Seattle, Scum, Nelson, & Pictures

We added more pictures to our Picasa Album. You should check it out at http://picasaweb.google.com/jowallac/NorthWestRoadTrip.

We met up with Nelson at Mt. Rainier and camped and hiked. It's a huge mountain, 14,411 feet tall, and lots of people were hiking up it to attempt to climb it. There were lines of people with huge backpacks, skis, snowboards, crampons, axes, ropes, plastic boots, and everything else all hiking up towards Camp Muir, the base camp for most summit attempts. It was fun watching these people struggle with each step up while we ran up & down the trail.

We then followed Nelson back to Seattle to his 8'x8' room he shares with another guy. Nelson showed us their plans of building a loft in the room, so that they can open the door without moving his bed. He then took us to his church, Scum of the Earth http://www.scumchurch.com/. It was cool, and the exact opposite of the church we went to in Tennessee. The name comes from I Corinthians 4:11-13. They served us dinner (tortilla soup, salad, and raspberry banana pudding), and then had church in a small room. About 30 of us sat on couches and the floor. The preacher is a former bank robber and was very open and honest about his shortcomings and how God's grace has gotten him where he is. He spoke about living a life of integrity, and that doesn't mean that you are perfect but that you are honest about who you really are. Afterwards we met Zach and Alex, who grew up in Chiang Rai Thailand and whose parents are good friends with Aje and Nancy (the couple who run the orphanage that we support). They have a friend who will be in the DTS with us this september. It was fun and encouraging to talk to them about our next steps. It was crazy how God arranged our meeting and conversation.

Now, we're heading north to Squamish, Canada to camp.

Backpacking in the Olympic Nat'l Park

We just got done hiking for FOREVER. Well, it felt like forever and our legs are real tired now. The Olympic NP was beautiful and lush with huge trees covered in moss, waterfalls, big slugs, bears, deer, elk, and not many people. It's so different from the CO mountains because of all the vegetation. Even though the highest point we hiked to was 4700', the trail was very rugged. It went straight up & down (2000' vertical gain in 1.5 miles). Our first night out, we hadn't seen any people and were a little terrified at the thought of a bear snooping around our tent (Ashley made me go to the bathroom with her in the middle of the night). We didn't see any bears, but we saw plenty of fresh bear scat (pooh), and one guy we passed (who camped at the same places we did), said he had seen 4 different bears playing in the water & eating berries.

On the hike out this morning, our legs failing us, the only thing that kept us moving was jonathan's serenade to ashley of every cheesy song he knows (Bed of roses by bon jovi, I'll be there for you, Redneck woman by gretchen wilson, all of the guns & roses classics, and of course, the grand finale of Peculiar by SFC (soldiers for christ).

We wish we could have spent more time there, but now we're headed to Mt. Rainier to meet our friend Nelson from Flatirons Church.

July 12, somewhere near Mt. St. Helens

Well, Monday morning we left Boulder and drove to City of Rocks in Idaho. We drove past one huge fire (55,000 acres) that was started by lightning in Southern Idaho. The fire had come all the way to the road in some spots, and you could see the flames far away in the mountains.

The camping there is so beautiful. You are in this valley with all these big rocks sticking up around you, and the sunsets every night were beautiful. It’s a nice place to relax. We did some climbing. We did a few classic 1 to 2 pitch routes from 5.6-5.10. Ashley has decided that she really doesn’t like trad climbing. She doesn’t like taking out the gear, and she thinks it takes too long. We also went for a run at sunset through a cow pasture. We would try to scare the cows off our path, but they just kept running the way we wanted to go. Cows aren’t that smart. One cow (a huge one) tried to hide behind this little bush. He acted like he was peeking his head around the bush to watch us, not knowing that we could see his ENTIRE body.

