Whelp, here's the seventh and final group of my summer. This tour was really, really good for me as well as them. There's a lot of fun to be had across the northern states of this country. (Kinda like the southern states.) You may notice there's no picture of my 5th group. . . .that was my self-proclaimed 'bad' tour. That was when I lost my laptop and was a little despondent towards some of the group so I didn't take many pictures.
9.30.2005
6DX Group in Key West
This was my sixth group. We did a Dixieland trip that rocked a virtual Casbah (it didn't rock a veritable Casbah cause it's hard to get to northern Africa by van). The DX is basically a party tour with a lot of cities on the agenda. We hit New Orleans before Katrina but didn't do nearly as much damage. The highlight might have been the beach blanket BBQ we had on the last night in Key Largo, FL. Not a bad place, those keys.
4W1L Group in Grand Canyon
I need to find another picture that I have of this group. But this'll do for now.
3W2 Group in Hollywood
Third group on a two week whirlwind in the southwest again. By now I had a pretty good handle on things, and I certainly had a handle on the region and our destinations. This group got along really well (which is good but usually gets a little scary). If you look close you can catch the Hollywood sign through the haze in the background. Gotta love LA. . . . . . . . okay, you really don't.
2W1S Group in Vegas
Obviously, my second group. A little heavy on estrogen, especially when one of the guys left the tour early for 'family reasons.' (Personally I think the women drove him nuts.) It was a chaotic tour that culminated with a night in Flagstaff where we had a little BBQ at my old roommate's house, stayed out at the bars till 3am (even though they closed at 2am) and then all crashed back at my friend's house. He and his roommate didn't know what hit 'em.
1W1L Group in Oakland
This was my first group of the summer. We did a Western Wonder from LA to SF in one week. Stops included the Grand Canyon, Vegas and Yosemite. Pretty hard to run a bad trip with those destinations. 50 points and a pack of poodles to anyone who can tell me where the photo was taken.
Angel's Landing Training Group Photo
Just to give everyone an idea of what my training group for T.A. looked like. I think I'll try to post a group photo from each of my groups this summer so people can get a better idea of what I dealt with all summer.
Frozen Upper Yosemite Falls
Frozen Upper Yosemite Falls
Originally uploaded by A Ditlefsen.
It got cold.
Need I say more.
I must say that I enjoyed Yosemite much more ealier in the season. A bit chilly, yes, but fewer people (especially on the trails) and the waterfalls are just a scosh more active. My fortunes were bright all summer as I visited Yos' a total of six times. The final time was in August and the Upper Falls were barely a trickle. I like the strong frozen version better. . . kinda like my margaritas but not like my women. Though a woman did break my elbow when I tried to tickle her so I'll be shutting up now.
Frozen
This picture was taken in Yosemite valley after hiking to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls. When we started the hike it was sunny and we didn't hit the snow line till six thousand feet. When we descended there was no snow line and we found ten inches on the valley floor. Inadequate gear, lungs and water repelent made it one of the best hikes of the 'summer.'
9.10.2005
9.04.2005
Tickling Is Evil
Well, I've gone and created another hiccup in the esophagus of my
life. Somehow I managed to fracture a bone in my right elbow on
Thursday night. . . all I was doing was tickling a girl. Now before
your minds reach the end of the gutter and drop into the drain I have
to make sure you know that it was nothing kinky and in fact was the
weakest way I've ever been injured. I thought I had just
hyperextended my elbow or maybe sprained it. But the next day my arm
kept getting bigger and bigger as I drove to Flagstaff. The next
morning I almost passed out from the pain so I checked myself into the
Flag medical center.
Of course, they can't actually find the fracture so I need to get more
film done later this week. I'm currently in a soft cast and a sling
while receiving some much needed help from some hydrocodone. Decent
stuff but I seem to be too large of a guy for these things to work
properly. Needless to say I won't be doing another tour for awhile
and this may end my season.
Cheers and beers.
