlight, making every corner of our campsite seem brilliantly bright, especially after days of overcast skies.

We could also finally look up to where the great Teton mountain range towered above us, abruptly rising more than 7,000 feet from where we were in the span of a few miles. Most prominent from our campground at Jenny Lake was Mt. Teewinot, the sixth highest peak in the range at 12,325 feet. I wasn’t about to let our one really good look at the Tetons get away without being photographed, so once we were almost packed up I took a short walk to the shore of Jenny Lake to take some pictures. Once there, I was met with what I think was the best (or at least one of the best) views of the trip. The lake was nearly still, reflecting the rocky and snowy peaks above with only slight ripples of distortion. It was wonderfully peaceful and, as I said, stunningly beautiful. As much as we were about ready to get home, I still think I would have liked one more day in Tetons with that kind of weather.

Soon after this we made our way out of our final national park of the trip (with a few turnoffs to take pictures of the finally visible mountains). As it turned out, though, leaving the national park did not mean that we were leaving the great scenery and mountains behind us. In fact, we actually went higher into the mountains the farther we went, and the snow got higher and higher around us. Fortunately, we were on a well plowed road, and the previous night’s snow was little more than slush as we drove through. On either side, however, the snow banks on the side of the road reached heights of five, then eight or more feet, and the landscape was completely white except for some high craggy peaks. We took it a bit slower than we might have on a perfectly clear road, but soon we were across the mountains, descending again into drier, warmer climes.

As with many of the other states we traveled through, the large variation in climate and terrain over a relatively short distance was amazing again in Wyoming. We left the very snowy, craggy peaks and entered a valley surrounded by high plateaus and colorful water-shaped canyons – reminiscent of Utah far to the Southwest. From there we traveled into wide grasslands and finally into a high desert, before eventually reaching grassland again near South Dakota. Interestingly, despite some stretches of almost nothing, Wyoming didn’t seem to be a sparsely populated as one might suspect, at least along our route (unlike eastern Oregon).

Eventually we reached Casper, the largest city we would drive through in Wyoming. It was around lunch time, and being quite tired of turkey and cheese sandwiches for lunch every day, we stopped at an Arby’s for some wonderfully unhealthy fast food. Then we got some gas and continued on our way, and about an hour later the day’s real adventure began.

Rastro the Astro had been a stellar vehicle up to this point, providing us with ample legroom and luggage space, and no bigger problem than a blown fuse or two. This near perfect record of car health for the trip was not to last, however. About an hour after leaving Casper, we pulled into a parking area off of the interstate to switch drivers and the trouble began. As we slowed down nearly to a stop the engine began to sputter and cough and generally sound very unhealthy. This was accompanied by the illumination of the check engine light, and an attempt to accelerate again revealed notably decreased performance. As none of us really know much of anything practical about the inner workings of a car, we opened the hood and scratched our heads trying to figure out what was wrong and what we could do about it. Of course I called my dad, who does know a thing or two about cars, but it’s a little hard to diagnose and fix a car problem from 2500 miles away. We theorized that the gas we had bought could have had too much water in it, or there could have been an electrical issue – but of course we couldn’t really do anything about either of these issues where we were and with our lack of expertise. So we decided to backtrack about ten miles to the fortunately placed (for us) large-ish town of Douglas, which has several Auto Repair shops. On the way, we found out that once the van gained some speed it was almost like normal, so we didn’t worry too much about being completely stranded and soon made it the One Stop Autoplex, where fortunately they were not too busy to give Rastro a checking out.

After two and a half hours of waiting, we had learned that the problem had been mainly with the van’s distributor cap, which fortunately was a part they were able to get from across town and replace in pretty good time. After signing over what remained of our budgeted “Emergency Fund,” we were back on the road in an almost back to normal Rastro, with just enough time to make it to Mt. Rushmore before the lighting ceremony.

Looking back, we were unbelievably fortunate with everything about this car trouble. First, it didn’t happen in the middle of nowhere, far from any help. Second, it happened in the middle of the day, when we could go and get the repairs we needed right then and there. Thankfully, it wasn’t so serious that we couldn’t drive the car to get it fixed, and the malfunctioning part just happened to be readily available. Also, we ended up having budgeted almost the exact right amount of money in case of emergencies. And on top of all of that, we still made it to Rushmore on time! If we had to have car trouble, I don’t think the situation could have been any better.

