In a Nutshell

Well It's been since our trip to Africa that I have written anything on the blog, so I will briefly catch up. Post Africa we ate up what was left of the summer in the great Pacific Northwest. We kayaked and rafted the Salmon River on the stretch near Riggins, ID for our annual fire dept. float trip. No lives or equipment were sacrificed to the river so all in all a successful trip. Shortly after we made a trip to Lake Koocanusa near Libby, MT for some general camping and climbing at Stone Hill. Early September came and Amanda started back at school so our adventures were mostly limited to extended weekends and vacations. We went camping with Amanda's family at a place called Gospel's Hump in central Idaho and stayed at a historic ranger house that is now rented out for overnight stays. In late September I had my first experience of bidding for and buying a vehicle on Ebay. What was I thinking haha! It may not seem like it, but sittingaround a computer watching the clock expire on a vehicle you're bidding on that you may actually win and have to pay for can be a rather nerve racking experience! I think was in a bit of shock when I saw that I won. My first thought, "oh shit, I won, now what"? Well after getting a small loan squared away and a few phone calls I was soon on a plane to southern California to pick up my new ride with my friend Dylan who came along just forfun. I bought a 2008 Ford Econoline Cargo Van from a private security company that had purchased the van new with plans of making it a surveillance vehicle. They never put the vehicle into service and it just sat on their property collecting dust, and was basically a write off for them to get rid of it, which I gladly took off their hands with less than 3,000 miles on it! We took our time driving back and stayed a night in California, visited friends and stayed the night in Ashland, OR, stayed another night in Portland with more friends, visited my grandparents in Sumner, WA, went to the Octoberfest in Leavenworth WA, and ended at a Jack JohnsonConcert at the Gorge. The van you may ask I will be slowly converting into a custom campervan to support the life of a cheap outdoor enthusiast. Jordan and I made a climbing trip to Vantage Washington and Chimney Rock to close the season before he took off for Japan and Southeast Asia.
A lot of October was spent adding hardwood floors to my house, painting bedrooms, turning a bedroom into an adventure room, and giving the house a basic facelift. Late November marked the beginning of our ski season which has since kept me busy for most of the winter. All in all I got almost 20 days in on the season and made it to Canada, Montana, and Jackson WY for ski trips. The rest of the time was spent ritually driving back and forth to Spokane to go climbing at the gym to try and stay in climbing shape. As of this blog I have officially hung up my skis for the winter and my bags are packed to catch a plane Monday morning. I am headed to the Land Down Under for a sunny month and a half of climbing, attempting to surf, diving, and chilling with my "mates" that I've met from other travels. I am flying solo on this trip as Amanda and Cliff will be holding the fort down and educating our youth. My friend Dave is picking me up from the airport and I'll stay a while with he and his wife in the Sydney area before picking up the camper van I rented and heading off to the outback! Well, technically I won't really be going to the "outback" per-say, but off to explore what Australia has to offer. More to come once I cross the pond....

Pictures Above: Chimney Rock ID, Vantage WA, Big Mountain MT, Jackson Hole WY