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Surfing To Sierra Nevada

July 11, 2007 on 1:45 pm | In Blog | 5 Comments

Friday morning I woke up and drove to the Pacific ocean. I Went to a shop where they give surfing lessons and I totally went surfing. My first time actually touching the Pacific, I was wearing a wetsuit and holding a board. There were four of us in the group learning and our instrustor was great. After about an hour in the water, I could get up on my feet. After two hours, I could get up every time. It was SOO FUN!! And I can see why people do it. It’s also not very expensive as far as sports go so I could easily make surfing a hobby if I lived somewhere that was possible. After surfing, I drove around and decided San Diego was my favorite city with over a million people in it. I would like to live there some day maybe. So anyone out there who wants to come with me, by all means, let’s go (after I establish my carreer with seminary)! Then I went to the border. It was easy to get into Mexico. I parked in the US because I was told insurance is a nightmare if something happens in Mexico. Also, I don’t have my insurance card, so I’d really be screwed. Tijuana has over 1.5 million people and feels sad. The poverty there is mind-blowing. I was in the touristy area, but it doesn’t take long to get to the shantytowns. I ate lunch and walked back. The line to get back through customs was rediculous. Maybe I caught it at the wrong time but I was in line for an hour an a half and the line was almost a mile long. I got back in no problem and drove to a town halfway between LA and Sequoia to spend the night.

Saturday morning I woke up and headed to Sequoia. Turns out that Sequoia and King’s Canyon Nation Park are sort of connected but I went to the Sequoia side first. The guys at the gate charged me for another $80 pass because my other one was lost. I didn’t matter that I had the receipt and everything. Apparently you can get them online unsigned so people treat them like cash or something. Well, I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the giant trees. Words can’t really describe how big they are. The signs said the biggest one, “General Sherman,” is the largest living thing on earth. I would say not quite, well maybe “on.” The largest living thing on this planet is a fungus that’s as big as Texas under the Rockies. The second is the Great Barrier reef. I guess these don’t count because they are collections of entities conglomerated. So Sherman may indeed be the largest single living thing on earth. Still incredibly impressive. There were a ton of these giants in the two parks and the picture of me is in front of the third largest one (I hopped the fence on this one). His name was General Grant and Coolidge named him America’s Christmas tree. Don’t really know why. Once I was done looking at freaking huge trees I went to my campsite, made dinner, and tried to sleep in a very loud campground. Oh, and it was clear right above my tent so I took some star trail pictures! It was a good 07/07/07 at 7000 ft at campsite number 7.

Sunday morning I woke up after a long and difficult night. I woke up at least 7 times. I was actually cold! I drove into the heart of King’s Canyon, saw a waterfall, and then some of the most awesome cliffs ever. There’s a hike that goes from “Road’s End” to Mt. Whitney (the highest point in the contiguous USA) that’s just under 100 miles. I want to take it some day. So William, put it on a calendar somewhere. From there I drove to Yosemite. It is another very big park with a lot to see! So much so that even on a Sunday night the park is OVERFLOWING with people! It didn’t help that I got misleading and incomplete information from people who should have know better. My first two hours in the park were horrendous with a great backdrop. Let’s just say that El Capitan made the cliffs in King’s Canyon look climbable. This is another glacier valley (I think that’s what the word yosemite means) with the granite cliffs just being phenomenal. I made spaghetti at my finally located campsite and did a bunch of this update. Can sleep be better this time? Also, I’m almost through Nehemiah (oh me oh my ah). God seems to be getting a bit more laxed with his immediate punishments and blessings. It’s like He has decided that no people group no matter how holy they may be at one time can be perfect and therefore to save His people Isreal (who are still pretty idiotic as a whole over time) He can’t be as justice oriented as He was in the beginning. Also, He hasn’t really spoken to a non-prophet in a couple of hundred years at this point. I can’t really tell how His Spirit is working nowadays. I sometimes get confused as to what His motives are and how He deals in the workings of other nations actually happen.

Monday morning I woke up a less difficult night. Still it got a tad chilly. Jeremy, I’m looking forward to sharing the tent with you. Anyway, I had to get in line to reserve my spot I had slept in. It took nearly two hours to get done with that whole ordeal. There were two large Mexican families that wanted to all be near each other and the lady ranger had some trouble making it work. But I got my spot for two nights and then hit the park. The most awesome and intense hike is up Half-Dome (that’s the hike in the picture). You go up two waterfalls and then up to the peak of the mountain. Turns out David Potter is doing that very hike in a couple of weeks. Well, I got that picture by going up to one of the most spectacular views on earth. It was called Glacier Point and from the top you can see the crazy steep cliffs, forrested valleys, half-dome, three waterfalls, a glacier, all with mountain peaks in the distance! I then went back to camp to eat lunch since I didn’t feel like hiking in the hottest part of the day. But at 4 I was on my way up the two waterfalls. Can we say STEEEEP!? I can’t imagine how good of shape you would have to be to hike the whole thing without stopping. I know altitude played a part but walking up 600 granite steps averaging a foot high each is just crazy hard! I got lots of water pictures, showered, and went to sleep.

