Hello Mountains. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Hizzah! I have made it to Leadville! First, let me recap the last couple weeks.

My finals ended April 30th, and I had a surprisingly excellent semester grade-wise. The night of my last final, the GF and I headed South from Nashville to N Georgia to stay with my uncle and aunt. The next day we drove down to the University of FL to stay with my older sister and brother-in-law. My folks, grandparents, and little sis drove up to meet us. We had a nice afternoon and evening together. That was the extent of my family time for the summer.

The following day, we drove up to the FL panhandle to stay in a condo on the beach for a few days with friends. This was "Senior Beach Week." The gf done gradiated. The beach was wonderful. The quality time with friends and time relaxing were much appreciated and needed. I had not been to the beach in a long time. I LOVE the warm son, salty air, even the cooing seagulls. We had a blast. Then the crew drove back to Nashville for graduation. Unfortunately, graduation was moved inside due to inclement weather. It was a good ceremony regardless. Vandy knows how to run a classy event. We indulged in strawberries and champagne afterward.

For the few days between graduation and my departure, I stayed in Nashville at the gf's parent's house. It was great. We lounged, hung out. I had a great time with her family -- even met both sides of gparents. We went to her brothers h.s. soccer game, went for runs, hung out with friends -- very nice. I did have to leave eventually though.

I left Nashville Tuesday morning with a friend. We caravaned to Kansas City to stay at her house. THANK GOD FOR HOSPITABLE PEOPLE! She gave me the driving tour and introduced me to KC BBQ at Oklahoma Joe's. It was fun staying with her fam as well. It's really nice to meet the families of my college friends. Being at college, it sometimes seems like we lead double lives (school and home). After spending Tues and Wed night with that family, I moved on to Colorado Springs to stay with the brother of my roommate. We enjoyed a good dinner and chat.

After an early wake up, my roomie and I headed out to the Red Rock Canyon Open Spaces in CO Sprgs. It is a newer climbing area filled with slabby orange sandstone. We opted to go there rather than Garden of the Gods because GotG is mostly trad and RRCOS is all sport. He had never climbed outside before so we headed over to some easier routes. After finally orienting myself and finding the right route, I led a 5.6 and he Top Roped (TR) it. We then did a 5.7 next door. Both climbs were low angle slabs with tiny edges. It was a day of intense footwork. He did well - completing both climbs. I was very impressed with the area. As a city park, it is well managed, easy to get to and around, and the rock is good. We chose a beautiful day and thoroughly enjoyed the contrast between the looming monstrosity of Pike's Peak and the bright orange sandstone of the Canyon.

After lunch, we parted ways and I headed out scenic Hwy 24. It was a very pretty drive. the two-lane hwy weaves in and out of small mtn towns and up and town hills, gorges, and mtns. The most amazing scene was heading towards Buena Vista and seeing the whole row of 14-ers of the Collegiate Peaks. For miles, I drove across prairie towards the beautiful snow-capped mtns. Likewise, Hwy 300 going to the OB basecamp presented me a magnificent view of Mounts Massive and Elbert.

I got in about 4pm, checked-in, got settled and sought out to explore. I am living in a bunkhouse, so I have a shotty wooden bunk bed with a minimal mattress (whatever). All my stuff is jammed under the bed. About 5pm I set out to do an easy acclimitization run. There is a pretty extensive network of trails around the base camp, and I think I saw most of them today (unintentionally). There is a beautiful mtn stream running down from the mtns along some of the trail. Other sights include the bunkhouses, cabins, and tents, rope courses and more of OB, the US Fish Hatchery nearby (what is a fish hatchery?), and the trail for Mt Massive. In fact, I found myself running up that trail to the mtn. Fortunately, I felt somewhat misguided and eventually found my way back down to camp -- very tricky. I will hike/run that trail someday. I saw that the CO trail goes by as well, which I believe is part of the Leadville 100 course. My short run ended up being an adventurous 1hr run. I could definitely feel the altitude. I simply felt more tired and got winded easier. However, it wasn't devastating. I will definitely be exploring this summer. I will need to be careful, no doubt.

Well, day one has nearly concluded. The sun is setting now at 8:30pm, the temp is dropping into the 40s and I am feeling worn out. I am going to relax, read, and journal. Training starts Sunday, so I will be exploring some more tomorrow.

Goodnight cyberspace.