Southern Idaho is very hot. Like 100 degrees hot. While not as sticky & sweaty as the heat we encountered in Florida & Tennessee, it left us looking & longing for a pool or lake. We found a pool, but it’s only open from Wed. – Sunday. We were there Monday & Tuesday. We did find a cute little Outpost that had some great food and pies and service. We stayed there (inside) during the hottest part of the day and sipped lemonade.

For you climbers out there, Castle Rocks State Park is now open and has quite a few routes at it. The rocks & routes look very similar to the City.

Apparently this little area is becoming developed. They are widening the road to City of Rocks. This was quite a pain. As we tried to leave, we had to wait 20 minutes for a pilot car to come drive us through all the road work. We had a conversation with the lady who holds the stop sign there. I’ve always wanted to talk to one of them. This is what we learned: she works 8am – 5:30pm min. (sometimes 10pm), she can’t sit on the job or use an umbrella, she must wear pants no matter the temp. She lives in her fifth wheel so that she can relocate each summer to her new jobsite. But this sign holder is not just a rough & tough construction worker, she also works as an accountant during the winter. She is a nice lady (with 3 huge “pimping” rings on one hand) and now we have new respect for stop sign holders.

After our conversation with her, we proceeded to drive through Idaho on I-84, through more construction delays (with no real work being done), then drove along the beautiful Columbia River and watched the sunset. We knew we had a little leak of power steering fluid in our car, but it has gotten worse. We talked to a mechanic in Idaho who said it could take some time to find the leak, but that as long as we kept it full we wouldn’t damage the car. Well, the leak is getting worse, and we hope to stop soon and get it fixed.

Now, we’re camped at a little St. Park near Mt.St. Helens. We just went for a Mtn. Bike ride through th forest. It is a beautiful forest with big tall trees and ferns and moss. This afternoon, we’ll drive to the Olympic Nat’l Park and backpack for 2 nights from the Staircase trailhead.

We're Home

The sight of the Rocky Mountains was VERY welcome after driving through all of kansas & eastern Colorado. It definitely feels like home, to look out the window and see the Flatirons. It's hard not to be motivated to go run or climb or bike when everywhere you look you see mountains. It also felt like home to go back to Flatirons Community Church. After visiting churches in Michigan, NC, and TN, it was nice to come back to Flatirons Church. We've heard better preaching, been in nicer buildings, but Flatirons just seems like home to us.

We visited Ashley's Mom in Hermann and her dad, step-mom and sister in Kansas City, and have been in beautiful Boulder for 1 full day. Tomorrow, we'll get an oil change and drive to City of Rocks in Idaho. We'll be back in Boulder around August 5 for Justin and Krista's wedding.

July 4!!!!!

We were reading today in Phillipians 3 and it made us think of that church we went to last Sunday. Phillipians 3:3 says, “For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.” It reminded us that it says many times in the Bible that it is not what we do or wear or say that makes us saved, it is by grace that we have been saved, through faith in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 is a good verse as well. So, if anyone ever tells you that you need to wear a certain dress or suit, go to a certain church, or act a certain way to be a Christian, you can refer to these verses and tell them that these “works” will get them no closer to God.

We had a great July 4!!! We spent the last few days at the Riddle Retreat visiting with family. We also ran, swam, rode bikes and waverunners, wakeboarded, fished for catfish and brim, played ping-pong and poker. We were in the annual july 4 boat parade, where about 20 boats decorated with USA flags troll around the lake and wave to all the people on their docks. Later that night we went out on the pontoon boat again and watched some fireworks. It was fun, but not as fun as 2 years ago. 2 years ago on july 4 at the same place was when we first talked about getting married.

New Pictures Posted

Check out our Picasa Web Album on the right hand side of the page to SEE what we've been up to.

We drove from Florida Keys to Chattanooga Tennessee. We bouldered and went for a run at RockTown, then climbed a few routes at Foster Falls. It is very hot & humid. We got up at 5:30am to "beat the heat" and climb, and, we still were dripping sweat after 1 climb.

