Owens River Gorge

We finally made it out of Tulare county and back on the road where we belong. We've been on the East side for the past week now and it has been excellent weather every day. We had the privilege of spending our time in Visalia with Mandi, Roy, and David and watching the little man transform on a daily basis. He is so fun. Jay and I loved the days we spent playing parents and Roy and Mandi even awarded us a certificate for passing their "For Real Parenting" class. Not too many people our age get to spend that much time with a couple of friends and their baby. I was so impressed to see the way they treat each other and support each other with all that needs to be done with two full time jobs and a one year old. They are a couple to admire to say the least.

We also got to spend time with the rest of the band including two full nights at Jessi and Dina's includinig the pizza cook off extraordinaire! We got to meet the new woman in Marlin's life, whom we hope will join the band soon. Daniel and Bekah's wedding was beautiful and sweet and the start to what will surely be an incredibly adventurous life together.

We are now hanging out with another favorite couple, Martin and Sherri, who I have known for about four years now. They are on the same type of trip as us and quit their stable, professional jobs to travel too. We got to spend New Year's Eve weekend with them in Yosemite right before they were embarking on their journey and we were off to Patagonia. We met up here at the gorge and shared photos and stories. We've climbed several days with them and we are slowly getting back into shape. Martin and Sherri have a Toyota Previa van which they have made into their home and, I must say, I am reminded again how extremely fortunate we are to have the Rialta. In the Previa it's harder to get out of the wind, harder to cook, harder to change clothes... I could go on. But mostly, I can't imagine trying to travel in that type of a set up with Brutus. His food alone would take up as much space as half their food storage! We have become accustomed to being in the Rialta, but it truly is luxurious living as far as our level of travelers goes. We would have had a very similar set up if the Rialta hadn't come our way, and maybe our trip wouldn't have lasted as long if that was the case. I could imagine it becoming a little more tiring without the decadent accommodations with endless solar power and dvds of the West Wing. Martin and Sherri and the two of us have swapped in making dinners and even had a movie showing in the Rialta since it was windy and cold one evening. I have always had a hard time motivating to climb when I am with these two because they are just so much fun to talk to. I could sit and drink tea and chat with the two of them for hours and hours, so it's good that we are at a sport climbing area where we can wait 'til noon to get going and still get a full day in.

Today we are in town getting the master cylinder replaced in the Rialta and running town errands. We are going to hit the hot springs tonight and then get back to climbing after an educational plant walk on Friday morning.