Journeying Eastward

Hi all! It’s official—we’re finally back in the Eastern Standard Time zone! And oh what a frigid and precipitation-filled journey it was to get here. As a reminder, we set out from San Diego (the land of sunshine and amazing weather, which we miss dearly) in early January. Our mission was to make it to Chattanooga to check out the climbing in the southeast. Seeing that we try not to drive more than 6-8 hours per day, we made plenty of stops along our journey east. And, seeing that Luna has joined our family, we made plenty of stops at numerous dog parks along the way—it’s tough getting a puppy to sleep in a van at night if she hasn’t had plenty of exercise (see Exhibit A).

Exhibit A. Luna sleeps ALL day when we drive. So, unless we get her running around a couple times per day, she doesn’t sleep at night…she jumps around the bed and makes high-pitched puppy barks until we play with her.

Our first stop on our trek east was Austin, TX. While in Austin, we got to spend some quality time with one of my dear friends, Ed! During my former life as a computer programmer/consultant, Ed and I worked together and became fast friends. It was great to spend some time with him in Austin. He showed us around downtown Austin and pointed us in the direction of the most delicious BBQ in Austin—The Salt Lick—which, for that matter, is the most delicious BBQ we have had on our entire trip.

Marco enjoying the AH-mazing BBQ at The Salt Lick.

After a couple days in Austin, we hit the road to head to Memphis…cue the polar vortex. That’s about the time the weather turned horrible (dreary, cold rain our entire drive to Memphis). To top it off, both Marco and I came down with terrible colds. It was a pretty rough couple days for us. Now I don’t want to complain too much about the cold weather, because I hear other parts of the country had it much worse, but when you’re living in a van and have a terrible, horrible cold, sleeping in 20 degree weather is NOT fun. But, regardless, we made the best of it. While in Memphis, we swung by Graceland, which was much more interesting than I expected. We took self-guided audio tours of the grounds and it was really interesting to hear about Elvis’ life and legacy. In addition to touring Graceland, we viewed some of the automobiles owned by Elvis and two of his private planes. We both thoroughly enjoyed the visit, much more than either of us anticipated. Check it out!

The kitchen at Graceland.

The Green Room...even the ceilings were carpeted.

The stairway to the basement was covered in mirrors. Marco spent forever going down the stairs...constantly gazing at himself in the mirrors.

The TV room.

Lisa Marie's first swing set...which is almost identical to my first swing set!

Read description in below picture. Pretty cool.

Elvis' Pink Cadillac!

After Memphis, we continued on to Nashville. Again, the weather was very dreary, cold and rainy, so our motivation to explore the city was dampened, no pun intended. We tried some more BBQ—Jack's BBQ—which, while very tasty, did not top The Salt Lick in Austin. During a brief moment of clear skies, we explored Percy Warner Park in Nashville, which is a beautiful park that we all really enjoyed, Luna especially. Since we were pretty eager to make it to Chattanooga, we cut our time in Nashville short and drove down to Chattanooga. Fortunately, the rain managed to clear up by the time we got there, but, unfortunately, the temperatures remained absolutely freezing. It was so cold, I lost all motivation to climb. As mentioned previously, we were both getting over some pretty nasty colds! In terms of keeping warm in the van, our heating system for the nights consisted of zipping ourselves up like mummies in our sleeping bags, piling on numerous blankets, and wedging Luna—who got to sleep under the blankets for fear she would otherwise freeze—between us (it’s amazing what great personal heaters dogs make!).

Luna thinks she is a person. She sleeps on her back just like any other person. It's pretty ridiculously adorable.

It was so frigid, I even splurged on a hotel for a couple nights—it was only our fourth time in our nine months on the road being in a hotel.

Luna took her first bath at the hotel!

Despite the cold weather, Chattanooga was great! We had our fair share of warmer days, and, best of all, we got to climb with some old friends!

Steve, KP, Robyn and Dylan!

It was AMAZING to climb with some familiar faces. It was definitely the highlight of our time in Chattanooga. I didn’t realize how much I genuinely missed climbing with our old NYC crew until we were privileged enough to actually spend a weekend doing it! And Marco and I expanded our eating habits by having dinner at a vegan restaurant, Sluggos, which is pretty crazy, considering he and I very much enjoy our carnivorous diets. But, despite our meat-eating habits, we were incredibly impressed with the food and thought it was all delicious! Thanks for broadening our food horizons KP, Robyn and Steve : )

And now for some climbing pictures from Rocktown and Little Rock City! Overall, the climbing in both places was unreal. I liked LRC a little better (I think), while Marco preferred Rocktown. Either way, both are incredible climbing destinations. It's tough to really sit back and pick my "favorite" climbing destination from the trip thus far, but these two spots are definitely top contenders. I've always been partial to climbing in the forest versus climbing in the desert (though you really can't beat the desert climate)...so it was great to be back bouldering in the forest after so much desert climbing out west!

Breakfast in Rocktown...on one of the few warm, sunny days!

Sherman Photo, V7, at Rocktown. Luna kind of steals the picture (she loves licking trees!)...but it was one of Marco's best sends of the trip. Such a great problem.

Fat Cat, V5, in LRC. I couldn't stick the next throw to the jug...but it's just another reason to head back down south!

Diesel Power, V5, at LRC. Marco got his ankle stuck during the opening sequence! We had to stack pads under him and Steve had to help wedge his ankle out of the rock. While semi-amusing, I was very much freaking out. I was a minute away from calling 911. Of course as soon as he got it un-stuck, he was back on the problem.

KP crushing Crack of Doom, V5, at LRC!

Diamond in the Rought, V5, at Rocktown. Marco was flashing V5s like it was no big deal. He completely hit it off with the style of climbing at Rocktown! It was really inspirational and exciting to witness.

Marco on top of The Graduate, V5, at LRC. Holy highball!

Nose Candy, V6, at Rocktown.

Well, that concludes our journey back east and our time down south! Next stop…somewhere back in the northeast! I am VERY excited to get back home. I miss our family and friends and the comfort of living in a warm place during the cold winter months! I will never ever take a warm night’s sleep for granted. And so begins the final chapter of our trip. Hope to see many of you very soon. Lots of love!