Road trip of all road trips for two HLPs!

So I have seriously been off my game lately and haven't updated my blog. My apologies to all, but I hope I don't disappoint with the story from an epic journey with a good pal.

Fortunately for me, I work for a pretty awesome organization that decided to send me on a trip from San Fran to Denver to scout the first half of a cross-country cycling route to make sure all the roads were safe. And it just so happened one of my long lost pals, Charlie or HLP if you prefer, was between jobs and decided to join me on the trip. I promise, work was completed during this trip, but I will say it was equally hilarious as it was business. Honestly, words can't describe what went on during our trip, so I am just going to provide some images from our journey, brief explanation, and maybe a few videos to boot.

As we started in San Fran, we were able to meet up with another great pal, Prescott Shek. For those of you who know Shek, you can appreciate the treat we were in for.

Shek treated us to a great San Fran tour including a stop at the Full House house as Charlie so discretely displays. Next stop, Full House house number two. Is that Comet?
I took a brief solo trip to Half Moon Bay.Sunset...Sunrise...The beginning of a crazy journey.
We like to dance.......


So as we pulled into Ely, NV, we decided to stay at this hotel. The inside was full of mounted animals and housed the first elevator ever in the state of Nevada.
The only way to really paint the picture is to provide you with our own personal tour.


I will leave you with this. Keep in mind.......I did it for the blog.........

Why people live in Colorado....

As of 8:00am this morning (October 29, 2009), it has been snowing consistently for 36 hours. According to our measurement on the patio table, we think we are around 18 inches of snow. Apparently, this is the largest snow storm to hit Denver in nearly 16 years. Adam, Blue and I tried to play in it yesterday, but it was too deep and too soft to go kayak sledding. Check out the pics and video.

Playing For Change

As we all know, hate has become a daily observation in our lives. The wars in the Middle East, drug lords in Mexico and the myriad of troubles in Africa; hate is all around us. Personally, I blame a lot of the perception of hatred on the media, but that is neither here nor there.



Fortunately, with the rise of the tough times comes the rise of leaders who won't stand for such heartache. And I'm not talking about political leaders (don't get me started on this), I'm talking about the ordinary people like you and I who aren't satisfied with the status quo and who do what they can to make a difference in our world.

Two of my favorite things are sports and music. No matter how bad things get, both sports and music bring me peace. I also find a lot of satisfaction in knowing that the only two things that everyone on the planet have in common are sports and music.

Lance Armstrong tweeted a music video today that linked to a Web site called Playing for Change and the following videos are from that site. It is truly remarkable and admirable what these folks are doing. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Snow Kayaking Adventure

This past weekend, Jeff was kind enough to spend a couple days in Denver as he passed through from the Vitters family reunion in South Dakota. For those who are unaware, Jeff is a good friend from Charlotte and one that shares the same appreciation for random, unplanned adventures.

The following videos and images are from our snow kayaking adventure in the Rockies. You may notice, we decided to bring along another friend we picked up at a local Mexican yard sale. On that day, his name was Boomer. Considering Oklahoma's devastating loss to Miami on that particular day, I am currently taking recommendations for new names. Comments welcome.

Video 1: Before every adventure day, it is required to get pumped up. I can think of no better way than a Paper Planes dance off in the car. Enjoy



Video 2: You see, sometimes when you hang out with someone long enough, you start to learn interesting things about their personality. This particular video demonstrates Jeff's ability to scream as if he was an 8-year-old girl on a roller coaster for the first time. I apologize for my zoomed in commentary.



Video 3: I thought it would be a bright idea to hand the camera over to this guy from Holland that was visiting. You will see why I made such a decision upon watching the video. You will also see that my plan completely backfired as I now have a giant welt on my shin.



One thing to keep in mind when viewing all of this is the image of two guys parking at a very popular mountain pass (Loveland Pass) in Colorado and proceed to unload a kayak (no rivers anywhere around), ropes, helmets and a giant stuffed dog. Before hiking to our sledding paradise, we were the talk of Loveland Pass and staged our adventure with an audience of nearly 50 onlookers. That's just how we roll. Game on.

They don't call it Catchin!

To round out the summer.....Dad came fishin!

Back when I was a studly 7th grader in Coppell, Texas, my dad had a great idea to take me fishing in Colorado and we didn't catch a thing. But, it was one of the greatest trips we had....minus the chilly temperatures and the military rations.

We didn't know how to fly fish then, and we don't know how to fly fish now!

Before he came out, I warned him it was not like bass fishing. I told him we probably weren't going to catch anything because you really have to know a lot. I told him I'm not out here for the fishing, but just to hang out and I'm not paying for a guide. He said ok.

In the back of his mind, he still believed there was chance to catch something........nope, but we had an awesome time trying. See, Pops is a busy dude and it was great to have him out in the Rockies where things are calm. Plus, we had a great time laughing at our fly fishing abilities.

I will say I did catch one fish the entire time. It was fitting too, I fought him for a while, finally got him to shore, reached down to pick him up and he hopped off the hook. So technically, we didn't touch a single fish, but I still count it.

Awesome end to the summer. Bring on football!

Best Place Ever

A few of my favorite things in the world are as follows: Avocados, Mexican Food, Van Morrison and stinkin ASHEVILLE, NC!

On Labor Day weekend, I was fortunate to be a part of the Lentz/Brier wedding. Adam and Erin are two of my best friends in Charlotte and I was lucky enough to work with Adam at Push America.

