Springtime The Second Time Around
This year is unique for me in the sense that I got to experience spring two times. In Bishop, it came early, with the grass getting green and the trees exploding in bloom around late March and the dry dusty desert plains picking up a definite green tint.
Then I drove home at end of April, just in time for springtime to roll through (a bit late, but its here) here in Minnesota. I drove around a bit, didnt take a lot of pictures, but here’s some of the good stuff.
Minneapolis - One Week Update
Well, its not actually a whole week yet. I rolled into Minneapolis early Monday morning, but close enough.
My foot continues to improve every day, more rapidly than I thought it would. Last week I was still not putting any weight on my foot when moving around - only when driving, would I use my foot.
When I arrived back in Minneapolis, I started putting a little body weight on when walking, mainly to get my foot moving, and to restore the range of motion. It was initially very stiff and clumsy, but over the last few days its really started to limber up and getting stronger.
As of yesterday, I started using just one crutch to support my weak side when walking. Its still rather slow going, and for long walks, I’ll still use two crutches, but its a major improvement, because now I can carry things with one hand when walking somewhere. That was the BIGGEST and most annoying thing about using crutches is that both of your hand are completely occupied and you can’t carry things like cups or plates of food while using crutches. You have hold up one crutch and hop wherever you need to go.
I really hope that if this rate of progress holds up, I should be able to start walking without crutches within a week or two. That’s going to be such a huge moment for me!
Its really nice to be back home in familiar territory, but I’m missing the weather in Bishop. Its still cold up here and there are no mountains to look at. 
I hope to get back to doing some more photos soon and have more exciting news to post as well!
I Put Bishop In My Rearview Mirror And Rolled On, Baby
I left Bishop after lunch on Saturday. My parents (as usual) were great and came up to help me load the truck. Since I was sort of on a time crunch (needed to be in Minneapolis by Monday morning), I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I’d like.
Driving across the western high plains - you really get an idea of the scope and enormonity of this country. Also makes you question whether this world is really getting overpopulated when you can drive a hour and not see a single sign of civilization.
Driving through Nevada, it really becomes apparent that most of this state is really just one big empty place with people stratching out an existence wherever they happened to land. And then there’s a lot of evidence where people just gave up and left. Abandoned houses probably outnumber habitated ones ten-to-one.
Shrine to the Tractor Wheel Gods?
Even the cemeteries are dry, dusty affairs.
Who lived here before? What did they do? Why did they leave? How long has all of this been sitting there?
Who knew Nebraska had such beautiful rolling hills?
For the first time in weeks, I took the 35mm off my camera to use my big-gun, the 70-200mm to take this amazing late-afternoon picture.
Back in Minnesota, and its Freezing Here
Yup. Left Bishop Saturday afternoon and drove back to Minnesota. Some (not many) pictures to come as soon as I shake off the last of the road fatigue.
Its Almost Closing Time, Buddy…
My parents are gonna be rolling up here soon. They’ll stay with me and take some sights in. Oh, also they’ll help me pack my stuff in the truck because I can’t. Nice parents, huh?!
Then it’ll be a 1,800 mile drive back to Minneapolis. Back to where I started out Jan 10th of this year. When I left that cold snowy evening, did I even entertain the thought that life would bring me full-circle back to Minneapolis? With a broken foot? Can’t say I did.
But I’ve always been one to roll with the punches. Sometimes… no… not sometimes, its a certainity that life will knock you down at some point. As someone famous… and probably dead said, its not about falling down, but how you get up and dust yourself off thats the big idea, yeah?
Oh yeah, doctor said I could start driving again. So I drove around the valley. I drove up and down roads I’d never driven before. I saw whole new sights I’d never seen before. And whole new angles to familiar landscapes. As I watched the clouds go by, my heart broke a bit. I’d become attached to this little town in a big valley.
I keep telling myself that I’ll be coming back. This is not by any means my last time here. But I know that for the rest of my life, I will reflect upon the four months I spent here as truly priceless. I came here to climb and I discovered so much more about myself than I expected.