8.31.2005
Done and Dunn
Well, finished my Norther Trail successfully (though you wouldn't know it by the tips) and now I've been told that I've only got one more trip this season and then I'm through. I sprint to Salt Lake City over the weekend and then start a specialty trip on Tuesday the 6th. I should actually be really excited about this trip because we're going to some amazing places that I haven't been this summer. . . or ever.
Three nights in Moab, UT.
Monument Valley
The NORTH Rim of the Grand Canyon (that's the big one).
Zion for two nights
Bryce Canyon
Yosemite for THREE nights
Point Reyes above San Francisco
and the we end in San Fran on Friday the 23rd.
All I have to do after that is get them to the airport on the 24th. I'll have one more night in the SF hotel and then sprint back down to LA in order to wrap up the season. I'm a bit burned right now so I've secured a day by the pool for myself and I'm about to head that direction right now.
Public Kudos once again to by Cousin-in-Law's good childhood friend (you know, the guy who drives the Lotus. . . I stilll don't believe that 190hp thing) for loaning me a laptop while he BUILDS me another Powerbook. If anyone knows what to get for the guys who has everything let me know.
And I'm off.
8.23.2005
Boppin' Another Diffle
HOLA COMPADRES. Como estas?
I'm in Lake Tahoe right now with my latest and greatest group. (you
know, the greatest group except for the three or four people who keep
crying for no reason and have the worst attitudes I've seen all
summer. cheers) We're heading to Yosemite for two nights starting
tomorrow (Wednesday the 24th) and then we'll be in San Francisco on
Friday the 26th. The plan as of right now is to sail the bay at
sunset (anyone can join us for that. . . $25, includes two free
drinks. .. just give me a call if you want to join us. . . starts at
6pm or so) then we'll be heading to Biscuits and Blues for dinner and
some music/drinking. I suppose we'll be there most of the night.
I'll make sure my phone is on so give me a call.
This trip has been pretty amazing. Met up with my WI brother in
Chicago for two nights and we got rained on (but had a good time) then
I met up with my homeless brother and his homeless wife in Yellowstone
a few days ago where it rained and hailed on us. . . . .sensing a
pattern.
Unfortunately, I have to cut this short. Duty calls. . . . or at
least the taxi service I seem to be running is calling. I hope
everyone is kickin' ass and not even takin' names. Hasta.
8.05.2005
Just In Case. . .
. . . anyone checks this thing, here's my next trip.
Northern Trail. Three weeks across the northern part of the states,
leaves on the 10th of August. I'm in Key Largo right now. My
Dixieland ends tomorrow and then I have another lovely sprint up the
East Coast to New Jersey where I will spend one whole day in the
office and then sleep in NY one night before I start my trip on
Wednesday.
My apologies to everyone for not updating this, writing emails, or
just generally being accessible.
However, at least this trip is going better than the last. The group
is really great with only two exceptions. Turns out that Belgians and
Swiss at crazy. . . at least according to my two person focus group.
Thank goodness for waffles and watches or I'd know the next place to
send our overextended troops. Just kidding (sorta).
So, thing are okay but I'm learning that when I'm doing a trip for the
first time I have absolutely NO time for anything else. This is the
first time I've checked my email in two weeks and I don't even get to
participate in all the activities in this situation because I need to
spend that time without my passengers learning the current city we're
in or the next place we're going. It wouldn't be so bad 'cept for the
time crunch with my next trip which I don't know either. . . until I
get to CA, I guess.
The next trip will take me through Niagara Falls, Chicago, The
Badlands, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, San
Francisco and then back to LA. Obviously there's a lot of little
stops in there but those are some of the highlights.
I'll be in San Francisco on a weekend this time. August. 26th and
27th if all goes well. I'll try to find time to send an email and let
everyone know where I'll be.
Hasta luego.
7.23.2005
Dixieland
Hola Amigos y Amigas! Como estas?
I'm in Miami (actually Sunny Isles Beach or something like that).
Staying here one night before I leave on a two week trip tomorrow
called Dixieland. The rough outline is as follows:
St. Augustine
Atlanta (2)
Nashville
Memphis
New Orleans (2)
Panama Beach City (2, don't ask)
Orlando (3)
Key Largo (possibility of grabbing a night from Orlando)
end in Miami.
