Trying to get into the swing of things

Well, we made it back safely from our trip to Colorado (barely). After taking an extra couple of hours at Penrose in the Independence Trail System, we stopped in Pueblo to bootleg pick up some Henry Weinhard's Root Beer (this is the best root beer in the world but isn't available in Tejas), stopped in Raton for a lousy dinner at McD's, and stopped in Clayton for gas. Needless to say, that made for a late 2 AM arrival back in the Panhandle for me.

The hardest part has been trying to get back into the swing of things at work. This ALWAYS happens when I've been on vacation and I don't know why. I love my job and should be looking forward to getting back into forecasting the weather for the Top 'o Texas and Oklahoma. However, I find myself staring at pictures like this:

or like this

and wish that I was Grizzly Adams living off the land and enjoying all that Colorado has to offer. Conversations at work revolve around what antics happened on the trip and trying to impress upon my coworkers that I am not insane for taking up this hobby known as "RockCrawling". It probably also has to do with the fact that I've got to do laundry, unpack all the camping gear, still have to restock groceries, AND somehow find the time to fix everything that was dinged, dented, or is leaking on the Jeep. Throw in a severe weather event on Tuesday coming back with no clue what the atmosphere is doing AND having to cover a shift for sick coworker probably isn't helping matters either.

I shouldn't complain. I'll do it all over again in a heartbeat if I have the opportunity!

We Made It

At 1:27 MDT, our motley crew of Jeeps arrived at the end of the trail up Blanca Peak. We reached right around 11,000 FT before we were informed that the last bit of the trail was closed due to snow. It was a body-shaking, nerve-rattling ride up to the top with my Jeep getting high-centered on all but one obstacle. The climb was well worth it as we joined an elite group of people that have made the safe journey up this trail that has claimed lives in the past.

So we are now on our way to Selida to camp for the night but stopped just before reaching there to eat at a little Thai food place (exellent food for cheap!). Tomorrow we head to Iron Chest mine which will once again take us above 10,000 feet and then on to another trail before returning to civilization in Denver.

Did I mention ow much I love Colorado?

Anticipation

It is 2:18 in the AM on Friday morning as I start to type this and I'm finally able to sit down and cool off. I reek of sweat, gasoline, gear oil, and orange hand cleaner. After several short nights of sleep, I should really be in bed getting caught up on some shut-eye but that is next to impossible. Unfortunately, there is a slight state of mind that I am caught in that isn't releasing me into the restful world of REM dreaming.

The state of mind I refer to is one of anticipation.

In a little over 12 hours from now (AUGH!! SO MUCH TO DO!) I will be on the road caravaning with a good friend of mine to meet up with two of our college friends who currently reside in Colorado. This will start our annual Colorado Jeep adventure. After several days of furious wrenchin' sessions, too many $$ on parts, and lack of sleep I feel somewhat confident that my vehicle, my friends, and myself will be able to make it up and back in one piece. But these are small fractions of what I'm anticipating. The largest parts are the fact that we'll be running two very hard trails and likely one trail I shouldn't do but will, just to see what my friends, my Jeep, and I are able to do. It is anticipation of the fear knowing one mistake could result in an expensive repair, bodily injury, and yes...possibly death in a worst-case scenario. Anticipation of the adrenaline rush from being off-camber, feeling like the Jeep is going to roll even though my spotters are telling me everything is O.K. It is the anticipation of smelling pine in the air at 12,222 feet on Blanca Mountain in the blue sky one can only see near or at the top of a mountain and that most people have to hike up the trail but I just DROVE up the mountain. It is the anticipation of spending three quality days with what some would say are two of my best friends (I have too many "best" friends to call any one of them my "best friend") with some sorrow that others will not be able to come along on this adventure.

Perhaps the reason for the insomnia is that I'm having a hard time reconciling how I can get so wound up over something so worldly. Why can't I be sick with anticipation for what God is doing in this world and then turn that anticipation into action? Anticipation builds in my head for a Jeep trip and I go into action preparing for the adventure. This is regarding a machine! Something that will only be good in this life/world. What would happen if I took that same anticipation and transferred it into my relationship with Jesus? Better yet - How did the extraordinary become ordinary in my life, and things Jesus sees as ordinary become extraordinary in my mind?

Starting Anew

I never really understood this whole "blog" craze at first. There were some friends who used blogs to keep friends updated on travels, family, or life and I have to admit that it is a great way to know the happenings in their lives. Blogs allow me to know the mundane details about what is going on so that the rare opportunities I have to talk with them in person or via phone can be spent in deeper conversation than "Fill me in on how the kiddos are doing...".

So I started a small blog on my annoyancespace page (for which I have been trying to leave and convince others to head to Facebook since it is much more "family friendly"). It was nice to post random thoughts that popped in my head, send out messages to a large group of people whom I did not have an e-mail address for, and also gave me something to do on those boring stretches of getting adjusted to a graveyard shift schedule. Come to find out, I miss being able to post the randomness of thought that can occur in my journey called life. And it definitely is random; how can it not be when you are trying to know Jesus more every day while working in a job I love doing that has a crazy schedule that keeps me from seeing friends and family as much as I do on top of the multitude of hobbies I enjoy...

Thus starts the new adventure of my semi-official blog. I'm not web savvy so I don't run my own blog on a fancy webpage, I use this one because of several friends that have pages on here. As for the title, Der Wetteransager; the literal German translation is "The Weatherman" which my friends have come to call me at times and reflects my family heritage in "Deutch". This will be a random collection of thoughts - life, thoughts on my walk with Jesus, work, and MAYBE even some political thoughts. So let the journey begin...once I get over this stupid cold I've had for a week that is making me want to hack up a lung.