Rocky Mountain High

Yesterday we crossed the continental divide, traversing thru the Eisenhower Tunnel at just over 11,000 feet of elevation. Although a little anxious about the drive (warning signs about checking brakes plastered everywhere), God’s guiding hand got us thru with perfect weather and zero issues. We are now sitting here at a campground situated along the Colorado River where we have been treated to nature’s screensaver- flocks of geese, beavers, and a bald eagle guarding her nest- doesn’t get any better than this. 

The past two weeks at 5,000+ feet of elevation have been marked with the usual visits with friends and some unique sights along the way. The first place we settled in at was Colorado Springs. Once again, we met with friends that we had become close to while living in Hawaii (in case you were wondering, that brings the total to 9 families from our tiny church on the island that we have connected with on this trip!). Our kids “free solo’ed” rock formations at the Garden of the gods, we had a few BBQ’s, and most importantly, spent quality time reconnecting. One of the common things we’ve noticed when meeting with long time friends is that we seem to pick up right where we left off. Yes, there’s lots of details to catch up on, but the conversation flows as though it never stopped. I guess that’s what true friendship looks like, gaps in time are mere commas in a perpetually growing sentence. There were several teammates I was able to meet up with as well, funny to see that so many of them landed in the Rockies. I guess because it combines all the good aspects of work (guns, camping, and hiking), removes all the bad (terrorists, MRE’s, and GMT’s) and throws them into a Bob Ross portrait. Whatever the reason, it’s been great talking about the good ole days and trying to figure out what the heck we are going to do if ever we decide to grow up. The Springs lived up to the hype, weather being all over the place (80 degree sunshine following by 6 inches of snow), scenery from a national geographic cover (red rock canyon, Mueller State Park, Manitou Incline—— google that one, left me exhausted, thanks Scott!), and a school for all the folks that don’t make it into the Naval Academy (sorry fellas, I had to get my jab in). We also celebrated Mother’s day, had an in-n-out burger (first one ever in snowy conditions), and took the kids to a rock climbing gym. 

We inched our way west, setting up at a camp whose elevation was at 8500 ft near the old mining town of Central City. Along the way we stopped to say hi to a fallen teammate, Danny Dietz, of whom we named our son. Danny was a BUD/s classmate, a teammate, a friend- he was the first person that I personally knew who was killed in action, unfortunately there would be more. Still, it was good to visit his home town and see the statue of him with my family, and for   DK to learn more about the how he was named. Opportunities to pay tribute to fallen heroes help ground us and motivate us to serve something greater than ourselves. Up in Denver, we met with, you guessed it, some more friends from Hawaii (OK, so now the total is 10). Daniel was particularly excited because there was a boy his age to play with and Ally looked forward to practicing her baby-sitting skills with their youngest. We got two days with them and we were happy to see that they were doing well. I managed to find yet another team guy in the Boulder area and went on a hike with him that afforded us a 360 degree of the Denver area. 

The last two visits were both from people that knew Nikki during her high school and college days. Ordinarily, social media is the brunt of a lot of my discontent, but as with an encounter we had in the Midwest, it was a Facebook photo that connected Nikki with her College RA and friend. (Ok Mark Zuckerberg, you get a point for that one) Later, we met with Nikki’s high school classmate/college roommate and her husband. They came up to our camp, we lit the fire, and we strummed the guitar and ukulele. In both instances I specifically asked for some “dirt” on Nikki, to get some stories of her doing something embarrassing, but I got the opposite. They both disappointed me, sort of. Neither of them had any such dirt…on the contrary, they both said that they still had in their possession gifts from Nikki which they cherished despite receiving them 15 years ago. I’m smirking right now, filled with pride at the woman I married… she’s always been a giver, caring more about others than herself. Selfless generosity of that nature is the type of action needed to spark a movement of change.

As I finish up this blog, the feeling is somewhat surreal. Like Lewis and Clark we are edging towards the Pacific. A few more campsites, a few more weeks, a few more travel days with the family unfettered by the busyness of ordinary life, the stress of schedules, and the distractions that bog you down. It’s a bittersweet feeling. We long for our friends and family back in Southern California, but we equally lament the end of this crazy-beautiful journey. We’re in month 11 of our expedition, we’re heading to Utah, we’re on our last push. The only thing we can do now is something we have learned from the road trips… never forget how far you’ve come, be content with your current campsite, and don’t fret over the next leg of your journey.