Today’s drive was beautiful! The sun was out, the roads were dry and the scenery was stunning!

I started the day with a trail run in Moab.

Then, it was Colorado – where I stopped in for a soak in the “Hippy Dippy Hot Springs” of Pagosa Springs. Next thing I knew, I was in New Mexico!

What a joy to be here with Cha Cha and Linda, Albert, Aldo Leopold and Chama.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to stay out of a car!

I got up early, and headed for Ogden. After a stop at Costco (who let me in an hour early because I’m old – thank you!) I headed out to Ogden Valley Nordic ski area. Wow, what a beautiful drive through a canyon!

I was heading there to get a two hour, private, skate ski lesson. Don was my instructor and he was awesome! He taught me SO MUCH in just two hours. The snow had not been groomed for over 12 hours and there was about 4-6 inches of new snow, not ideal conditions for skate skiing. That didn’t stop us. We forged ahead and I learned a lot about what I can do, and pratice, to become a MUCH better skate skier! After today’s lesson, I am on my way. Thank you Don!

After skiing, I headed toward Moab. I have really lucked out on the driving conditions. From Ogden to Moab the sun was out, the temperature was about 38, balmy, degrees and the pavement was dry. Easy traveling.

Moab has sure changed a lot since I was last here about ten years ago. Corporate America has taken over. Every block has a chain hotel – or two. There are large grocery stores, and big gas stations. Of course. Every city in the USA looks like this. I hope it’s good for Moab. Downtown Moab has a store called Tumbleweed. Sweet!!

I sure wish I had my mountain bike. I didn’t want to bother with it…..Oh well, I will just go for a trail run instead of a bike ride. All good.

Tomorrow I get to see Cha Cha and Linda. Whoot!!

How lucky am I? Today was SO FUN! I got up early, drank a bunch of coffee, packed up and waited for my ride! David Brown picked me up in Anaaconda and we rolled up to Discovery Ski area. David’s a local so was my guide for the day. He’s a fantastic skier and we had a blast tearing up the slopes.

And what an area it is! The snow was great, there were zero lines, and the terrain is varied. We skied hard from opening through to our lunch reservation at 12:30. After lunch we skied hard for another hour – plus.

Then I headed south on I-15. The road conditions were great. Dry pavement the whole way.

I made it to Pocatello just in time for a crazy windy, blowing, snowing storm to hit. I had to park my car up the road from the adorable yurt I am staying in (which I highly recommend) and slog down the driveway to the yurt. As soon as I stepped inside, I started a fire, made a cup of tea, and now get to post for the day before I crash out.

Tomorrow, I am heading to Odgen, UT for a Skate Ski Lesson. What a great way to break up a long drive!

What a fun, fun, fun day!

I woke up in Missoula, Montana this morning. It was 12 degrees at 5:00 am when I got up. I had coffee, went to the fitness center (one person at a time) in the hotel and then walked through downtown Missoula. I was using up daylight hopeing it would warm up enough that I could ski without freezing my face off.

The temperature crept up to 16 degrees, and I decided it was a “go”. I had on 3 coats, a balaclava, a hat, and heated gloves.

Purchasing my ticket, I got my first – ever SENIOR citizen discount. Yup – first time ever. They gave me $3 off for being old.

Riding a chair lift in the 20/21 ski season is my next first! I have been on my downhill/BC skis 12 other times this season and today I caught a ride. I even had to wait in line (for about 3.5 minutes). It was a holiday, after all. The snow was fair, visibility was good, the area was decent and it was great to just do laps.

My final destination for the day was The Hickory House. An adorable B & B in Anaconda, MT. It’s so cozy! I have a huge room – large enough to file my edges and wax my skis 🙂 They provide a big fuzzy bathrobe, a full kitchen for guest use, tea, snacks, common areas (of course, with Covid they are empty) with big couches and lots of books. It’s a great spot to stay when you are sking at Discovery.

David, whom I met kayaking a couple of weeks ago, will be picking me up so we can share a day of skiing. What a treat to learn the mountain from a local.

Anaconda is an interesting, old, mining town. I walked around town this evening, just in time for some blue sky to poke through. The architecture is lovely and the homes are small and quaint. Many homes and buildings have plaques explaining the history, which gives much life to this small, quiet town. My favorite discovery in town, is the skating rink, which is a frozen pond or fountain. One person had the entire rink to herself. I wish I had ice skates!

