To the East, driver to the east.

Those close to me know I’ve been obsessing on my new 2005 GMC Safari Van with intentions of trippin’ East for the Fall.  

I sometimes wonder if my financial priorities were a little off? How much time and money did I invest into this radical condo on wheels? The way I see it, If I go broke I have a place to live. An upperclass, dirtbag Vansion. So far I've been on the road for 49 days including the Salmon River trip. The Vansion has offered nothing but comfort and reliability. The full conversion; Lets start with the 2" body lift and my mini big-boy tires (additional 4" clearance), swivel passenger seat, deep cycle battery power with cornucopia of electronic pleasure (plugs, power cooler, tubes lights, toggles, etc), an Ikea futon with a memory foam frosting, mmmmmm, strategic storage, rocket box, and many other details to equal the comfort I've been spraying about. So, the next big question you probably have, what does Greg call this fabulous mobile palace? 

Tara, GG, Brian & Matt. Spandex day.

Well, I'd like some help with that one. Nothing has stuck yet. Let the Vansion name contest begin. The winner gets an autographed poster of yours truly in spandex laying across the hood. Ok, enough. Moving on. 

Leaving Central Oregon was tough and my mind was on a different planet due to some recent changes in my life. With the help of wonderful friends, my to do list was cut down and a sense of relief had overcome many stresses. 

I started this journey with a 7-day, 100-mile white water rafting trip on Idaho's Wild & Scenic Salmon River. With a great group of old & new friends, we enjoyed big & technical white water, sandy beach camping, hot springs, sweat lodge and some granite deep water soloing. Ruby was so cute in her new Ruff Wear lifejacket (Thanks Tara). When we got off the river we decided to spend the night in Riggins, an even more "backwoods" version of the famous river town Maupin, Oregon. We made some new friends at the Rodeo Club bar and called it a night. Well I did. It seems that one of the crew was still going. Mistaking the corner of the Hotel room for the toilet in his sleep. I won't mention any names. Classic. 

Shakeface Idaho

Riggins, Idaho. What!? I’ve been to this little shanty river town on four different occasions this summer. The climbing kicks serious ass. Like I said in my past Riggins blog, it’s a f-in’ drillfest. An ethical nightmare. A total product of the 90’s. But the climbing is awesome and it’s blazing hot at every other crag in the Northwest states. I see it as a place to get strong instead of hanging out in the sweltering rock gym.

I met my good friends Logan & Aura Carr along with their future star infant, little Ukiah. Logan has worked amongst some Riggins old-schoolers, Mike Stoger , Will Nazarian & Jason Karn, and heard all about it. I recall Will telling me that’s where he got in incredible shape before his successful trip to Rifle. Off the couch, then two days on in the cave equals full-body soreness. What next? One of the nicest hot springs I’ve ever experienced. A few miles North of McCall Idaho, I just couldn’t believe I had it all to myself. Even Ruby had a Soak in her own pool. I wish I had a picture of her relaxing. I suppose it shouldn’t be so hard to get her in the bathtub from now on. 

The white line fever started to kick in pretty early in the trip. No, not cocaine relapse silly, white lines on the highway. Like in all those old country songs? Drivin' trucks, chasin' rodeos, racin' the wind? Or maybe those good ol' boys were high as shit. Whatever. I made it Boulder just in time to keep my homie from going "Boulder" crazy. You've all heard the rumors. Cody Scarpella was now living it. I think he was just starting to get psyched on the area, Eldorado to be specific. 

Cody Scarpella on Mayfly, 12+

Cody has been pushing the standards at Trout Creek, Oregon for a number of years now. From ground zero, I've watch this kid blast though some hard, scary lines. Apparently, once you get good at rock climbing, you move to Boulder, ha. We got a few pitches in at Boulder Canyon (due to convenience of course) and ran into only two people, people we knew! Random. Sarah Watson and Lizzy Scully. Two lovely girls. Sarah spent a few days at Trout a few years back, hiking the hard splitters. Very talented. 

I managed to escape Boulder with no intentions of being converted. Here we go. The long haul down the longest, straightest road I've ever seen. My itrip was almost useless due to the FM radio clog of Jesus propaganda. I have nothing against it, except when it's jammed in my ears over and over in the middle of my Pink Floyd session, in Kansas. You don't interrupt Roger Waters. Sacrileg. Kansas sucked ass (sorry Ashley). Missouri... Come on. Really? I got pulled over twice within 30 minutes. Apparently Oregonians have a similar reputation as the Nor Cal neighbors. The first cop made me sit in his car. Grilled me like an overdone steak. Who the hell likes overdone steak. No problem though. I had nothing to hide, ha ha. It did blow my mind when he asked me strait up if I was moving pounds or kilos. Ha ha. Yeah, Oregon has a great cocaine distribution program. Almost legal with medical cards right? Same story 30 minutes later. Luckily I couldn't find the other half of my hippy-speedball recipe, which turned out to be in a pretty obvious place. He released me after I told him his cronie down the road already gave me the run-around. Southern Illinois was a little more scenic with the start of the color change. And finally! The Whiskey state! Welcome to Ol' Kentucky! Bluegrass and country songs started coming to me like debt collectors and Missouri bacon. The last leg. I almost drove across the country. Does this count? When I pulled on to Mountain Parkway (40 mins to Miguel's) I was glowing, so was Ruby.