I'll finish the trip on the 6th of August and then I have to do the 19
hour sprint back up to New Jersey on the 7th and 8th. Then, as of
right now, I'm set to start a 3 week trip called the Northern Trail
(sort of a northern mirror of the Southern Sun I just finished). So,
I'm supposed to start that on the 10th which would put me back in San
Francisco around the 27th and 28th. I will definitely let everyone in
the Bay Area know exactly when I'm going to be there once I know for
sure that I am coming back.
I'll probably have only one or two trips after that Northern finished
up so my summer is basically over. I wish I hadn't had that month off
in the middle.
My last trip was the worst one I've done so far. You can imagine that
my laptop getting pinched didn't help things any, but the reality is
that I had a bad attitude for much of the trip. It was hot and my
passengers were annoying. This job offers no insight as to why people
refuse to use their brains while they are on holiday. The quote of
the summer is far is from this one English girl and it goes something
like this. . . . . . "Aaron, if I eat now will I be hungry later?"
I told her she'd only be hungry later if I didn't knock her out first.
Just kidding, but you now have an idea of what every day is like on
these trips. Every where you go people feel the need to ask after the
most simple and universal things. . . . "Aaron, is there a bathroom
in this bar/restaurant/gas station/rest stop/campground/etc. . ?"
No, they want you to pee exactly where you are.
Here's to intelligence and to all of us studying up before we travel
to another country. And here I thought that Americans were the dumb
ones when we went on vacation.
7.11.2005
Texas
Well, now that I've wallowed in self pity for a few days I guess I can
find it in me to use a computer again. I'm in Austin, TX right now
and I have a precious few 'free' hours. My group is out and about
wandering the city streets, just the way I like it, but unfortunately
I have to leave in a minute to prepare for an interview I'm going to
give to a potential new Trek leader here in town. Great way to spend
my day off. The company does kick me a couple bucks for the process
though.
This tour certainly started out as a bomb. Didn't really like the
group, out of the rhythm because I had so much time off, laptop stolen
and it's been hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut almost
everywhere we've been. However, the group has come together fairly
well and as long as they're happy then my job/life gets easier.
We were in Del Rio, TX the other night and crossed the border into
Mexico. I've got three under-agers from Australia in the group and it
was a good way to allow them to drink legally (though they have been
doing pretty well for themselves despite the legality of it so far).
Mexico is crazy. Picked up a one liter bottle of Kahlua for ten
bucks! Good times.
Right now we're staying in a pretty nice RV park outside of Austin.
Air conditioned cabins, pool, hot tub, individual bathrooms in the
bath house and of course, who could forget the free pancake breakfast.
We're staying in Austin again tonight and we'll be centerstage
(though in the audience) at a place called the Saxon Pub for a Bob
Schneider show. For those of you who know his music you can commence
being bitter and jealous right. . . . now!
Tomorrow we make a five-hundred mile haul to New Orleans for a couple
nights, weather permitting. Then to Tuscaloos, AL. . . . . . okay.
Then Ocoee, TN for a little class four river rafting. Then
Whyteville, VA. . . . . okay. Finally a couple of nights in DC before
I drop these poor travelling souls off in NY. I'll be heading to NJ
myself for a few days in the East Coast office before I possibly start
another trip in the south called a Dixieland. Never know, though.
Could change.
I guess that wraps it up for me. All you really need to know is that
it's hot. Everywhere I'm going to be is damn hot. I hope this finds
you all happy and healthy. . . or at least alive and kicking.
7.06.2005
. . . And That's How That Goes
My laptop was stolen in Las Vegas a few days ago.
Predictably, it was my fault.
I left it in the hotel lobby about ten feet from the front desk.
My apologies to anyone who helped me work on that machine.
So it goes.
6.28.2005
Big Surprise
Well, duh.
Of course I haven't written a well crafted, time consuming entry for
this site. Of course I haven't utilized my brother's generosity with
a program that will allow me to post pictures here in addition to
text. Of course I'm bitching about what I HAVEN'T done instead of
celebrating what I have done.
