The Road Home

Greetings all. I know it’s been awhile, and I apologize for my absence. Last you heard from me, Clarissa and I were in a Super 8 in Utah, but as you might imagine, we’re not still there. The next day we left Utah and drove across the entire state of Nevada (sorry Nevada, next time we’ll try to stop). That night, we camped at Meeks Bay, with Lake Tahoe a few minutes walk away. It got chilly, but we enjoyed our first night in California.

The next day we rolled into Sacramento, to meet up with my oldest friend Tim who had orchestrated the Yosemite trip, and whose housemates were putting us up during the duration of our time in Sac. Our brief stay here would be a bit of a flurry of activity, but we also made a little time to meet up with our friend Susan at the Verge Center for the Arts.

After picking up Tim’s brother Bob, we all took a day trip to San Francisco, and began the final preparations for the upcoming week. Andrew, the final member of our crew arrived that night, and the next day we all headed Southeast. We rolled into Yosemite and set up camp in Crane Flat, which would be our home for the week.

Yosemite is worthy of a trip in and of itself. Unless you’re there for a long stretch, there’s no way you’ll run out of stuff to do, places to explore, and cool things to see.

On our first full day we hiked Half-Dome; between the mileage and the elevation gain, it’s a challenging hike, but definitely worthwhile.

We also backpacked to a high country camp at Ostrander Lake. Despite the park being full, our crew found some solitude amidst the rocks surrounding the lake. Aside from us, there wasn’t another person for miles.

And before the team parted ways, half of us ran the Yosemite Half Marathon.

As I said, our stay in Yosemite would warrant a post all by itself, so expect more detailed posts about our time in Yosemite in the future.

After Yosemite we stayed for a couple nights with family in Moorpark, then rolled toward Pasadena, where we stayed in a tiny house via Air BnB.

Much of our time in the area was spent meeting with Yogis, but we also took some time to head over to Shogun Tattoo, where we got some new ink done care Andrew Moore, an incredibly talented artist and conversationalist. I highly recommend him and his shop if you’re in the market for a tattoo and you’re in the area.

We left Pasadena and the greater LA area and headed East, toward home. This is the turning point of the trip, or at least it was in our minds; we were headed back to the Quad Cities. We did, however, still have a little adventuring left to do. We arrived at the Grand Canyon just before sunset, and looked down into the earth as the light waned.

The next day, we hiked down into the canyon, though not all the way to the river.

The South Kaibab Trail is a hot, challenging hike, but it’s definitely worth it.

After our hike, we stayed another night, and set out the following morning. We stopped in Sedona for a yoga photoshoot.

Then we stopped near Albuquerque to stay with family, drove all day, then crashed at a hotel in Kansas that night. We pulled into our driveway in the early evening of October 17th, unloaded the Sportage, then ordered a pizza. We were home.

But Wade, you may be asking, that’s nearly two months ago. Why haven’t we heard from you until now.

Well, the truth is, I never intended to go this long without posting. It just… got away from me. I know, that’s a little vague.

Upon our return, I interviewed for a new job, and I got it. So far, so good. Clarissa had resigned from her job prior to the trip, and began the transition to full-time yogi. I started drawing my bowstring again, re-committed to my training with Plan for Adventure, and started the construction of my own bows. It was time to write.

And yet, I found myself with a profound case of writer’s block. I’m still struggling with it as I muddle through this post, in fact.

Part of my problem was that I have so very much to write about, but there’s also an issue of context. This trip was profound and meaningful. I have wanted to take a road trip like this since I was 16 years old. And yet, upon our return, life segued back to normal without so much as a bump in the road. How important could this trip have been if I transitioned back into a 9 to 5 at the culmination.

Spoiler alert, pretty damn important.

Part of the problem was that I managed my expectations very poorly. I knew that this trip held profundity for me and Clarissa, but I was very much the same when I returned home. I don’t know why, but I suppose I expected to return a changed man; transformed in some way. I should know better, after all, I know that there’s no such things as a new you.

With my mismanaged expectations, I kept getting lost on how to talk about this trip. I kept brainstorming, and then, next thing you know, it’s December and I haven’t written anything. So, consider this my mea culpa. I’m back at it, and I’ll be posting new content all through 2017. I’ve got lots of material to share with you and I want to know what you’ve been up to as well, so don’t be a stranger.

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