Our Incredible Friends

Becca soaring into the coastal sunset 

It never ceases to amaze us that no matter where we travel, we always have generous friends to support our journey.

Gliding over Santa Barbara

It is one of the most amazing characteristics of the international paragliding community. We're a small group of people with similar passions who tend to wander. Even if you don't know anyone and are traveling to new places, there are almost always friendly, kooky people that just want to fly!

Enjoying Kevin's glider at Bates

Jesse coming in for a beach landing

We've already been playing connect-the-friend-dots along our journey and can't express enough how thankful we are to have such welcoming and generous hosts. Starting in Jackson, Hal and Ali let us explode the entire contents of the van and trailer into their backyard Man Cave. In the mean time, Hal provided some sweet Wheeler Woodworks trailer shelves to match the already custom setup in the van. We got some mechanical help and a sweet new tool set from the infamous Matt Combs and his stepdad Norm. His mom Nona wouldn't let us leave Norm's metal shop without a delicious bag of goodies for the road. At our first stop in SLC we were greeted by the ever-generous hospitality of Wade and Kristen, complete with unbeatable basement cappuccinos and lots of shakeface fun from Bella. We stocked up on lots of the usual home-away-from-home love from Loren, Sarah, and the Rivlet, and the rest of the Point Rats. As we continued south we were provided with tomfoolery and entertainment from Marshall, Carson and company. Carson let Rok ride in the spotless man truck and his mom let us park our chalked-up hippy van in front of her house for a night and sent us on our way with another goodie bag for the road. Even our friends' moms are awesome!

Rok romp

Upon our arrival in Santa Barbara, CA we had fellow J hole winter refugees Brian and Kelly to show us the sites, feed us, keep us fit and entertained, and introduce us to a great crew of local pilots.

Chris riding "switch" at Bates

Brian Howell headed for the beach grill

Tandooming

Flip flop XC at Pine Mt.

The area's Paragliding and Hang Gliding clubs are very active and we were promptly welcomed into the scene. Chris with Fly Above All and Rob's Eagle Paragliding crew both chase the flying every day. We had some fun XC flights from a few different mountain sites, awesome coastal soaring, and even a couple tandem flights. We got cold with first-time flyers at cloudbase then flew them out to land on the beach to warm up. We saw whales, dolphins, red tailed hawks, and turkey vultures.  To cap it all off, we worked in a sunrise hike and speed fly with Aaron.


We were also paid an impromptu visit from our great and formerly mustachioed friend Kevin, who dropped off a few loaner gliders and gifts and introduced us to some awesome new friends.

Santa Barbara has been a blast. The people are friendly, the skies are sunny, and it always seems to be happy hour. Rok got his indian summer haircut, made lots of new pocket dog friends, frolicked in the waves under amazing sunsets,  and is still trying to figure out why ocean water tastes so bad.

We are forever grateful to all of our friends (new and old) who have provided a bed (or couch or floor), a shower, a delicious meal, and your wonderful company along our travels. Y'all make this gypsy lifestyle possible and we couldn't do it without this network of friends who are family. Someday we hope to have a slightly more permanent spot to call home and welcome all our friends. For now you know where to find us from May-September. Come Visit! The rest of the year we will come find you.

Chris trying out the Octane 2

Thank you! from the bottom of our hearts,
Cade, Becca, and Rokaboo too!

South Bound--Utah and Beyond!

We left snowy Jackson behind and started our migration off right. After a quick trip through Salt Lake to visit friends and run a few errands (and drink a few of Wade and Kristen's epic basement espressos), we picked up Marshall Miller and b-lined it for Southern Utah. We met up with a few fantastic people near Zion National Park (some old friends, some new) and 3 days of awesomeness ensued.

We caused a bit of trouble, hiked in the frosty pre-dawn cold, watched the sun rise on slickrock canyons, soaked in the La Quinta Hot Springs, chalked up the van, ate guacamole and crepes, drove aimlessly through the desert, boondocked, played with a helicopter, met a bunch of polygamists, pioneered some stuff, and had way too much fun for our own good.

   

But the more amazing the experiences, the more fleeting they seem to be. And so the time came to say bye bye for now and continue our journey South. The coast was calling. On the way to Cali, we almost completely avoided interstates and saw some rad terrain along the way. We passed by Lake Havasu and Lake Mead and stopped in the Valley of Fire and Joshua Tree. The weather was awesome, Rok chased lizards and red rock chipmunks, and we made lists of all the places we want to stop and see some day.

In the little town of Joshua Tree, we had a most unexpectedly fantastic dinner at The Natural Sister's Cafe. It took a bit of willpower to tune out the endless string of yoga yuppie catch phrases coming from the table next to us (free range meditation retreat organic goji berry shamanic pilates ayahuasca cleanse cayenne kombucha vegan soy latte free trade tempeh almond milk açaí muesli hoo ha), but the food was amazing and totally worth it. We boondocked alongside a bunch of sand-loving motorheads in a dry lake bed that night and awoke to a perfectly calm desert sunrise. Life is good on the road!

Leaving Home

Leaving Jackson for the winter is always bittersweet. We've done it four times now--packing up all the essentials and leaving the rest behind in a storage unit to await our return in the Spring. Saying goodbye to friends, wishing them a good winter full of powder turns--you would think after 4 years it would start to get easier, but that's never the case. The frigid weather makes it a bit more bearable. We even had a few inches of snow in the valley when we hit the road this year. But it just isn't that easy to leave Jackson behind. We have the most incredible group of friends that are just one part of an amazing community, all set amongst some of the best mountains in the world. We're so lucky to call Jackson Hole home. To put all that in your rear view mirror stirs up the emotions every time.

But we're off on an adventure again, and that feels pretty awesome too. We've got so much ahead of us--one '97 Astro Van; 5 months; 12 border crossings 10,000 miles at least; who knows how many beaches, waves, volcanoes, monkeys; and countless Central American experiences with new friends and communities before driving back into "The Hole." Someone smart once said, "No matter where you go and what you do, nothing beats coming home to the Tetons." We won't see them for a while, but we can't wait until they come back into view on the other side of the chalk van.