Tuesday morning I woke up ready to drive. I packed up my stuff (it always all goes in, just a little differently every time) and headed out of the park. By the time I made it to Fresno I realized I woke up too late to drive on HWy 58 (Sam and David said this was the best drive they’ve ever had) and still be able to get HWy 1 along the coast. So I went south to go north along one of the most scenic and famous roads in the country. It was VERY cool but with too many people. I had one mustang in front of me for like 20 minutes going about 20 mph. He had a convertible and his wife was taking pictures. Due to the fact I had over 200 miles to cover I got a tad impatient. Eventually he pulled over and let me pass. I got about 5 minutes of fun driving and then hit another pack of slower people. That’s pretty much the story of Hwy 1 (except I also saw elephant seals!). If you are looking for a fast, fun, sloped, super-slaloming course: Hwy 58 or even the drive in and out of King’s canyon. If you are looking for a scenic, wind-in-your-hair, crusin’ jaunt: Hwy 1 is for you. I also listened to the Bible nearly the whole day. I just finished Psalms. I’m not sure man is meant to experience all the Psalms at once. Especially in the same sitting at all of Job. So, 3.5 weeks=half the Bible. Anyway I suppose you want my take on what I read. Ester was great. I have to keep being reminded of how rated R the Bible is and how our culture demonizes the way women and other people, or even people groups as a whole are treated in the cultures of the Bible. It takes some mental adjusting. I thought it was silly to put Job before Psalms and Proverbs. The whole point of Job is to show that God is beyond us and our logic, that He can show His glory in anyway He wants, that He doesn’t have to fit inside the good begots good/evil begots evil paradigm. So Job is awesome and really allows God theology to expand. Then you go to the Psalms and it reverts back to the old way of thinking. Not only that, but David, Asaph, and the other writers were as a whole very selfish and vendictive. No matter how many times they praised God for something, they almost always ended up asking God to bless them tremendously, and to utter destroy their enemies. It’s amazing how much the onset of Jesus changed Judaism. Job actually foreshadowed Jesus in the least subtle way so far. He pleaded with God for a mediator between God and people for the sake of justice. That’s exactly what Jesus was do to. Everyone recognizes God’s unfailing love and boundless mercy but then they always complain about not getting enough or others getting too much. Even the idea that the Exodus was supposed to affect the Jews’ faith in a consistantly moving way 500+ years after it happened if foreign to us. We are simply too indivualized. That’s enough ranting for now. I met up with David Potter in San Jose at his really cool apartment complex, we went to eat at this authentic Mexican restaurant, and then chilled in the hot tub. These entries just keep getting longer and longer.

Goin’ To California

July 6, 2007 on 12:48 pm | In Blog | 6 Comments

Sunday morning I woke up late and went to Phoenix. I drove through Sedona and very quickly understood why William loves it so much. It’s a forrested area with red rocks jetting out everywhere. They also have little egg houses and pink Jeep tours. When I reached Phoenix, I called Bryan Powers again and still no answer. I then found out where they live from Sam who had to track that info down. So I drove around Phoenix and saw the city before going to their house. Phoenix is a sprawling metroplex spanning dozens of miles and it’s almost all flat and gridlike. The rich areas are really nice and I can understand why so many people retire here. I felt like if you were to wipe this large metroplex off the map, then the average debt per person would drop alot. People are really big into status symbols here, which of course doesn’t mean you have status. There is also a huge percentage of hispanics. The little suburb town of Guadeloupe is like a little piece of Mexico surrounded by America. Then I showed up at the Powers’. They were surprised to see me and we chilled for a small bit. Then, being Sunday night, we went to one of the churches Bryan is involved in. Afterwards we came back and hung out at house with some other friends, I updated, and slept on the couch.