We arrived at Mt. Rushmore about 20 minutes before the start of the lighting ceremony. As such, we could still look up and see the huge presidential sculptures with natural lighting. My first reaction to the memorial was actually that it kind of small. In reality, it really isn’t at all – George Washington’s face is 60 feet high! But after a trip full of seeing gargantuan God-made sculptures and landscapes (Like the Tetons that same morning), I think anything manmade seems rather small and unremarkable, no matter how amazing an achievement it really was. The lighting ceremony consisted of a talk and film about the meaning and history behind the memorial as well as the singing of the national anthem, and, of course, the lighting.

We left Mt. Rushmore right at the end of the ceremony to beat any traffic and headed toward Rapid City to find food and lodging for the night. It was almost ten and we hadn’t really eaten since lunch, so of course we were all famished (especially Keegan) as we pulled into a Taco Bell (woohoo). After dinner we just had to cross the road to get to a Best Western – the only motel we stayed at for the whole trip. After camping so long, it was like a life of luxury – beds, showers, TV, continental breakfast…it was wonderful.

The next morning we began the very last leg of the trip – 24 hours driving plus stops. Fortunately, it was fairly uneventful except for stops at the famous Wall Drug store in Wall, SD, the westernmost Chick-Fil-A in the country near Kansas City, MO, and a Cracker Barrel near Nashville, TN. Somewhere in there the van’s air conditioning also went out, so it got a bit hot in Iowa in the afternoon and then in Tennessee the next morning. But we just assumed God made it happen to help us reacclimate to the heat of the South and put the windows down without complaint.

Then, finally, we arrived back in Waynesville around 2:30PM on June 2^nd. What a trip…it really was epic. But as awesome as it was, I think we were all ready to be home.

Epically late,

Daniel J.

Adventurers We Are

Today was our last day in the majestic Tetons, and as of yet we had not done much exploring and today was our last chance. After the usual wake up and eat and such, we went to check out hikes for the day at the visitor center. After talking with one of the rangers we scrapped our original hike and decided on one that wasn't supposed to take 12 hours. After eating lunch and preparing our equipment we set out to reach Inspiration Point, which only few had been able to reach recently because of snow. Inspiration Point was about 2.5 miles from our camp on the other side of the lake and was supposed to be a awesome view with a some what difficult trail.

Now let me tell you what the weather has been like: between 30-45 degrees, sleet, snow, and rain pretty much every hour. So starting off wasn't to bad. The path had some snow, but not much. The further and further we got, the more snow fell, but it was still decently easy to distinguish the trail.
We stopped about half way up to see Hidden Falls, a beautiful waterfall coming down the side of the mountain. Here is where we left nice trails behind. As we kept going up the mountain the trail disappeared and become more of just footprints in the snow and orange tags on trees to follow. After close to half a hour we got where the trail up to Inspiration Point split off, well where it was supposed to split off. So this is where the trail pretty much just started to fade, we were trekking through 2-4 foot deep snow after a while and laughing as people sank in. Not quite sure if what we were following was an actual trail or just a path up the mountain, but it was awesome!

Our feet were thoroughly soaked, we were getting a little winded, and the supposed trail was slowly disappearing but we soldiered on. David, our lead man, stopped at a pretty majestic view and because well the footprints just uh, stopped. In the middle of the side of a mountain they just stopped, no sign, no specific view, just snow. We were feeling quite adventurous and I had seen a hill that I wanted to get to because it looked like a killer view. So forging our way through the 3 foot snow we kept trekking, made our way over to a stream and found a fallen tree to climb across to get to the other side of the stream.

Seeing my destination at hand, I continued on by myself as everyone else didn't see the need to go any further. After climbing a steep hill and plunging through deep, deep snow I made my way to the top of the hill and was meet with… well a ridiculous view. Needless to say I called to the others and they came on up and we all just stood there taking in the sights. It was beautiful and amazing, and totally worth making a new path and climbing a mountain. We then realized that we were not actually at Inspiration Point (our intended destination) for it was about 400 yards to the left as the crow flies. So we had found a new and untouched (or at least rarely been to) place, and so we needed to name it (obviously). After some discussion, many names that were offered up, such as Sacrifice Point, Wolfpack Point, Innovation Point and Howling Point. We decided on Howling Point. So back down we walked, slid, fell, and climbed. About a half an hour down we came across… a MOOSE!!! it looked like a baby moose and he was thoroughly underwhelmed by our presence. We were about 10 feet away from him at some point and he didn't really care or even seem to really notice us.





