earlybird solo excursion

Things still seem to be moving slow, but I often forget that I'm super excited about EVERYthing and therefore become very anxious if I'm not doing anything. So, one morning I decided that I would wake up early enough to catch the sunrise at Garden of the Gods.

[morning at Garden of the Gods]

It was nice to get back on the road again. After the trip out here, going to Alabama with Katie and that horrible ordeal after Thanksgiving, I think I might have been having a bit of roadtrip withdrawal. =)

[going down into Royal Gorge]

Sunrise doesn't last forever, so I was done with that by 8am. It was supposed to rain/snow after 3pm, so I decided I had time to keep going south to Royal Gorge. Found a little ma-n-pa place with a Sunday buffet (delicioso!) and got to the gorge just as it was opening at 10am.

Bummer that the sky started getting blanket-like overcast. I managed to get that interesting photo with the halo cloud on the incline lift. Haha, definitely more crude than the inclines in Pittsburgh or Japan. Check out the cage contraption in the album.

[Phantom Canyon Rd, aka CO67]

I love Colorado! Two lane roads are 65mph, interstates 75mph and there are official unpaved state highways. Took an alternate route on the way home, winding along a historic byway that was formerly a railroad during the gold rush

I think my car hates me now. It was well over 30 miles of unpaved, one lane road with ample curves and incline, no guardrails and several areas covered in packed snow. I didn't crawl through it, either. ;)

[snowcaps somewhere by Cripple Creek]

I popped out the other side of the canyon with an open view of Pikes Peak and a line of snowcapped mountains. Oh boy, I never get sick of that sight!

Going this way added an extra hour or so to my way home, of which I stopped and napped in a Burger King parking lot for an hour before reaching Colorado Springs and there were snow flurries when I got back to Denver. Oh, the adventures to come!

from 252 to 303

Welp, Iza fianly dun gahn n gradgeeated raht foor Krissymas.

Sorry about the lack of writing. It took a lot out of me to finish that last semester. I didn't photograph for almost two months after graduation. Rachael and Erin finally forced me to go on a photo-shoot with them. I suppose it made for a nice last-glimpse-of-Greenville moment.

[the Dickenson Ave train]

And so commenced the change of home base. Found someone looking for a roommate on CouchSurfing, half-packed my Bug, drank some coffee and made it Kansas in a day.

[Mount Airy looking like a nipple at dusk]

I drove through Tennessee at night again, was well on the west side of St. Louis by the morning rush hour, drove through mild snow and didn't get a break in the clouds until Kansas City.

[The Arch at dawn]

After so many hours of muddled low-visibility, Kansas City downtown was a bit of shock. I just blinked and thought, Where the hell am I?! I thought that my years in college were a limbo. No. I was fucking depressed as shit. ALL the time. From Winston-Salem to Kansas City was limbo. There my eyes finally opened. I had a goal in sight.

[First sight of the Continental Divide]

I know I've talked about 'home' a whole lot in this blog. I beat around the bush whenever I describe myself, my values and whatnot, but let's face it. My 'home' is being on the move. I may seem chill, sometimes too much, but the core of who I am is super dynamic. I'm not afraid of what I don't know, so I'm eager to try out a variety of things and if I don't have a steady fix of new and fresh, I go into a huge roller-coaster ride of carnal anger and mental self-mutilation.

Damn, I'm glad to get out of all that. Instead of Luke's 'itusedtobeme,' I get say 'itstherealme.'

Hello, Life. Glad I finally got to meet you.