I slept on the floor again. It was cold. I could’ve gotten up to put on a sweatshirt, but my bones felt as if they were made of stone. I was just too lazy and tired. I found out I am allergic to cats, based on my skin reaction from sleeping there. Due to road closures and opting to not bike on the really dangerous highway, we gifted ourselves a surprise rest day. I woke up at 7am and went for an early morning run just to stretch the muscles. Stretching out those good ole calves. When I came back Andy (the dog) was super excited to play fetch.
I did this for a half-hour. Mood was peaceful. I came back inside and Anna had made this really delicious oatmeal. The team ate together as we planned out what we were going to do. Maceo used a random name generator to decide who would drive to go find/set-up a campsite. The results were, Cole would drive and Maceo and I were chosen to set-up a camp. After searching a few packed campsites, we finally found a great spot by Luther Pass. Cole went back to pick-up Asia and Anna, while Maceo and I set-up tents and ate lunch. We had some time while we waited for the others to arrive, so Maceo and I went for a 30-minute hike and caught a great view. We had a great conversation as we sat on this large majestic stone, which seemed to remind me of a place where a mountain lion would scan over to find its next prey.
When the rest of the group finally arrived, they ate lunch at the campsite and we set-up three hammocks that were stacked upon one another.
-Travis
Cole, Maceo, and Asia enjoy hammock stacking.
We had some fun with the hammocks while Maceo strung his guitar like a young John Lennon. Before dinner, we went for a drive to go find a large body of water we can swim in. We found a great quiet spot with few people. The water was really cold, but we had this awesome view of the surrounding mountains. We all swam to a large rock in the middle of the lake. We had some random guy, who was with his dog, awkwardly take a picture of us.
The Spokesmen/women stand triumphantly on their poop rock.
Keep in mind, we were the only people that went swimming in the lake. Classic. After we dried off, Asia, with her lovely audiobook voice, read the first two chapters of the current book she is reading. She struggled pronouncing a Latin phrase so I give her a B+. We came back and cooked pasta, using a modified gado-gado recipe.
To be honest, I was not the biggest fan. Peanut butter on pasta is not for me. But I have to eat to make sure I keep up with the amount of calories we are burning. We ended the day by catching the sunset. It was a beautiful vibrant light that dimmed casting an enlarging shadow over the silent mountains. Then it was 32 degrees and freezing. Some would say we gently slept. Others would say fought the night to sleep.
- Travis
we all love gado gado pasta.