After getting back to camp we made dinner (soup yummmm) and had peach cobbler for desert which was amazing. Once again the night was getting cold and wet(ish) and we all retreated to our respective sleeping bags and popped out books. This was the end of our last night in a National Park on this trip and it had been a epic day. Thank you again for reading and pray for our safe trip home :)

"O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the Earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens."
-Psalm 8:1












Thoroughly happy, fed, and awed,
Keegan

A Sunday Mission in the Tetons

Today is Sunday. We awoke, wrapped in our sleeping bags, the incessant rain, sleet and snow mix off of the Grand Tetons pounding down from the heavens. But we did not mind. We arose, emerging from our heavily laden tent like cocooned creatures breaking into a new and brighter life. We had a mission. Danger rating: orange. Tired operatives, unknown threats.
While the heavens spent their fury, our minds were on something higher. Beneath our flimsy tent, we began our ministrations. The pitcher was filled with water, and set upon a flame, till it reached a boil. Measured into servings, packets of a dusty white substance were added, and carefully stirred until a rich aroma filled the air around us. The oatmeal was ready.
The ritual washing completed, we boarded our vehicle, and started the engine. Pulling out into road, we faced down the storm. Time: 9:30 AM. We had 30 minutes. The snow whipped at our windshield, white blocking any view beyond one hundred yards. Danger rating: red. No visibility.
As we hurtled along the snow slick roads, features became less and less distinct. Road signs were plastered with snow and ice, making navigation difficult. Then, a rumbling from the roof, a flash of red and blue color. A yell.
"The chairs!"
Our Cargo! Bestowed upon us by the Alabamanians in the realm of Yellowstone, their moorings had come loose, and they had flown from the top of our vehicle. They must be retrieved. Time: 9:35. 25 minutes. It was my time to fly.
Like a majestic bird our steed swung around, like the trace of a compass doing a three point turn we followed our own tracks back to where the cargo had come off. I swung open the door and stepped out into the withering wind, filled with freezing ice and stinging rain. Danger level: Bear. They might be anywhere. I was exposed, with low visibility. They might eat my arm without my even noticing. I grabbed the first chair and slung it to operative "Keegan" inside the vehicle. With equal measures of speed and dexterity I reached the second, and returned it in similar fashion. I jumped back into the already moving extraction vehicle. Time 9:38. 22 minutes.
Things were starting to get dicey. Stuck behind a slower civilian vehicle, we started making poor time. They were distracted. They were slow. They were dead meat if there were any bears nearby. Finally, giving in to the subtle whispers of the roadside, they pulled over, and we whisked by. time: 9:46. 14 minutes.
There! In sight was our goal. The lodge loomed out of the mist, and we made our final approach. The debris of a vehicle blocked our path, its elderly driver waved us on. I knew immediately he would not last. Bears. time: 9:51. 9 minutes.
Into the lodge. We located the marker, joined with a fellow operative, who was seeking the same goal, and made it before our time was up. Mission accomplished. We made it to church.
Anyways. It was an excellent service. Fellow representative from state Julia Monroe was one of the leaders, and we spent a time in the presence of our God. We sang praise, and gave praise through teaching. A young man named Caleb gave the sermon, on the differences between the new and old covenants. It was a good lesson, and we all came out with a seed of the word glistening with new thought. We went away with new friends and full hearts. Ready to face the day. (Though we almost lost agent "Dan". He can give you the full briefing if he wants someday. It may or may not involve Bears.)
A new mission awaited us that day. We hadn't informed Home Base of our movements in quite some time, and it was our duty to update them on the status of our greater objective.
So we spent our time writing up mission reports and debriefings, and gathering intelligence for future endeavors. It occupied the rest of our time at the lodge, and we departed after a potentially deadly encounter involving a semi-poisonous substance and agent "David". We made the journey to base camp without further danger.
The day complete, we tired operatives spent our last remaining hours in the time honored war-time tradition of card playing. It was infuriating, and fun. A good way to relax, even under the ever present gaze of the Bears.

Some people say I am Unbearable.

Today I bear my soul to you, not all of it mind you but a bearable amount. Before I go any further bear in mind that though I look completely sane I can assure you that I hold onto my sanity by the bearest of margins. As my mind bearrels through all of the information that it holds I am reminded that a lot of my mind is a bearen wasteland and can bearly hold a thought. Though I do not want to be the bearer of bad news I wish to tell you that bearied deep inside my head is a part of me that is quite loony. As I try and catch my bearings A thought crosses my mind that ball bearings do look like life savers. Although I would love to continue bearating you with horrible puns I find that my mind has reached its limit of unbearable puns.