Monday morning I woke up and hung out at house. We took the old truck Bryan is rebuilding to a mechanic to have its exhaust system fixed. Apparently it’s putting out as much polution as 20 of my Sentras. On the way back I got to see the big Mormon temple in Mesa. Mesa is becoming sort of a second headquarters outside of Salt Lake City. Bryan and I went to a in process climbing center that will be one of the best in the nation. Climbmax, as it’s called is partly being built by a good friend Mike and the place is awesome! Part of it is finished so Bryan and I did some bouldering. I felt pretty strong but with virtually no endurance. Then we picked up some jet skis, had dinner, and I went up the south mountains. You know that view in movies where people sit on the mountain top as sunset and watch the city below? That’s what I was doing. I stuck around for over an hour to also see the city lights come alive. I was very cool.

Tuesday morning I woke up and hung out at house. Because Phoenix is so ridiculously hot (115 degrees), everyone has pools and people like going to the lake. There really aren’t very many lakes, and they are very dirty, but it’s water. We had one jet ski that worked so we spent some time at the lake. Jamie and Dallas stayed on the shoreline most of the time while Bryan and I took turns out on the water. Riding on the back of a jet ski is not very fun and due to something that happened, it became much more difficult. Bryan took me out first to show me the ropes and get me acquainted with the craft. I discovered a nice strap to hold on to so the constant jostling wouldn’t throw me off. Bryan got progressively more aggressive and in his head, he wanted me to take a fall. I had determined that I was not going to. So on one particular maneuver that actually hit Bryan in the stomach, I fell. But it didn’t go quietly. I held on to that strap and as the g forces grew, so did my curling grip. I ripped the screws straight out of the jet ski. The strap popped off as did I. I got back on and we headed back and then I noticed a discoloration on the side of the craft. I thought it was the rust from the screw. Nope, totally blood gushing out of my finger. Turns out that when the two screws came out, they scraped along my pinky nail and then caught the flesh of my ring finger ripping a nice sized gash in it. It looks much worse than it feels. I just didn’t worry about it since I was in the water and took the ski out myself. The first time I felt very sheepish and wary of the craft but the second time I went out was actually fun. I got the hang of how to turn hard but not dangerously and speeding along the sides of cliffs at 35 mph is always fun. We went back home and I said my goodbyes. Next up for me was to drive to Joshua Tree. I got there before sundown but the visitor centers and everything were closed. I could get in the park though so I drove through it. The side I came in on was the boring and huge part so I’m glad I did it first. All the campsites I saw were sadly closed So I drove a mile out of the park and found a cheap motel. This one had a carport right next to the room!

Wednesday morning I woke up and watched a few episodes of Gargoyles. I miss them and my computer needs more free space. All the pictures I’m taking are eating up gigabytes. I drove into Joshua Tree again but this time I was on the North side of the very large park. I talked with some folks who noted I was one of the few Americans they had seen that day. They told me that the main vista was closed for construction but because it was July 4th, no one would be working there so I should just go ahead. You know how mountains and hills are normally one large rock with dirt on it? Well, JT doesn’t really have those. JT has large piles of smaller rocks. They look like they would be awesome to climb around on with some friends, but all my friends couldn’t come play. Ergo, I took pictures. Joshua trees themselves look like a mad scientist (aka GOD) crossed a cactus with a palm tree. After eating lunch at the really cool lookout point, I headed toward my next location. That was of course after I had listened to U2’s Joshua Tree twice. I had held off listening to any U2 until I got there kinda like I’m waiting on Pearl Jam and Nirvana ’til I get to Seattle. Anyway, I had heard on the news that LA had one of the best fireworks shows in the country at the Rose Bowl. Since LA was practically on the way to San Diego (San Diego was my next stop) I decided to take advantage of the timing and go to Los Angeles first. This is a decision that I would regret whole-heartedly. I did not like the city. So far LA is the first city that I almost hate. One of the reasons why I think I can understand a city quickly is that I anthropomorphize it. I search for what in the city touches me, I calculate demographics, I see the people and what they have made their city to be. LA I felt was the first city I couldn’t get my head around. I was intimidated. The city layout vexed me, the topography made everything screwy, smog decreased my vision, affluence overwhelmed me, poverty saddened me, and I had nothing to do except be at the Rose Bowl around 7:30. Words cannot descibe how big this city is. I know New York is significantly bigger, but it feels very sectioned and therefore tangible. LA’s downtown is actually quite small. The Pacific (FIRST TIME!!) is a nurturing barrier to the city, something I’ve never really felt in a city. It is a city of cars, of freeways, of hispanics, of the uber-rich. LA has the entire range of human existence, with its extremes further out than I’ve ever dreamed to touch. I felt its hurt but couldn’t do anything about it. LA was like being forced to learn a new language that you don’t want to learn. Maybe I could get used to LA, but I would need a very good reason to stay and someone to show me the ropes. As of now, nuh-uh. So I went to the Rose Bowl, got a seat and settled back for the show. There was a carnival going on the grounds as well; this was a very big deal. The fireworks were pretty good, very detailed and large. Once it was over, I decided I would leave this accursed town and find a hotel closer to San Diego. About an hour into my drive I stopped to get some gas and I noticed I didn’t have my wallet on me. I searched the car and nothing. I drove back to the Rose Bowl. By now it was 12:45am pacific time and I was tired. Nothing. I had my driver’s license, my insurance, my national parks pass, my debit card, my credit card, and a few other less important things all gone. I still have my passport and very little cash at this point and my food. So I won’t die or get stranded…yet. I hate LA.