Good Times.
I leave on my Southern Sun tomorrow. If you want a rough outline of
my schedule you can find it here.
http://trekamerica.com/tours/sl.html
I've only made a few changes to the tour. Spending two nights in
Austin, TX instead of San Antonio. Hopefully putting three nights in
New Orleans. . . that sort of thing. It might be a bit of a crazy
tour.
Second and third nights are in Vegas. There will be another tour
paralleling me for most of the trip so we will have 23 passengers
between us. In Vegas we've booked a 650 stretch limo truck for all 25
of us. Check it out on this poorly designed website.
www.adreamweddinghawaii.com/website/limo_gallery.htm
Look for the Ford-650 Monster Truck Limo.
Should be interesting.
For the Fourth we're staying at a Cowboy Camp near Monument Valley.
There will be 4-6 trek groups there, fireworks are allowed, no quiet
hours and the camp has even hired a band to top off the event. Should
be different.
In Austin I'll be taking anyone over 21 who is interested to a Bob
Schneider show. He's one of my favorite artists at the moment and the
owner of the bar has reserved us a huge table front and center. We'll
be close enough to spit on the entertainment. . . though most likely
we'll just clap instead. Should be okay.
New Orleans. Let's just hope the group goes for the third night so I
can really get my jazz fix in. Shouldn't be too bad.
Washington D.C. will see us for two days. No big events planned here
but I'm not complaining. Should be hot and humid.
Along the way we have the option of bungee jumping, horse rides, quad
rides, swamp tour, river rafting, fight clubs, jazz clubs, water
slides and some other stuff. Fun stuff. One of those might be a lie.
Whoops.
Well this is my 'Friday' so I'm gonna get outta the office early. One
thing I'd like to say is that I'm a little depressed about the lack of
email in my inbox. Feels a little like people think I never read my
email. Hell, not only do I read it but I usually respond. How's that
for thorough.
Cheese whiz.
6.17.2005
A Fluid Schedule
As it turns out there was a good reason for me NOT to update this page
for a while. If I HAD updated it a few weeks ago (as I SHOULD have)
then I would have had to post about five other entries just to
retract, change, retract and change what my schedule is going to be
with Trek. Here's what has happened recently.
I finished my Westerner2 and then started a Western Wonder on the
thirtieth of May. The tour finished on June fifth BUT I managed to
injure my foot on the first day of that tour and I had to cancel my
next Western Wonder that was scheduled to leave the following day.
(The actual tour wasn't cancelled, of course, but another tour leader
took the trip for me.)
So, unbeknownst to many of you I have been at home for the past week
and a half! My apologies if you didn't receive a visit or a phone
call from me. My oldest brother was in town the first week and I
spent a lot of time trying to heal my foot. At that time I believed
that I would be returning to work this past week sometime and then
start a trip called the Pacific Crest on the eighteenth.
A few days into my healing process I was told that I would be
'sprinting' my van to the East Coast and running a tour called the
Best of the East. Needless to say I was intruiged with the
possibility of doing a copule of eastern tours. (I know nothing of
the East!) At the time I was all set to leave from the Bay Area and
just bolt out on I-80 across the country. They told me there was no
reason for me to return to LA-LA-Land if I didn't feel it was
necessary. Heh.
So on Wednesday of this week I had myself prepared to leave for the
East Coast on Thursday. Sure enough, I got a call on Wednesday
telling me that as long as I was going out East I may as well come to
LA first and pick up a bunch of camping gear that is needed at the New
Jersey office. Great. I arrived in LA yesterday, after sitting on
the 405 for about two hours, and got into the office this morning.
This morning they were about thirty minutes from loading my van with
an insane amount of gear when things were brought to a halt. I
reported to the office of the man who handles all tour leaders who
aren't rookies and he revamped the schedule.
At this point I AM NOT going to the East Coast but rather am doing a
Southern Sun trip on the twenty-ninth. That trip will take me across
the southern part of the country and will finish up in New York on the
nineteenth of July.
