I’ve been too busy to miss anything yet. this time around the highway took me to a direction I didn’t care to go. there was a significant lack of excitement to reach the coast. each mile I knew took me further from home. further from where my heart belongs.

it wasn’t until I met Dakota Eldridge at the bar of the S gates at the Seattle airport and fell in love a little, that I realized exactly how full of love I am today. for what and for whom I am not sure. my heart is filled. you can be in love without having one person to direct all that love to. I love so much some days I feel like my heart is about to burst.

I sat down on my computer after a crazy few weeks now, turned on Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile and let the music take me back to the peaks and valleys of the Madison valley. Ennis. Virginia City.

I have been getting lost in the hills of Madison range. my last weeks after guiding and before leaving I took to the hills and explored –with pepper spray in hand– the mountains in the Taylor Hilgards, the Sphinx and other peaks around. what the hell took me so long? it all started with the sphinx when I climbed it all by my lonesome one random monday. 4500 ft elevation gain took me about three hours. I sat on the saddle of the Helmet and the Sphinx for about 30 minutes to rest, but otherwise my summit time felt insanely fast. when I reached the summit I felt like I wanted to pass out and puke just because I didn’t bother to eat much. besides that.. I was amazed when I started doing better stock of the peaks in that range. they are largely left unexplored with long access trails. all the way south past Hebgen. must. go. exploring.

couple weeks ago I packed my crap, left my room, left Ennis, hung out in missoula with Britt for a night, kept on and met up with Kenny in the Dalles where we re-grouped and headed for the Deshutes river. three days of river running from below Sherar’s Falls to the mouth of the Columbia. it was a good stalling break before leaving the US for so long.

spent a couple days in Portland seeing old friends and being promiscuous. always such a good time.

drove to seattle and for the first time without my safety back up since Iceland Air had finally raised their weight limits for dogs in crates. found a fenced parking lot somewhere in Kent and hired a driver to take me, the dog and all my shit to the seatac airport. it felt really weird leaving my truck parked there for 4 months, or who knows how long exactly. the good news about that is that when I get back, I can get into my truck and high-tail it back to my beautiful and peaceful home state that I am sure I will be insanely anxious to get back to when that time comes. given I can start my truck cause I didn’t remember until I got to the airport that I forgot to disconnect the negative. shit.

I got to Finland, immediately repacked my things and woke up early the next morning to head straight to Paris. spent 4 days there sweating and having a ton of good laughs with my mom and my sister. god, I love those two. as much as a I hate Paris, I did my best to not hate so much. and actually had a few nice moments that didn’t involve only my immediate family. the trouble with Paris is that there are French people there. ha.