Luckily, because they new I was coming of course, they decided to have their wedding at the Biltmore Estate in beautiful Asheville, NC.

I'm not really going to elaborate on too many details, but it was easily one of the greatest weekends of all time. Between golf, beer, more golf, more beer and seeing old friends in a great town.....good times.

Insert sappiness here....no matter where I travel in the road through life, the family I have in Charlotte is truly a blessing.

One LONG climb on Longs!

As many of you might know, one of Colorado's many desirable attributes is the quantity of 14,000 foot peaks that scatter the terrain and attract thousands of hikers ever summer. One such peak in the front range that is extremely popular and equally as dangerous is Longs Peak. Standing 14,255 feet above sea level, Longs Peak is one of the most demanding and scetchy of all the 14ers. Not named for the duration of the hike, coincidentally, Longs Peak is one of the longest day hikes in Colorado.

Considering it took us just over 14 hours to complete, there is a lot to share. Don't worry, I will keep it short.

We woke up at 1:00 am, made breakfast, hit up Wal Mart, drove from Fort Collins to the trailhead (just over an hour), on the trail by 4, above the treeline by 6 am and on the summit by 11:30 a.m. via the beautiful and less traveled "Loft" Route. You see most people don't know about the Loft Route because it is covered with snow for about 11 months. On a general day on the "popular" route (the Keyhole Route) you will see hundreds of people......we saw 4 and it was awesome!

We sat on the summit for an hour because the weather was so nice. You see, normally you have to get off the summit before noon in a race against brutal thunderstorms and epic winds. But our day was perfect........that is except the lung clogging smoke carried over from the stupid California fires. So, the weather was nice, but our views were totally covered by smog.

I must add, while on the summit, we completed what we believe to be a world record for the highest altitude frisbee toss......we are still waiting on confirmation from the Guinness Book.



I'm going to wrap this up because the rest of the hike is something we would kind of like to forget. We thought it would be a great idea to make our hike a loop and descend the Keyhole Route and see more of the mountain. BIG MISTAKE! That stupid route was significantly longer (added hours to the hike), super congested and far more dangerous/sketchy. We finished around 6:30 pm and whipped as hell......just ask Captain Grumpy (Knotts).

If you ever want to climb Longs Peak, go in August or early September and ONLY do the Loft Route. The view from Chasm Lake is incredible (see photo). Better yet, all the views from the Loft Route are incredible.....Keyhole Route....not so much.

One thing I forgot to mention....there was a guy playing bagpipes on the summit and it was awesome!

Two scoops of Avetts

One thing I have noticed about Colorado that I have never experienced anywhere else I have lived is that fall comes much sooner. I'm not saying it is completely here yet, but it is imminent. So what better way to close out an incredible summer than two scoops of The Avett Brothers.

For those of you who don't know, The Avett Brothers are probably the next big thing in music and, by far, the best performers I have ever seen live. There is really no way to truly describe their style.....but I will try. It is kind of a bluegrass meets folk meets rock meets the Beach Boys. I know it sounds strange, just check them out (The Avett Brothers).

Anyways, they put on a free concert in Steamboat Springs where I was accompanied by a good friend of mine from my days in Sooner Nation (Emily). The show was so awesome, I decided to go for round two a couple days later when they played in Denver. Definitely worth it!

Wilderness Adventures with Mom

For the last four years, my mom has been talking about how much she wants to go hiking with me. When I was living in North Carolina, we could never find the time to make it happen. Well, to celebrate her new found retirement, I told her it was time to put her money where her mouth is. So this past weekend, she did just that. But, we weren't just going for a hike, we were going backpacking.
We hit the Collegiate Wilderness deep in the heart of the Colorado Rockies and Mom was a trooper! We spent our first night in the luxury of Hotel de la.....my car (don't worry, the seats go down, it's nice). After sorting out was she was and was not allowed to pack, we hit the trail around 7 a.m. It wasn't long before the altitude hit Mom in the face, but she pressed on. We set up camp just below the treeline at the base of Mt. Belford (14,197 ft.) in a broken down cabin circa 1800s.

Unfortunately, Mom experienced an extreme blowout in her boot and her sole essentially removed itself from the boot preventing her from pressing forward. However, it was a blessing in disguise. I opted to hit the trail early the next morning to bag another 14er before Mom woke up. What I thought was going to be a quick hike was a brutal bout against the wind (see the misery on my face). It was the closest I ever came to being blown over and I thought my face was going to freeze off. There were times I had to get on all fours while the gust went through. Therefore, Mom would have hated it. I ended up making it to the summit of Mt. Belford and trail ran my way down as Mom was just starting to get organized.

We broke camp a day early because of the boot problem and hit the road. Regardless of the shoe issue, Mom still knocked out some extremely difficult hiking, especially considering she is a Texas Flatlander who got right off the plane only to immediately climb to 10,000 ft.

Mom turned 57 years old on our first day of hiking. At that age, I can only hope to be hiking still. Way to go Mom! Leave a comment for my mom, she kicked some serious ass.

Riding Wolf

So a few weekends ago, I was asked to scout a couple of roads through some mountain passes in Colorado. World T.E.A.M. Sports is planning for a cross country cycling trip next year and we are in the process of determining the route. What better way to scout a route than actually cycling? So I drove down to Pagosa Springs to cycle Wolf Creek Pass and I thought I would share some with you. On a side note, I do have to brag a little. On the way back down the pass, I did pass a semi--which is not a difficult thing to do, but I passed on the left and it was a first for me. Any other time I have passed a car, it has been on the shoulder.....good times.