Takin it Off

In less then a month, I've been in a cave, on top of a sand dune, visited an awesome hot springs, hiked a few times, been to I don't even know how many states (at least 12), so what's next for this adventurer? Well I've been talking about shaving my head to make road life a little easier and if u know me, I don't just twalk :) On Tues night after a few drinks with Annie and Ian, Annie gave me a mohawk!

Annie started it all by telling Ian that he needed a haircut, then he requested a mohawk. Then I jumped on board. Luckily, I have shaved my head before when I was 20 so I know I have a good shaped head. But I never did the mohawk thing so figured I should give it a go before it all comes off. Annie did a great job. I figure not only does this save me money in terms of hair supplies, less time to get ready, but I also use less water now in the shower. What better way to celebrate World Water Day! I know I had nice hair and donating it to Locks of Love. It's just hair and will grow back; not sure how long i will keep the hawk. Ihttp://www.worldwaterday.org/

Greg took some pix, check 'em out here.

And up we go!

On Monday, the guys decided to climb another mt, this time a 13 footer as they say. I drove them to the start of the climb which was at 10,000 ft!!!! Then Aya and I headed to Boulder to do a 3 hr hike at Mt. Sanitas. Click here for pix.

There were tons of dogs on the trail. It was steep and high altitude, which i am still adjusting too. It was about 75 deg so pretty warm day. After the hike we did not have much time to check out Boulder, but I will be headed there next week. We drove 1.5 hrs back to the mt to get the guys. They were 30 mins off their return time, but glad they had no issues.

I dropped Aya and Steve at Golden, where Steve's brother lives. They leave CO on Tues. It was great to see them and who knows when we will see them again, perhaps Japan gets added to the SE Asia trip!

Greg and I headed to Denver to couchsurf for a few days with Annie and Ian, who both work for Habitat for Humanity. Annie is an AmeriCorps Vista. They moved here in Aug from Baltimore. They are easy to talk to and generous hosts; being with them reminds me of Portland - eating healthy, organic, recycling, funky art and photos in their apt. I picked a winner host for sure!

Soak, Sand Dunes and Garden of the Gods

From Colorado Springs Aya and I camped two nights at Valley View Hot Springs near the Great Sand Dunes NP. About 2.5-3 hr drive in the middle of nowhere.  It was my first time camping at a hot springs. It was also my first time going nude. It was such a beautiful natural setting with nice people and not crowded on the weekend at this time. Aya has been to many hot springs around the world and said this was the best one in terms of setting and set up. In the summer there are bat tours as bats come from New Mexico and you can watch them come in and out at night as they hunt for insects. I guess I will have to come back :)

The pools were not so hot, but were so natural w/ soil and trees right against the pools; surround by rocks and deer mules. We can see the valley and mts from the top pools. The sauna was also excellent; it had a cool small pool in it, which was refreshing while heating up in a 160deg room.

The next day we drove an hour south to the dunes. We hiked 1.5 miles to one of the top dunes, which took 1.5 hrs up and 30 min down. I went bare foot as my new hiking boots started hurting me (was wearing thin socks and need to break those boots in). It was so windy during the whole hike and even more so when we summited the dune.  We were so tired from the windy, sunny hike, good thing we decided to camp another night at the hot springs rather than the original plan of camping at the dunes.

We also had the full moon closest to the earth in 19 yrs, we were told. After soaking, we sat in the jeep and snacked while staring up at the moon. The best drive in movie for sure! Even the hot springs area was windy. So far I am finding CO awesome but windy and dry.

Sunday afternoon we stopped by Buena Vista on the way back to CO Springs and met the guys for a quick run around the Garden of the Gods, which is an excellent place for rock climbers. Click here for photos.

Scramble in Little roack and off to CO

Kyle, our host, took us on a scramble hike to Pinnacles mt near Little Rock at 1,000 ft. It was steep and had to use some arm muscles to pull meself up time to time. But we made it to the top and saw 4 hawks flying. Later that day car shop told us we have to stay another night in AR. I uploaded new pix in the Little Rock photo album.

Next day got out at 8am and got to Colorado Springs by midnight, passing thru boring Oklahoma hwy 40, then northern Texas which was a bit ore scenic with farm lands. Pit stop at a bbq shack then to New Mexico and finally to CO. Probably the most I ever drove (remember I am a Manhattan girl) and don't drive much at night. Not a fan and hopefully we won't find ourselves in this situation again.