Good times. This however, means that I will definitely have time to
update this bad boy. Of course, most of you are perceptive enough to
realize that I just had a week and a half at home when I could have
updated this thing but I think we already covered why I'm glad that I
didn't.
Perhaps I'll wait to write more until my trip is changed again.
5.24.2005
T. O.
I'll try to explain the subject line later.
Remember how I promised to be more organized once I got my laptop
back? Yeah, me too. Though I am typing on the aforementioned
instrument at this very moment I must admit that I am no more
organized than a group of greased pigs on ice skates. However, I have
been online for more than an hour now which is a record for me since
starting this job. How is this hour possible, you ask? Let me start
by saying that the Grand Canyon is my new favorite place to stay for
more than one day.
Granted I'm not staying in a hotel and it's pretty darn hot here right
now, but all that aside I have discovered a wonderful bonus. I'm
coming to you via the internet at this moment courtesy of the IMAX
complex in Tusayan, which is the town right outside of the GC. The
wonderful people at IMAX have been kind enough to set up a driver's
lounge that comes fully equipped with coffee, donuts, two massaging
chairs, a TV, two computers with internet access and almost best of
all. . . . . wireless internet. Hell, I've been here most of the day!
The other reason that the GC is great is that I dropped my group off
at the rim and I just told them I'd be back at 3pm to pick them up. I
love my group but personal time is so very hard to come by in this job
that I will take every hour I can get. I guess at this point I can
also let you know that my tour is going relatively well. We have one
more night in the GC, then a night at Betty and Rusty's Cowboy Camp,
then two nights in San Diego before we end this thing on Saturday back
in El Segundo (where I DID NOT leave my wallet. . . TCQ anyone?).
Now, the subject of this email. I apologize to any children who may
be reading this inadvertenly. The acronym TO was first introduced to
me just a short time ago on my first Trek. A young lady from New
Zealand informed me that she regularly experienced something by the
name of TO. I asked her if she needed a Time Out, a work of Tubular
Oragami or perhaps just a Tuna Order. "No," she said. The T and the
O in TO stand for Travel Orgasm.
I was aghast, yet intrigued. She quickly informed me that it was not
sexual but more spiritual. After travelling different parts of the
world it seems that in some places she would experience a sort of
euphoria at certain spots along her journey. You know, a particularly
beautiful sunset over an inactive volcano, an unparalleled view of
Machu Pichu during a lightning storm, playing hop-scotch with the
lemurs of Madagascar, that sort of thing.
Point is, I recently had a TO while visiting Yosemite National Park.
Fabulous place, if you've never been, well worth the trouble with the
bears. In fact I was fortunate enough to see two bears in two days
when I was there just a few days ago. But my real TO experience came
when I was hiking the John Muir Trail up to Nevada Falls. I have been
to Yos a few times now but I've always been too far behind in my
paperwork to do a proper hike. This time I set out right after I
dropped my group off and I was rewarded with a 9-mile hike that gave
excellent views of two massive waterfalls (Vernal and Nevada falls).
At one point on the trail up (the ascent was about 1800') I came over
a ridge and got my first site of Nevada Falls. Surprisingly this was
not the moment.
The view proceeded to improve with each switch back or turn and at one
point I found myself standing on an insanely pretty spot with no other
person around and nothing but the roar of the waterfall around me.
I'm not much one for meditation but now I know why those monks are
trying to reach Nirvana. It must be something like that spot that I
stood upon. And that was that. I instantly remembered that moments
like those were the reason I had taken this job in the first place and
the world was good. Since then I've been wondering if my southwest
trips hold anything in store for me that will even come close but
after seeing a decent sunset at the rim of the GC last night I imagine
that I might not ever quite get that experience back in this part of
the country. All I really know is that I want to do some backpacking
in the Sierras again when I'm through with this season.
Unfortunately, I have to pick up my group pretty soon. Not that the
rim of the Grand Canyon is a terrible place to be stranded but I guess
it is pretty hot outside.
Love and Cheetos.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)