Thursday morning I woke up in my car and immediately called the police to see if they had my wallet show up. Nope. The Rose Bowl people? Not a chance. Next call was my mom. I had some theories on what needed to happen next but I figured I’d consult wisdom first. Cards canceled, Western Union, live off of cash until Jeremy can bring my new credit card when he joins me in a couple of weeks. I still have my passport for ID, I have my receipt for the parks pass, and my mom emailed a copy of my insurance. So I’m down but far from out. This was supposed to be a self-contained/self-sufficient trip. Oh well, yeah for parents. I love you! I think some parents would have said, that’s it! come on home. Or some wouldn’t have done anything at all. Mine helped me get back on my feet (without losing any days of the trip no less!) and even encouraged me to finish strong. So I drove back to San Diego and went to the Zoo today. Can I say, what an amazing place. It made every other zoo I’ve ever been to look cheap. It had almost every animal you’d want to see and the exhibits were just wonderful. There were bus tours, sky tours, tons of animal shows, live bands from around the world, and an atmosphere of research and care for the animals. The main attractions are the giant pandas, gorillas, orangutans, elephants, polar bears, sun bears…well you get the idea. This was the first zoo I’ve ever been to where you couldn’t really do the entire park justice in even a whole day trip. Can you tell I enjoyed it? Then I found one of the cheapest hotels in this lovely city.

Go West Young Man

July 2, 2007 on 1:44 am | In Blog | 9 Comments

Tuesday morning I woke up late and almost missed my check-out time. That’s what I get for updating late at night in a time zone west of my own. Tuesday was the day for Cowtown or Fort Worth, my (and Garrett’s) city of birth. I didn’t remember too much about the town, just little things about where we lived. My parents were never big on bike rides so even at 10 years of age, I just played in the back yard. Now visiting the area I see that area isn’t that nice but then again, 15 years have passed and nothing new has been built. The church is exactly the same as it was, only it feels smaller to me. Rebeakh, I saw David E. Smith elementary! Oh, and there’s this one other thing: OUR HOUSE ISN’T THERE!!! Both church houses next to the church were bulldozed a while ago and replaced by grass and a picnic table. I was saddened. The next place I went was one of the largest seminaries in the world: Southwestern Baptist. My visit there was multi-fold. See the building in which I was brought home from the hospital to, find Charis (a friend from ky), talk to the department head of the couseling center, see the old prof that Garrett was named after, and enjoy the largest seminary library ever. I was 2 for 5. Charis was unreachable, the counseling guy was a double doctorate and I needed to read his book before I spoke to him, and Dr. James Leo Garrett is 81 years old and only comes in a couple of times a week. I then drove by Rangers Stadium, Very cool, and decided to go to the famous Stockyards to eat a good steak dinner. I went to a place called Cattlemen’s. Very cool atmosphere and great service. The food is definately overpriced. I had what should have been the second best steak in the house and I was disappointed. It just lacked good flavor and a small part of it was almost burnt. I hate wasted money. Anyway, by now everything on me except my shoes were dry from the torrent of flooding rain Texas was getting. So I hopped in my car and drove to Wichita Falls, found a great cheap motel, and borrowed a blow dryer. Now my shoes are dry and I’m happy.

Wednesday morning I woke up and drove. I put the Bible back on the speakers and read Joshua through 2 Samuel. I felt much better during these five books. God is less personal because He’s not constantly talking and it seems more aloof. It seems like God picks one or two people to be with and everyone else just has to suck it up. Sometimes I felt like I couldn’t fault Israel for doing wrong becuase “wrong” is so absurdly rigid and tedious that it’s not even logical. So it got me thinking: God is so holy, not even the entirety of all human lives outweighs His holiness. David was awesome. If he hadn’t had Uriah the Hittite killed, I’m not sure God wouldn’t have deemed him holy. Santa Fe was not happy to see me. Everything down in the cultural district closed at 6. I got there at 5:45. As soon as I walked in I saw a Guatemalan shop. I talked to the lady running it for about ten minutes. She was from Guat and goes down there a couple of times a year. Santa Fe felt like a rich Guatemalan’s playground so I can see the attraction. Then a thunderstorm rolled in and it was awesome. There was more lightning than rain. I went to McD’s and tried to get their wireless. Wonderfully, they charge so I just ate my McChicken in quiet.