Toodles,
Keegan

I'm a bear! Put your head in my mouth!!!

Hello People of the warm east coast.

10 Minutes Later. Snowing!

Sunny!

It seems that the closer to the end of this trip we get, the harder the elements hit us. Yellowstone had the most indecisive weather I've ever seen. At one point in the morning there was sleet coming down on the top of our tent. Ten minutes later, there was bright sunshine heating our tent up like a microwave. It got to the point where I actually had to vacate the tent and brave the great outdoors. It was about 11, so I think it was about that time anyways. Yeah, that was the best morning ever. You never start to appreciate sleeping in like you should until you find yourself up at 7 or 8 every morning. I can safely say that due to the effort I had to put forth to actually keep myself asleep, that my sleep schedule has improved significantly from the past school year.
Back to the elements though. As soon as we woke up completely, the snow began to fall again. Time for breakfast and a bit of coffee to warm up the soul. We had pancakes... again. :) I like pancakes though, so it's not such a drag for me. I discovered that syrup and honey go quite well together. Whoever said too much of a good thing is bad obviously never had pancakes with syrup and honey.
After a bountiful banquet of baked batter, we set out on a drive to find all of God's creatures located in Yellowstone.

Our first destination was Lookout point, which offered a view of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Dan made the comment that this was the only place in Yellowstone where the stone was actually yellow. The water was too, which made me wary of any spigots located nearby. Years of hearing "don't eat the yellow snow" resounded in my mind. Snow... that's just cold water. So yellow snow melts... into yellow water. Urgh! Thankfully, my CamelBack seems to replenish it's water by itself as I've been drinking from it for about a week now, and have yet needed to refill it myself. And it's always COLD!
After Lookout we drove up farther to Inspiration Point, to be inspired. The point used to reach out 100 more feet than what we witnessed, but in the past a tremor had caused that extra length to tumble into the gorge. That brings to mind an interesting factoid that I learned from the sign posted there. The canyon is going to continue to grow larger because when the water from the waterfall hits the river below, it causes a cyclic motion in the water which pounds the base of the falls. As that rock base erodes, the upper part of the falls begins to fall down as well.
Then we headed up to Mammoth Hotsprings, but the boardwalk was out about halfway through so we didn't get to see the whole area. so that leads me to my favorite part of the day, and this post: ANIMALS!!!!

Our hunt led us all the way to the visitor's center about 3000 miles away. That's an exaggeration, but I don't remember the actual mileage. Traffic was terrible, but for a decent reason. There were bears on either side of the road. First we saw a small grizzly plodding along the hill on the left. It's amazing how much people freak out seeing something in it's natural habitat, and being calm and collected when they see it behind glass at the Asheboro Zoo. Perhaps it's the adrenaline rushing through your body when in the back of your mind you realize, "My gosh, that bear could just fire out and hit him right now... He would never expect it." Moving right along up the road another half mile, and we hit another traffic jam. This time, everyone was looking over to the right. Our natural inclination was to look to the right, just so we could remain inconspicuous. If there's bears around, I don't want to stick out. Thankfully, the traffic didn't completely stop moving, so we got
to catch the black bear lumbering through the trees in motion. Everyone disembarked the vehicle in motion to capture him on the camera. That camera is a five person job. One of us has to frame the picture. One of us has to click the picture. One of us has to review the picture. One of us has to deride the efforts of the previous three. And one of us had to remain in the vehicle to steer. You didn't really think we'd leave the vehicle unattended when it was rolling down the road. :)

We arrived at the visitor center, but I was feeling rebellious, so we took a detour behind it into a residential reserved for "Employees Only." I consider myself an employee, just not of the park. They never specified, so I see nothing wrong with my actions. Back on subject, however, we saw four female elk grazing and lounging in the yards of the houses. For us North Carolinians, that's an odd occurrence. So we took pictures.