A (nother) fun, fun day.

My original plan was to work on the plane through Monday, but the weather forecast was not cooperative. There is a storm coming. The weather service said “travel through the Idaho panhandle could be difficult or impossible”. I am a whimp when it comes to driving, so that forecast sent me down the road ahead of schedule.

The trip was easy, whew!

So, now, tomorrow I have all day to ski around Missoula – something I have never done. Sweet!!

I hear that the snow is falling in Seattle.  Snow is rare enough in Seattle that it always feels like a holiday when the snow flies.  Over here on the East side of the state, it’s just frigid!  Today at 3pm, it was 18 degrees without the wind chill.  The wind is supposed to run the temps down to minus 10-15 degrees.  Ouch!  I am not so sure living in a trailer in this temperature is a great idea……thank goodness for the electric blanket!  

I am leaving the tiny house tomorrow to head back east to work on my plane. Back to my adorable trailer which is less than half he size of the tiny house. That’s why if feels so spaceous here!

The tiny house is so cute (as I mentioned in a prior post) and I now have the photos to back up my statement.

Sam and Jerry are artists! Their medium is wood. I love the simplicity of their work, which consistently produces function first. Cindy worked the textiles, which add color, and quaint.

Every inch of space is in use, and they still have room for climbing holds. This place rocks!

I drove to Seattle on a Wednesday. Leaving the trailer early left me tune to skin up Hyak for three great laps! There was even some sunshine!!

Cindy and Jerry let me stay in their adorable tiny house. After living in a trailer its downright spacious! The tiny house is truly a work of art. I love it!! I need to add some photos. Check back for those.

I stopped by my house to pick up some paperwork I need for benefits. It gave me the opportunity to drop off a bunch of stuff I packed in the trailer that is only taking up space. It’s amazing how little I really need. Traveling light feels so good.

Next, I boarded a (completely full) flight to Vegas. The adventure: a 55 mile paddle down the Colorado River. This is an area I raced and also paddled with Scott, Nancy and Toby. This trip sent us further south than I have gone. The group was from a trip planned in 2020 that was Covid cancelled and included me, Halvy, Thomas Kelly and David Brown.

We launched from Willow Beach and headed south.

Spending 24 hours a day in the great outdoors is so good for me. The leisurely pace, the beautiful weather the solitude, made for a joyous week.

I’m returning to Seattle, and the tiny house for a couple of days before I drive East to continue working on the plane.

One thing I know for sure is that I want to be on the move again very soon. This is the life for me.

What a fun week.

The highlight of the week was probably that the status of getting my plane back in the air is more than half way there! It’s going together nicely and many of the structural upgrades are going to make a huge difference. There was a lot bent, twisted, and cracked. I have some new instruments, the new landing gear goes on soon, and I have bargained with Ray to buy his super cool 26-er tires for Charlie Mike.

I skied, ran, mountain biked, and even drove to Spokane this week. I saw a lot of deer, a track that Jerry says is probably a bob cat, and I survived some of the coldest weather yet. Twelve degrees is a bit outside of my comfort zone. Thank goodness for my big down jacket!!

Next week I’m heading to Seattle to get some papers out of my basement. I hope to ski on my way home. It’s a good opportunity to unload some things I brought that I should have left and to pick up some stuff I forgot. Still in the shake down mode for sure. Then, I’m off to Vegas! More on that next week!

Amanda Gorman

When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast, we’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one. And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect, we are striving to forge a union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

So we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another, we seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: that even as we grieved, we grew, even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired, we tried, that we’ll forever be tied together victorious, not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one should make them afraid. If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in in all of the bridges we’ve made.

That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it. We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it. That would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy, and this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can periodically be delayed, but it can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith, we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us, this is the era of just redemption we feared in its inception we did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves, so while once we asked how can we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us.

We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free, we will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, our blunders become their burden. But one thing is certain: if we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left, with every breath from my bronze, pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one, we will rise from the golden hills of the West, we will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution, we will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked South, we will rebuild, reconcile, and recover in every known nook of our nation in every corner called our country our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful, when the day comes we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid, the new dawn blooms as we free it, for there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.