Greg got to meet up with the guys to do a mt climb this weekend. And Aya and I are off to the hot springs and Great Sand Dunes National Park to camp for the weekend. Click here for pix on the road to CO.

Little Rock - an unexpected 2 nite stay

Well the Vagabonding book said not to over plan and have a schedule while traveling for months b/c u won't be able to stick to it :) It's funny how "plans" gives us an illusion of control. And so here I am in Little Rock, AR for 2 nights. Not a scheduled stop on the trip.

Yesterday, we were driving from Memphis to Oklahoma City, made a pit stop in Little Rock to pick up some groceries and there goes the tire. The11 yr old jeep is heavy and while making a hard turn in the rain, the tire came off and the axle broke hitting a median thingy.

Luckily, we were fine and hit nothing/no one else. We have AAA and I got on to couchsurfing website to post an emergency host request. Kyle, a 24 yr Air force pilot, had the day off and picked us up at the shop and put us up for 2 nights. He has a sweet black 12 yr old lab, Ruddy. We went to an Irish pub with some of Kyle's friends and then parties some more at his house. Nite two, Kyle took me to a skeptic at the pub event with the Arkansas Society of Free Thinkers. Nice people, mostly science type peeps. My first event like this, glad i went. When we got home, we helped Kyle bottle his homemade wine. Other first, who knew AR offered so much! Click here for pix.

So lesson learned on week 2 of this trip - take it easy :) We are making the best of this event. People are really nice here and I am thankful things worked out as it could have been worse.

Crawling in Caves in KY

Sat, we arrived at Mamonth Cave around 1pm. Did a few easy, kinda boring, trails by the visiting center. We did our first camping and it was a nice clear night to see some stars and the moon. The next day, we were ready to start a 6.5 hr cave tour, which entailed some rock canyoning, crawling and hands and feet, and laying on our tummies to drag our bodies through some tight spots and holes. I'm so glad I am little as it was a little nerve wrecking. Greg said I did well as a spider monkey. We saw two tiny bats, the length of my index finger. They were sleeping. Apparently not all bats stay in colonies.

This cave is the longest in the world with 392 miles, not in a straight shot of course, and spread amoung levels. We crawled/hike 5.5 miles. We saw some minerals and crystals, but nothing amazing. There were some 150 ft high domes that were cool to see from below. We also turned our headlights off and stayed quiet twice, which was neat to experience in a cave.

Showered quickly, left by 5pm and arrived in Memphis by 10pm and surfed with a new friend, Johnathan. Stayed up for a few hrs catching up on computer work and chatted about food health, consumerism, etc.  Did not get to check out Memphis as we head to CO by 3/17. Click here for cave pix.

Nashville - Music, Pork, BBQ & Sun

I did not mention this last time but while I was in Asheville on Wed, Greg drove home to Greenville, SC for a scheduled ear surgery as other treatments were not working. A few weeks ago, he was told he has a cyst in his ear causing hearing problems. The cat scan showed that the cyst is located on a bone that requires a specialist to remove. So hopefully we can find a specialist next week while we are in CO.

Thurs afternoon, we were able to drive through the middle of Smoky NP, so I got to see it technically. It was rainy, snowy, and cold; no hiking or camping for us. Got to Nashville in the evening (5ish hr drive) and was hosted by a new friend, Todd, via couchsurfing.org. It was a last minute plan to stay in Nashville and Todd was nice enough to host us for 2 nights. Todd has a cute loft cottage on the east side. And he is pet sitting, Cosmo, a 5 week old pup! I fell in love instantly.

Greg is sick now so it's been mellow nights. Fri, we had our first sunny day and walked all over city for about 6 hrs. Took random fun city pix. And I can't believe how many churches we saw in one block, many Baptists churches and Christian billboards, signs, ads, stores, etc. Jebus, it is strange. We made it out to a bar with a foosball table, of course I played well, but too smokey to stay long. Have not been in a smokey bar in years. I guess another new thing to get use to.

Today, we are off to KY to hike some trails at Mammoth Cave NP, KY. Sun we booked a 6.5 hr cave tour!  And, today marks me being on the road for one full week and I still have no clue what I am doing :) Click here for Smoky NP and Nashville, TN pix.