After entering the visitor's center, and wondering around looking at the stuffed animals on display, we found out that Lamar Valley was closed due to a rock slide. It had happened that morning. This is why I said it was the best morning ever. Had we gotten up at our usual time and made way down into the valley, we might have been stranded behind the rock-slide. Thankfully, we got our fill of wildlife without going down into the valley. On the way back to camp, we filled up our quota with some coyotes, and a random bison walking down the road... amidst about 20 cars. That bison was so chill. When the ranger got there with his flashing lights and guided the bison off the road, traffic began to proceed again as usual, until he decided he liked the feel of asphalt on his hooves. He was all like "Whatever... I'm a bison. I do what I want."
Then we trudged back to the camp site to freeze for another night. But alas! Weather wasn't on our side it seemed, because there was supposed to be a large amount of snowfall that night. So we decided to head out last night for Grand Tetons, instead of waiting until morning. This turned out to be Providence, however. Seeing as yesterday was Saturday, that meant that today was Sunday. The Sabbath. And coincidentally, our good friend, the lovely Julia Monroe, was spending her summer working at the Jackson Lake lodge, which happened to operate the campground we were staying at. Something about seeing a friend from back home on the other side of the country just makes it more special. Her and some of her new friends had a Sunday service this morning, but I've just been informed by Stephen that I'm not allowed to write about it, because it happened today. Oh well. I guess that leaves me with the final event of the day: Setting up camp in the dark. It was our fastest construction of a campsite yet. But that's about all. Until next time, at which we will be on our way back to the Sunny side of the country, I wish you all a Happy Sunday!

-David

"Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."
-Psalm 150:6

Yellowstone through the Eyes of the Sleep Deprived

This morning began, for me, exactly when morning technically starts - at midnight. Finally back on the Interstate after the endless expanse of Oregon on two lane roads, I began driving through Idaho at 12:30am. After a very uneventful 2 hours, Keegan took the wheel at 2:30 at a rest area in the exact middle of nowhere (or maybe it was the centroid of nowhere). The next time I became conscious again, we were driving through eastern Idaho near Yellowstone. It was a land that appeared completely frozen, with all of the trees covered in a layer of snow. It looked almost dreamlike and glassy in the predawn light. By a mistake in navigation, we ended up taking a rather circuitous route to the Western Entrance of Yellowstone, though the incredible scenery made this a somewhat happy mistake. We drove through snow covered mountains and around a frigid lake, all made beautiful by the first light of dawn tinting the sky. Finally, we arrived at Yellowstone around 7 a.m. on road covered in a layer of snow and ice. Fortunately, the slippery covering did nothing to stop Rastro, and we had little trouble reaching Madison Campground, located about 15 miles from the west entrance. We even saw some elk along the way. Since we had driven through the night and the campground office was not open yet (in fact there was absolutely no one around), we decided it would be wonderfully expedient to nap for a while in front of the office. We woke up to find things beginning to thaw out and the campground beginning to come alive. We got our site and set up camp like usual on top of the couple remaining inches of snow, prepared breakfast (oatmeal), and feasted. After we were satisfactorily settled in, we decided to do a little exploring.        Our plan for the day had been to visit Old Faithful and the other geysers around it (fortunately the roads were open for us to get there), so we drove out to Old Faithful and arrived just in time for it to give us a good show. After that we decided to check out the Old Faithful Inn, which turned out to be awesome. The Inn is quite old and almost completely made from logs, not to mention it has a tree house built in the rafters which makes it pretty much the coolest Inn on earth. It was so cool, in fact, that our quick little exploration turned into a couple hours long, including lunch at the Inn's dining room. After so many days of camp cooking with a little fast food thrown in, sitting down at a restaurant to eat was like an incredible luxury. The food was quite good and not that expensive, and soon we were all quite satisfied and ready to take a good long nap. To Keegan's dismay, however, we couldn't really nap in the Inn's lobby. So, before we could go back to camp and nap, we had to see more geysers, as we were in the area with the largest concentration of hydrothermal features on Earth. We braved the snow and cold wind to walk a loop that led us through quite a few geysers of various shapes, sizes, and eruption behaviors, along with several hot springs. Besides water violently shooting up in the air - which is obviously the coolest thing that hydrothermal features do - the next coolest thing is the coloration that the hot water produces around the hot springs, from bright blues to vibrant oranges and yellows. Along the way, we also got to see two marmots tussling. As every tourist does when they see wildlife, we immediately pulled out our camera and attached the fancy telephoto zoom lens. At least, we thought it was fancy, until the guy next to us pulled out his massive 2 foot long fifty million X zoom lens. Afterwards, we headed back to camp - with a stop to see the very entertaining mud pots - and, being the exciting folk that we are, we all went to sleep for a good long well needed nap. Upon waking, we made dinner - or at least we attempted to make  beef stew in our dutch oven. Unfortunately, our charcoal didn't seem to produce heat long enough to make our potatoes soften up, so in the end we just put the dutch oven on the stove and simmered it for a while, eventually ending up with some pretty good stew.       During the evening we also made friends with the group next to us (a group of 15 Indians who had never camped before) as it started to snow and they needed the shelter of our Easy-up. At last, being extremely tired from the previous night with little sleep, we got into our tent and wonderfully warm sleeping bags and slept - for a LONG time. It was the most glorious thing we did all day. Finally feeling rested,

