Molly wrote an incredibly eloquent post about yesterday’s events and our decisions so I don’t feel there’s there’s too much more to add. I will share a few of my own thoughts on the day though.
- Thank you to everyone for the multitude of well wishes and offers of help and support. It’s been touching to hear from so many people who are following along with us. While we write and share our adventures primarily for ourselves to look back at in the future, it’s awesome to know that they also inspire others. It’s also been so helpful in explaining everything to the girls. For the one person who caused the pain there have been hundreds who have offered kindness.
- We thought hard about whether to press on or return home. While this is certainly a crappy obstacle that would have needed to be overcome we could have done that if we’d needed to. However, this, along with all the snow we’ve been encountering (see RMNP, the rest of Colorado, and Tioga Pass) and all the snow that still lay ahead (Lassen Volcanic, our next scheduled stop is still mostly closed) seemed a pretty clear sign the trip was doomed. The third factor, of course, is budget. We do our best to travel as cheaply as possible, thus all the PBJ&C. The detours to Moab & Ely along with changes that would be or may be needed at Lassen, Crater Lake, Mt. Ranier and more were adding up and insurance deductibles certainly don’t help.
- Among the things stolen was the box of extra Untangling Knotts cards that we pass out to share this page with the people we meet. I’m sure they quickly ended up in a garbage can, but on the off chance our thief finds their way here my message is: If you are homeless I hope our camping gear brings you warm nights and the pennies on the dollar you likely got for our camera and other items gets you some hot meals. Of course, I’m still pretty pissed off. You did cost me a couple thousand dollars and lead to the end of our trip. So in summary, fuck you, but enjoy my shit, asshole.
- Although the situation sucks we did have a mostly awesome two weeks and I don’t want that to be forgotten or overshadowed. We got to smell the mountain pine laden air, we experienced the serenity of several clear blue mountain lakes, we discovered Great Basin NP which we will undoubtedly return to some day, we returned to one of our favorite hikes at Arches, Molly finally conquered Yosemite, we saw our first rodeo in Fruita, cheered both sides of the parade in Baker, were serenaded by Cowboy Brad, drank lots of good beer, dined at the Yosemite Lodge, and had many many more amazing moments big and small.
- A couple random other things I wanted to get in here somewhere:When I first saw Fred I didn’t realize what the smashed windows would lead to. The hardest part emotionally for me is cancelling reservations – sad to think it’ll be years before we get to those places. Kind of looking forward to a summer at home. Kimpton Monaco SLC tonight.
- While this is the end of #RTXVII it isn’t the end of our adventures. In fact, there are already some reservations made for #RTXVIII.