Long Way to Go

“I wore my boots out walkin’

Poured my heart out talkin'”

Railroad Earth

Yes, I missed another day of blogging yesterday, but this time I have a really good excuse. Yesterday was Molly and my 19th anniversary and I wanted to spend every minute I could with her. I can’t believe how lucky I am that such a wonderful, beautiful person has chosen to spend the last 22+ years of her life with me. I feel music strongly so I’ll end the introspective/sentimental part of this post with another musical quote from Jason Isbel, “one day I’ll be gone
Or one day you’ll be gone”. I hope it’s me, because I can’t imagine wife without you, Molly.

We had a wonderful day together in Santa Fe. We wondered around admiring the art that made us feel poor and got a quote on a custom made dining room table that cost more than my car. Apparently shopping in Santa Fe is not for us. The day picked up when we got fajitas from a food stand and had lunch in the square. Most of the afternoon was spent lounging on the deck of the pool while the girls played. Of course, poolside margaritas and rooftop margaritas were in the plan as well.

The day was capped off with one of my favorite dinner-dates we’ve ever had. We reminisced about the past and daydream about the future over green chile stew, enchiladas, flan, and a delicious carafe of sangria. I love you, Molly.

This morning started with the exact opposite set of emotions, as the first thing on my agenda was to get paperwork in order for our mortgage. I pulled the laptop we travel with out of its bag to find the screen shattered. Shit. Full of optimism I turned it on hoping it would still work. It did, but with the touch screen shattered I couldn’t control it. After a brief panic I once again called on an Ott (Thank you, Mollie!) to go to our house to help me retrieve the files I needed. Thank goodness they don’t have a limit on the number of phone-a-friends we can use with them because we’re in their debt once again. I then struggled with secure email for half an hour before finally getting everything submitted. Now, fingers crossed the bank handles its part smoothly.

We grabbed some donuts on our way out of Santa Fe. We also made highly anticipated stops at Trader Joe’s and Target before heading North back to Colorado. It was sad leaving New Mexico this time. Two great backpacking trips and a perfect anniversary. I can’t wait to get back next year. The 5 hour drive to Leadville was uneventful, but I carried the stress of being able to find a campsite near tomorrow’s trailhead the entire way. We lucked into the last one and even got our tents set up before an afternoon rain set in.

Last time we attempted Mt. Elbert we had dinner at a local pizza spot so we decided it was prudent to do the same thing tonight. The pizza was great again, although not as garlicy as I remembered. We’re now just a few days past the halfway point of the trip and we do still have a long way to go. I wrote a few days ago about how there we’re some down emotions and I’m happy to report that that has turned around after four consecutive days of backpacking. We’re camped in the mountains outside Leadville tonight anticipating our 5 AM wake-up call to attempt our first 14er of the year. We have some epic backpacking coming up. Right now I’m at an emotional high, I can’t wait to be at a physical one tomorrow!