Dan (and Keegan)

Driving Through the Oregon Fairyland

Today was a fairy tale. No joke. We began by leaving Redwood National Park, only to find that Oregon was the most interesting place we had yet traveled through, filled with wondrous creatures and adventures. Even before we had left the redwood forest, we had a rare encounter with the shepherds of the trees, otherwise known as ents. They rarely wander very close to anywhere people live, and so they were quite surprised to see anything moving so quickly through their forest. Thinking us to be a threat, one picked up the entire van, giving us quite a jolt. However, seeing that we were humankind (a race which is included in the old rhymes of the ents) and obviously harmless with our small knives and dearth of axes, we were soon set back down and permitted to continue on our way.

Soon after entering Oregon, we began following the Rogue River up toward the higher elevations of the Cascade Mountains. Little did we know that this was a river that was aptly named, as bands of elusive warriors inhabit the nearby woods and occasionally come out to waylay the innocent travelers along Oregon’s Scenic Byway. As you might expect would happen to such hardy adventurers as ourselves, we soon found our way blocked by a fair sized raiding party in the bottom of the rocky canyon which provided no easy means of escape. Now of course we began the encounter by pretending to be the poor, innocent college students that most assume us to be, though all the while we were formulating a plan to rout the villains and escape unscathed. Surrounded by rogues, we sprang into action, each attacking with a weapon cleverly concealed under his clothing. Despite the nearly two to one ratio of the rogues to ourselves, we soon won the day with our expert hand-to-hand combat skills. Keegan, with his magically carved staff, took on five of them at a time, though he laid several low from a distance with a toxic gas spell even before engaging.

Having escaped the villainy of the Rogue River rogues, we made our way further into the Cascades, a mountain range fraught with danger if ever there was one. We found ourselves surrounded by a hardy coniferous forest, and then snow began to appear on either side, growing deeper and deeper. Soon it was falling from the sky as well, rapidly developing into a blizzard which left the road impassable, despite the best efforts of our mage Keegan to clear our way with fire spells. Conveniently, however, there appeared to our east a gaping black maw – a tunnel just large enough for our van to pass through, leading straight under Crater Lake. We quietly made our way through without arousing the suspicion of any enemies for most of the way, but then of course David had to go and start throwing rocks into the underground lake, waking up the fabled Crater Lake Fire Demon who had been buried under the lake for thousands of years. In a final harrowing flight, we fled out the other end of the tunnel, yet to our horror Keegan exhausted the last of his power in order to keep the Demon from being loosed upon the world, falling into the great bottomless pit in the process. We left the tunnel in deep sorrow, yet we had no choice but to press on or risk being overrun by goblins.

Finally having crossed the mountains, the climate turned much drier and we found ourselves in a vast land of plains and rolling hills, with few other inhabitants in sight in any direction. A few brave farmers worked their fields where water could be found and suitable defenses had been constructed against the frequent raids by orcs and wargs. We were able to have a much needed respite from adventure for a few hours as we traversed the monotonous landscape. So monotonous was the scenery that the fairytale feeling soon began to wear off. It was a vast expanse to cross, and our supplies of food and clean water soon ran short, and in spite of our best efforts Stephen contracted dysentery incredibly fast and died.

Though nearly immobilized by grief, we forced ourselves to continue onward. Our quest led us to Yellowstone, and nothing would stop our getting there. We had to carry the evil and abominable Spork of Death and cast it back into the boiling hot geyser where it was forged, or else risk the spread of a great evil (sporks!) across the world. Sporks work as well as neither forks nor spoons! How could anyone let such an abomination exist upon this planet?

