Mt. Dickerman

Yesterday my friend's (Nick) friend, Ed, and now my friend, and I decided to go for a hike while 'ol Nick had to go to work. We ate Subway first. I was a little hesitant about taking Albert, my car. But he did us very proud. We made it Granite Falls just north of Bothell where Nick lives. Stopped off at the Ranger station and then decided on the Mt. Dickerman trail. "An eight-mile, steep hike" we thought. Otay. It said that we were gonna gain 3500 feet over those 4 miles going up. And we did, sho nough. So we started hiking, but not before i used the bathroom next to the trailhead that had bullet holes in the door. And when i was taking too long in the boys room, Ed decided to throw some stones at the door which sounded like bullets and well...i was scared. The hike was georgousnessity. Big old growth tress all about. Ferns. Then after about the 2509348th switch back we were thinking the summit was near. No. We came upon this guy who seemed to be stopping every 2 or 3 switchbacks to take a breather. Looked like he was in rough shape, but he had a lot of water, which we didn't. And then we reached what we thought was near the top but it turned out we had about another mile or so, straight uphill. But there were some nice wild blueberries to help. And a crazy lady who apparently hiked all the way up there just to get the berries. But she had hiking poles. Then we reached the top and a 360 view of er'thang. Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, and much much more. Here are some pix. I am very sore today.

Coastin' in

Seattle. What a beaut. I've made it here to my friend Nick's apt. The ol' Passat is still truckin'. Barely. It quit on me a couple of times when i pulled in to fill up but when i reached speeds exceeding 1238u75128345 miles an hour...well, it runs just fine. I have faith that it will make it to dear Eugene. This country is big. Especially when you go across diagonal. Well, the porkchops are finished it sounds like. Dinna time.

Bozeman

Well i got to see a lot thus far. Memphis, Nebraska (the Edigers), Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, YELLOWSTONE, and now...Bozeman, MT. I do like it. It's nice and cool (round 65 i s'pect). Despite what people tell you: Mount Rushmore ain't that big, Yellowstone is worth it. Big time. And Montana is beautiful. i would post pictures but i have seem to left my cable for my camera in argentina. Woopsy. I was a little pleased and perturbed when i ran out of batteries though in Jellystone. It felt like i was just skipping along trying to snap the coolest fotos and not really focused on the beautie of that park. My goodness! It's really amazing. And huge. So much to see. It's a shame that they let so many cars in there (including mine). Which, i must say, has made it to Bozeman from Georgia with the check engine light shining bright. (i won't say anything else because it will probably break down the second i do). I think the Black Hills deserve a little more respect too. They have their own beauty that isn't so big as Yellowstone or the Rockies but they do have killer trees and nice camping. Which i was happy to take part in. And it took me quite a while at 6 in the morning to get the courage to jump into the lake by which i slept. Something about still black water. But i did it. Buffalo are bigger than you think also.

And I'm off! (sorta)

After a long and drawn out 'goodbye' to Athens and few certain people, I left with big puffy eyes that couldn't stop crying. But...I made it! Sans airconditiong all the way to birmingham. But not before I happen to fix my eyes on my "check engine" light around the GA/AL border. It came on. Blast! So I went to an Autozone and got the skinny. I gots a cylinder that is misfiring. Yep that's right. I hope to get this resolved pretty soon. Tomorrow is the earliest it could happen though. O well. It be HOTTTTTTTT down here.

All done...

Well, i had my surgery today. It was fine. What a baby I am when it comes to needles and stuff. My nurse, Joanne, was very chévere and talkative. We got to converse in spanish some too. She kept insisting that i get a girlfriend that is a Latino. Ja.
Whatev. I'm pretty loopy and tired right now because i'm taking loratabs. The operating room was extremely cold. When they got me in there i scooted to another table and then they put my arms out and put warm blankets on them. Then came the anesthesia. It felt like someone was turning the volume down and everything started to go numb. Then i woke up and was in recovery dining on saltines and graham crackers and sprite and water. D-lish. Now my stomach doesn't really hurt that bad. It just feels like i did a hundred sit-ups and then someone pulled out a part of my flesh and snipped it with some scissors. I guess that's what happened except the part about the sit-ups.

The Last Run

Well...it's still hot. It's ten a.m. and 94 degrees outside. I went for my last run on the eastern seaboard today. At least for a while. It was a hot one. My hernia will be repaired tomorrow, but i'm not sure when tomorrow. Dan, the older guy I live with, has the most glorious whistle. It's just lovely. He's got nice vibrato and a really pure tone to it. It's quite astonishing how clean it sounds. He likes to whistle hymns to himself and improvise upon them sometimes. It's charming. He just told me he would go out for a bike ride but then he went out on the front porch when he found that it was "just sweltering out on this front porch." As for me, i'm fixin to eat some break-t and head to the grocery store to cool off. Kroger knows how to keep it cool and the electricity bill high.

peace

Hot and August

I love the Georgia humidity. You walk down about a 1/10 of a mile even after the sun has gone down and it begins. Sweatie. Lots of it. It beads up and then drips and sometimes just sits there on your neck or oozes out of your armpits. Maybe you'll have a little droplet hanging off of your nose that you can blow off or have a friend point out to you. We can't escape it. I wonder how bad it would smell if you took everyone's clothes and put them in a big sweaty pile after a long summer day. mmmmmmmmm....

It's a...blog!

Hello,

This will be mine blog if you wish to find out about my goings-on. I'm fixing to move to Eugene, OR in a couple of weeks, but not before I get my belovéd hernia repaired. "Hernia repair is surgery to correct a hernia. A hernia is an abnormal bulging of internal organs, often the intestine, through a weakness in a muscular wall." Sounds fun huh? I'm dreading it for I won't be able to run or swim for three to four semanas! Cagado! But...i guess i won't have a hernia anymore. I'm gonna miss the little guy. He's fun to poke at and go on walks with. He told me a real funny joke the other day but i shant tell you. It's kinda crude. All i'll say is that it includes green tomatoes. I just ran 9 miles this morning and ate out with my gooood friend Matt. It were good. Ahh the internet...whooda thought?

I'm eating a Riesen candy..mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....