But well, its time to turn the pages, time to look ahead to things yet to come.
One more drink please? For old time’s sake. Just one last round before we stumble off into the night?
Natalie & Anaya Shoot
Another late night in organizing my photos. Last month when I was in DC for the wedding shoot, Natalie wanted to get a photo shoot in with her daughter, but my week was so busy, the only time we could get was about 30 minutes before I’d have to dash off to the airport to catch my flight!
Here are three of my favorites.
Its Getting There
So yeah.. my foot’s looking better those days. The dead skin around the fracture blister area started peeling off today. I kind of helped it along in some areas. Boy, I tell you.. the dried stuff under the dead skin smelled BAD! *shudders*
I still have a bit of swelling around the ankles and toes. The arch of my foot and around the heel still shows bruises. But overall, its a tremendous improvement over the last few weeks. I’m happy with how it’s coming along… just a couple more weeks… *sigh*.
Campusing Iron Man Traverse
When I headed out to the ‘Milks last week w/ my climber buddies, I couldn’t resist getting *some* climbing in.
So I did the safest thing out there, and campused Iron Man Traverse from start to end. J Grant Gray took this pic of me at the final holds.
Click to see me! (flickr sucks, cant direct link)
A sunset, a beer and some melancholy…
I have this little porch on the front of my house, and with the weather getting really warm those days, I find myself sitting out there with a beer in hand and watch the sun go down behind the mountains.
I didn’t feel like focusing for some reason. So blurry pics are what you gonna get!
Like the sun that drifts down behind the mountains, drawing the day to a close, I become ever more acutely aware that my time here in Bishop is coming to an end. In less than two weeks I’ll be coming back to where I started this whole trip. Back to Minneapolis.
And it fills me with a profound sadness for the moment. I sit there in my chair, the evening wind rocking the trees that line my yard and I look out to the Buttermilks and wonder what could have been. I came out here in January, all ready to climb, and to bring my climbing up to a whole new level.
And I sure did. I knocked off some long standing projects and made huge progress on some others. I was starting to hit my stride. My confidence level was increasing every week and I felt ready to take on everything that Bishop had to offer. I was ready to demolish everything I set my eyes on.
Like the saying, “pride goes before a fall” - I stormed out to the Pollen Grains, with little prior beta or knowledge, with not enough crash pads to completely protect the landing area, with just one friend, and tried to make short work of Jedi Mind Tricks - and thus, I fell.
It was a humbling experience in more ways than one. It opened my eyes to the fact that no matter how easy a problem might be rated relative to the other problems you’ve already finished, every single problem on every single boulder out there deserves your full attention and respect. Every problem is different. Every problem presents an unique challenge and risks. And it is no one’s fault, but your own if you fail to consider all those when you attempt it.
Also humbling was the fact that I suddenly only had one good foot. Things that I hardly gave any thought about, like walking four blocks to get coffee, or driving to the food store to get some chow, or walking up some steps, all of a sudden became real challenges. I know that this is only temporary, but I think about all those people who go through their lives having lost a leg (or both) permanently - and I look at those people with a whole new level of respect.
My thoughts drift to what I’ll do next. I’ll be heading to San Francisco after my short stay in Minneapolis. I’ll be hard at work rehabbing my foot. I’ll be discovering a whole new city and friends. There will be many more photographs coming. I smile to think about all those. It will be wonderful.
And one day, I’ll start climbing again. And I’ll be a different, better climber for it. And I will return to Bishop. I will come back to Jedi Mind Tricks, on that one day when I am physically, and most importantly, mentally ready. To climb.
It has other priorities, I guess…
I was clipping my nails earlier today. After I finished clipping my finger nails, I moved on to my toes, and it was (not so suprisingly?) interesting to note that while the nails on my left toes were getting long, the nails on my right toes had barely grown out, if any.
I guess that either means my right foot is too busy patching up the heel bone to push out toenail material…. or my toes have died and are going to fall off one of those days.