Our final adventure of the day in Oregon involved an old abandoned mine shaft that we (by this time only Josh, David, and myself) happened to notice as we drove by. Our curiosity – and perhaps a will even stronger that was not our own – led us into the dark opening. As we continued down the shaft, the temperature oddly did not decrease. Instead, it increased to become nearly unbearable, and suddenly we found ourselves in the presence of an unfortunately very alert red dragon and his massive treasure hoard. We had quite a time convincing him that we were just curious travelers (he came very close to eating Josh), but fortunately we are incredibly cunning and thus were able to escape with our lives and one golden spatula. Then, to add to our joy Keegan returned to us (wearing a white robe for some reason), having defeated the demon and resurrected Stephen on the way back to us. Needless to say the return of both our companions thought lost quite improved our outlook for the rest of the trip.

After this we soon crossed into Idaho – back out of the Oregon Fairyland and into the mundane modern world. We nearly lost two of our number, but we are still journeying nonetheless. We can only hope no more ridiculous adventures will cross our path before we reach the mystical land of Yellowstone and the end of our quest.

Now, of course, in all this adventure, we were far too engaged to take any pictures of our assailants and surroundings, so of course we’ll just have to leave the visuals to your imagination.

With adventurous vigor,

Dan

P.S. Nothing actually happened today. We just drove. A lot. Oregon is really a quite boring place.

Confessions of an Aspiring Lounge Singer

Hello from glorious, though slightly/extremely rainy, Northern California.  As I just finished telling my brothers, I believe that today was one of my favorite days from the trip so far.  We awoke this morning with a choice that has been denied to us for 11 days.  Did we want to shower? Just five simple words, but behind them lies a lot of meaning.  “What was this meaning?” you ask.  It means that currently we’re living the life of luxury.  We’re at a private campground that has unheard of amenities like free showers and washing machines.  But that’s not all folks.  There is a rec-room with video games and pool tables, there is a playground and electrical hookups.  Hold on to your britches… there is even a tether-ball court on which the greatest tether-ball showdown the west coast has ever seen was played yesterday.  This campground is a breath of fresh air after a lineup of National Park campgrounds.  I would recommend that anyone looking to follow in our footsteps with an epic trip of their own, throw in a few stays at private campgrounds or KOA’s and treat yourselves to some much appreciated creature comforts.

A snazzy campground wasn’t the only thing that made this day amazing though.  This also had much to do with the location of the day, Redwood National Park.  Redwood is located on a strip of pacific coast in Northern California pretty close to the Oregon border.  I think I appreciate Redwood as much as I do because it reminds me of where I live on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Both areas are temperate rainforests and the feeling of the two forests is much the same.  To relate it to Lord of The Rings, Redwood feels like Fangorn.  Its dark and dense without feeling gloomy and its full of moss and ferns and towering trees.  To me it comes out in a feeling of extreme age, which is appropriate when you realize that some of the trees we walked through today were alive when Jesus Christ ministered on Earth.  It has become something of a running joke with us that every location we visit reminds David of Jurassic Park.  Today though, walking through the redwoods, I felt it too.

Where Redwood differs completely from home is that the rolling forested mountains border directly the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean.  You don’t have anything like the nice Piedmont and Coastal Plain that North Carolina is so known for.  During a break in the weather we went in search of some pretty ocean views and came across one of the coolest stretches of beach I have ever been to.  Now let’s all pause and reflect on the fact that I have been to some cool beaches.  I have visited beaches from Boston to Florida in this country.  I’ve been to beaches on two different Bahamian Islands.  I’ve even relaxed at beaches on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Costa Rica, so it is no small thing for me to say that the beach we visited today was one of the best I have ever seen.  It was a black sand beach located right where the Klamath River emptied into the ocean.  It was strewn with driftwood and beautiful multicolored stones and large obelisks of rock that intrepid explorers like ourselves could climb.  It was like a giant natural playground and we took our time trying out all the different ways we could have fun.  We climbed the boulders, we expanded our rock collections, we found chunks of driftwood to have sword battles with, we ran from an ocean that was determined to soak our clothes, and we rounded it all out by tossing giant logs on our backs and carrying them around for no other reason than that we could.

It was a great day, one of the best I’ve had.  I don’t really have the words, or the patience to search for them, to really do Redwood justice.  All I know is that the Lord blessed us with a beautiful day, a beautiful park, and the ability to be out experiencing it all, and for that I thank him.

-Josh

Redwood and Conspiracy

Once again I find myself writing a blog post when we are approaching large trees: first the Sequoias, and now the Redwoods. We didn’t actually go to the Redwoods today, so I am actually not going to talk about them, except to say that we passed them on the way to the campsite.

