December 20th, 2016: Ending another chapter
Writing from: The same Starbucks in Joshua Tree that I wrote from last time.
Mood: A bit under the weather, but happy to go home and see family for the holidays again. The last few days have been a lot of fun and a good end to our time in Joshua Tree.
Tonight’s dinner: Last night we treated ourselves to Pappy’s and Harriets (pretty damn good BBQ). Tonight we had the remaining tortellini with vodka sauce with chicken, broccoli, and onions.
#Vanlife Tidbit: To store our clothing, we use these nifty things that we bought from Ikea. They’re called Trones. We ended up buying six because they come in packs of three. However, we only use four for our clothes. The other two are used for cooking (nailed to the door) and hygiene (under the bed). The reason we like these so much is that they are just so space efficient. They can hold a crapload of stuff, but aren’t thick like normal cabinets. We modded ours a little with two small squares of Velcro to help keep them closed when we get onto bumpy roads. They still open when the van gets rockin, but it’s fine as nothing falls out. I can’t recommend these enough as they are perfect for van travelers.
Lexie and I spent this past weekend with friends from LA. They were all coming up for a friend’s birthday and it was nice to see some familiar faces and do some normal people things (like hang out inside of a house, shower regularly, use an oven, etc). We filled Friday to Sunday with laughing, eating, and hiking…typical Joshua Tree activities. It was a change of pace to be in a national park with people who were not used to being in a national park. I enjoyed playing tour guide and then also having a house to go to when we needed to get out of the elements.
Before meeting up with our friends, I was able to meet a few climbers who were inquiring about the van. From there, one of them offered to show me a thing or two about climbing and then also introduce me to his friends. This was nice because I had just got off the phone with a bunch of guides who were looking for $300 bucks for a lesson, which was obviously a non-starter.
After everybody left on Sunday, I got some gear and headed out to the crack where Fits, the guy who offered to show me the ropes, and his friends were climbing. I’ll just be straight: rock climbing is fucking hard. Although it is one of best feelings of accomplishments once you get to the top, it is freaking tough. The worst part is that good climbers make it look so easy, so you get this whole, “Huh, this crack wont be too hard” thing going and then you attempt to make that first step and you have no idea where to go.
I climbed from Sunday to today (Tuesday), and my hands are fucked up. My forearms hurt too. I can see how this sport can get addicting, as once you clear one rating, you’re hungry to tackle the next. It also seems like a sport where the improvement is very obvious. One day, you can’t climb a specific wall, then the next day you can. The only knock is that you must have a partner and the gear can get expensive. However, once you’ve got all the necessary gear, you can use it for a while so you can mentally spread out the cost over a few years.
I’m a bit achy after this last day of climbing and feel like I’m coming down with something that feels like a fever. Hopefully I don’t get sick for the holidays. Not the way I intended to end this chapter of travel, but happy to get home nonetheless. Until next time.
