Seasons of April.: This is nothing fancy, just a note on Wrightwood

For the last few weeks I’ve tried repeatedly to write something for this blog, something to tell you about life here in Wrightwood, anything to give you insight to my life. For some reason though, it’s been hard to capture those things that I know I would so anxiously desire to tell each of you should we share a cup coffee or even two.

My dear friend Emily just called me from a gas station in Missoula, MT. Immediately after giving my hello Emily exclaims, “I miss you!” So then I get to thinking, man, I sure do miss you too and for that matter, all of the people who have passed in and out of my life. So then I started thinking about all of those people, where I met them, who they were then, who they are now, who I was then and who I am now.

I’m asked often on tour where I’m originally from and of course, being Texas born and having some of that Texas pride I tell them boldly, “Born and raised in Texas, Sir.” Immediately after I tell them that for the last 5ish years I lived in Portland, OR and from there my mind wanders. I’m taken back to Portland, back to a few years ago when we were all living in the side apartments of Cascade and then I think about Sellwood and about the direction I thought my life was going when I was there. And then I think about Wrightwood and how I ended here in this tiny mountain town. I’m really not sure how I ended up here or how I became friends with Joel and with Jackson, but I did and I am here and I love it.

Each day I’m reassured that moving here was a good decision. In my backyard are infinite possibilities for adventures and inspiration. For work I do what most people pay to do; I traverse thousand foot cables at unimaginable speeds and reintroduce people to this outdoor world that their city lives have neglected. When I want to run I head 15 minutes up the highway to the Pacific Crest Trail and try to keep up with Jackson as he paces along. At night we all sit on our patio table and gaze at the stars and those silhouetted pines that never cease to captivate each of us. I wake up in the morning to lizards scurrying about and engage in conversations with the locals about the new Red Box knock off in the local grocery store, we also talk about the new stop sign their going to put up in town. I can walk across this town in less than an hour and I never thought that would be something I’d desire, but at this point in my life I love it. This morning I sat 50 feet up in a Sugar Pine and drank my morning cup of coffee as the sun made its way over the mountains. So it’s hard not to love all that’s around here, but sometimes you get tired of eating at one of the four restaurants in town and sometimes you get tired of people talking about the zip line and sometimes you get tired of hearing those same dogs barking and so we get out. Most often we escape to other desert/mountainous areas to hike or climb, but on those occasions that we do escape to the city where housing developments abound it’s shortly after that we wish we were back in tiny town Wrightwood, back in our tiny town A-frame home.

My Nana told me the other day that she believes the best is yet to come. So, when I think back to those last 5 years I still do miss all of those people (and I most likely always will) who may have passed in and out of my life, but then I think about today and just how good everything here is.
My life is slow. My life is simple. My life is filled with people that I love.

I’d say my life is pretty darn good here in Wrightwood.