My topic this evening is driving. We do a lot of it after all, and today was another day spent doing it. However, it was not as hopelessly boring as it may seem. It was not our usual flavor of interesting, today we did battle with… The Man. Or I should say that I did. Respectfully. Briefly. Without serious repercussions.

Ahem, now that the disclaimers are out of the way, I will explain. Most of California is farms, not a super totally awesome surfing and mountain climbing paradise filled with attractive people, bears, and Arnold the Governator. Farms are boring. So, we were cruising through the farms, entertaining ourselves with music, and editing photos. We came to a four way stop, and passed through along with several other vehicles, including the fateful police vehicle. Through my rear view mirror, I watched as the policeman pulled onto the side of the road at the intersection, and proceeded to follow us. I realized I hadn’t seen a speed limit sign in about 30 miles, and I became nervous. 55 mph, that should be alright on a country highway, I thought.

The lights went on. I pulled over. I was calm. Ready, mind working on what I might have been doing wrong. My license came out, and the police man walked up to the vehicle.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” A ritual question of the native cop population of America, my studies had prepared me for this. He did not give me time to answer.

“You weaved three times onto the side of the road, about two feet each time.” It all made sense. Our van actually veers to the right, we noticed that 2000 miles ago. We hadn’t been pulled for our slightly erratic driving before this though, I feel that there were several factors involved. Explanations later.

“Oh,” I replied. He rushed ahead.

“Where are you all coming from?” I thought it was obvious, and replied North Carolina. After some finagling we determined that the correct answer was Yosemite, where we departed from this morning. What time did we get up? 6:45. Then the question:

“Have you had anything to drink?” Was my driving really that bad? No. That was my answer. I’ve never had an alcoholic beverage in my life. So it was no. His finger went up, and I followed it with my eyes. Satisfied I was not intoxicated, he returned my license, muttered something about a warning (for what I don’t know) and pealed out from behind us. My mind continued to work. Surely my drifting couldn’t have been that noticeable, I hadn’t noticed it more than usual. Here are the solutions I thought of: 1.) It was a small country highway, therefore the smaller lanes made the weaving noticeable. 2.) I was distracted, and therefore at fault. 3.) he saw the North Carolina tag on the front of our vehicle, and decided to pursue the strange foreigners. My favorite is the last, as it reeks of conspiracy. Why else would he turn around and follow us at the four way stop sign, including a slightly risky maneuver turning around another car currently stopped at the sign, and passing the car behind me to get to our vehicle. I believe that he may have been a terminator. Just saying, our state of un-cleanliness threw him off of our tracks, and probably saved our lives.

Our next challenge occurred when we hit mountains again. The roads were curvy, very curvy. And we discovered something. People in the mountains of north California don’t need gas. Or they produce their own in the comfort of their homes. Either way, there was nary a gas station for many moons. There was construction, and as the roads were thin and as previously stated curvy, they decided to use flag men to guide traffic away from disaster. Now, what qualifies as construction worthy of flag men differs in California from the good country of N.C. In N.C. it may be a rock-slide, or major surgery on the arteries of our nation known as the highway system. In California, it is a lawnmower. Perhaps it was not really mowing the grass on the side of the road, maybe it was searching for landmines. We’ll never know.

What we do know is by the fourth flagman, and no gas, we were getting a little twitchy. However, we did eventually find gasoline, in a surprisingly nice gas station/coffee shop/minimart in the middle of a trashy little town bordering on the latest iteration of roadway construction. A kindly old man with a huge beard also informed us that one of our bungees was loose. It was remedied and we went on our way.

Finally we made it to the west coast. The ocean popped into view unexpectedly, visible from between the normal trees, redwoods, and ferns that make up the temperate rainforest that is the northwest coast of our country. Lush greens and gray trunks rose around us, and we paid them almost no heed. They were there, and we would see them tomorrow. We were tired, and wanted to get to the campsite, where showers awaited our eager bodies, and beds beckoned to our weary backs.

After a left at the end of the road, we came upon the little private campsite at which we had made our reservation. A very nice man with a dorsal fin of hair greeted us at the gate in his gas powered golf cart, and we followed him into the site, around a barn, and onto any one of around 100 available sites. Then there was showering, free internet in a barn converted into a recreation center, and bed in a tent that keeps us safe from the elements which rage around us in the night. Seriously, the wind and rain are currently quite exciting. Farewell for now,

~Stephen Minervino.