Prepping

Mike arrived in Littleton last week, and we have spent the last few days hanging out with friends and family, as well as working on the bus.  Kayla threw a surprise going away party for Mike and I last night which was a ton of fun!  Thanks Kayla!!!  We also received our crash pads and Goal Zero solar panel equipment in the mail this week.  

We just finished our beds today and we should we sleeping really well on our memory foam mattresses!!  After looking at our different bedding options it turned out the cheapest option was to buy a queen size memory foam mattress which we cut in half with kitchen knives.  Although it may sound sketchy, it went really well and I think we may be the only people sleeping this luxuriously in a bus (Juno might get a bed out of the scraps).  

We are planning on leaving Wednesday morning and driving to Hueco Tanks, Texas as long as we can get ahold of a passenger seat with a seat belt by that time.  Hueco Tanks is just north of Juarez Mexico and is home to some of the best bouldering in the US.  With a warm dry climate this park is a primary winter climbing destination.  Although the climbing is almost endless, the restrictions are high due to the preservation of historical and natural resources in the park.  4 "mountains" make up Hueco and climbers are only allowed on North Mountain without a guide.  Only 70 people are allowed in North Mountain at a time and reservations are usually made well in advance.  We were able to get reservations for much of February however we will no doubt be spending some time in the line of people waiting to get into the park without reservations.  We will spend most of our time on North Mountain but we hope to make it out to the other mountains a few times.  

Juno also got fixed this week so no worrying about unwanted desert puppies.

It is exciting that this trip is right around the corner but it is definitely bitter sweet leaving my friends family and girlfriend as this is the first time I have ever left my home for a long period of time.  We are both looking forward to climbing all over the country!!  We should be making a post next week from Hueco!  

-T