Thursday morning I woke up ready for the day. I went back downtown and saw some “miraculous” stairs, the oldest house in America (1200), oldest church in America (1630), oldest public building still in use (1610). The stairs were in a chapel and the story goes: The nuns who ran the chapel couldn’t get to the choir loft so they wanted to get someone to build some stairs. They couldn’t get anyone and then a worker mysteriously showed up and built these stairs. As you may have noticed, there’s no center beam or supports on the side. The stairs are simply just perfectly crafted. The day after the craftsmen was done, he vanished without payment. The nuns were convinced the worker was an angel of the Lord. They used the stairs for over 100 years and then ownership decided to section them off for preservation with all the tourists. After all the coolness I drove to Four corners. The west is STUPID big! I drove until too late thinking I was going to make it until Bryce Canyon. While there was awesome landscape, I just wanted to get there. What compounded my anciness way I didn’t know what local time it was. Arizona time is Mountain standard which means there’s no daylight savings. So right now they are on Pacific. However, Utah is Mountain. So I stopped in a town, went to Wal-mart, got some dry ice, and decided what my plan was. I made it to Kanab, UT, and found a pleasant/cheapest motel.

Friday morning I woke up once again ready. Going west sure makes mornings wonderful. After Grand Canyon, I will spend three weeks on Pacific time. Then I go to Florida. But that is SOO far away and Friday was awesome! I went Bryce Canyon first. I purchased my unlimited annual membership to the National Parks (which now is $80 and camping INS’T half price [still much cheaper than a motel]). Bryce was SOO cool! I got there and suddenly the landscape starts vomitting these red pillars everywhere. I drove the distance of the park and took a ton of pictures. I just couldn’t help myself. I was higher on land than I’ve ever been before: 9,115 ft. I tell you, hiking was killer compared to the very low KY. I was out of there by lunch and headed to Zion. When I arrived at the gate to show my cool membership pass, you have to show ID and the girl was like, “You’re from Kentucky!? I just moved from Richmond. Do you have any Ale-8?” A smile crept across my face as I said, “Why yes I do. Would you like one?” She said her husband’s birthday was very soon and she wanted to surprise him with the gift, so I gave her two. Thank you Andrew Fast for helping me make a nice couple’s day. Anyway Zion is REDICULOUS!!! It’s probably the most amazing place I’ve ever been. I was soo overwhelmed by its beauty and splendor than I grew sad. Sad because I care about so many people, and I couldn’t share that moment with anyone. I went to the serve-yourself campsite and got the last plot in the whole park. After that fiasco was avoided, I went to the visitor’s center and jumped on the shuttle tour bus. In 2000 Zion kicked off regular driving from a lot of the park and the only way to access it are the convenient prompt shuttles. So it took me around a lot of the cool areas and let me off at stops so I could take tons more pictures. At the museum there was a movie about the park and I nearly cried during it. I was overwhelmed by the innate spiritual nature of Zion. I enjoyed my campsite and cooked dinner, typed some of this entry, and went to bed.

Saturday morning I woke up later than I wanted. I cooked eggs and packed up my campsite. I went to the shuttle and took it into the canyon again but this time I hiked up a mountain called Angel’s Landing. The reason I wanted to get up early was that it was a 5 mile hike mostly in the sun. It was phenomenal! I met tons of people along the way (three from Livonia, MI, where my family used to live and Rebekah my sister was born). I could see how this pilgrimage I’m on could be training for evangelistic purposes. God likes working in my life at all times so I’m keeping my eyes open. After the hike, I drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Magnificence is the word for it. I saw a condor chillin’ on the visitor’s lodge too. I actually thought the canyon was going to be bigger. Wider, deeper, I don’t know. Maybe it is already intangibly big that I can’t wrap my head around it. I doubt it because I went to a better viewpoint and really enjoyed it. The drive to Point Royal (the best view in the entire canyon) was just as enjoyabe as seeing the lookout. The sign stated, “NARROW WINDING ROAD vehicles over 30 feet NOT RECOMMENDED.” I wished I could have spent more time there but once again, I had to move on to the next thing on this continent. So I drove to Flagstaff and reluctant paid for an overpriced motel because it was the only room left in town. There was apparently like 5 things going on in town this weekend.

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