SHARK!!!!!!

We're now in the Florida Keys,visiting uncle Jerry & aunt Jean. We went snorkeling yesterday and Ashley saw a 6ft Nurse Shark swim right underneath her. I swam over to see what she was screaming about and saw a large barracuda, staring us down. I've never seen Ashley swim so fast back to the boat.

We got here monday night. We've been sea kayaking, snorkeling, hog-fishing (fishing with a hand line and live shrimp inside your glove, while snorkeling) and today we went deep sea fishing for dolphin fish. We caught about 20 small dolphin fish, none big enough to keep but we had a fun time catching em. On the way back, we fished some more and caught enough snapper to feed us all for dinner.

We had a great time in Fayetteville. We relaxed and spent some quality time with friends and family. We had a blast 4wheeling with mike & gloria. We also spent a few days at the beach and surfed, canoed in the cape fear ocean, and played in the sand with our nieces & nephews (Lauren, Ali, Wesley, Elijah and Isaiah). Ashley & Elijah got stung by a little jellyfish, but were tough (the sting is comparable to a wasp sting).

Fayetteville, NC

We're Home!!! just kidding, but it's nice to be at my parents house with a real bed and a place to put our stuff (besides our car). We need to clean out the car soon cause it stinks like ashley's shoes.
We posted some pictures of our trip. http://picasaweb.google.com/jowallac/EastCoastRoadTrip
Yesterday we helped put up a pool at Gloria's (my sister) house. Hopefully it stands up. If not, we'll have 5 energetic & disappointed nieces & nephews to deal with. Gloria & Mike's new house in Raeford is really nice, much more fitting for a family of 7 than their old home. We also made them grilled cheese for lunch, which consisted of using 1.5 loaves of bread & a ton of cheese. A loaf of bread lasts us about a week, but for them, it lasts, 1 MEAL.

Rocky Top Retreat, The New River Gorge

We're sitting on a picnic table at Roger's Rocky Top Retreat Campground at the New River in WV. We just saw a beautiful sunset and are relaxing feeling like bums. Jonathan used to camp here 10 years ago when he started climbing, and Roger remembered him and all the friends he used to climb with.

We've had a good time the past 2 days biking, climbing, swimming and bouldering at the local spots. Jason Marshal just met up with us this morning. He's a fun guy and challenges Jonathan a little especially since he's 6ft4! The atmosphere at the campsite is really laid back. Many climbers come here for the easy access to the climbing, cheap nights stay but most of all for Roger's quirky personality. He lives here and jokes around with everyone sharing tall tales, trash talk, beta on climbs, the weather and any other topic. Yesterday after hearing about Ashley's efforts to avoid poison ivy, oak and sumac he warned her that there's just no way to avoid it, it's everywhere...YIKES!!! However she's still trying with alcohol pads, sanitizer and showers that makes us stand apart from the rest of the stinky dirt bag climbers. Jonathan's even taken more showers in the last week than ever.

WE'RE BUMS!!!!!!

Yes, we are now homeless & jobless, living out of BamBam (our car). Thanks to a lot of y'alls help, we gave away alot of our stuff and put the rest of it in our storage shed or our car. We both quit work May 23. We sold our house May 25. And, now we're in Michigan visiting family. Thank you so much to those of you who have helped us and encouraged us. We have been blessed by many of you. It has been amazing how God has been with us every step of the way for the last year as we visited Thailand, sold our house, quit jobs, and a lot of other steps that have all gone soo smoothly. He has definitely grown our faith & trust in Him.

We have had a good time so far, despite surviving 3 hailstorms, a lot of rain, ashley losing her cell phone (my # is 720 335 1418), not getting cell phone service at all in South Dakota, getting less than 20mpg driving through South Dakota, and gas at 3.69/gallon. We've had a great time visiting family and drinking 5cent coffee & 99 cent donuts in the world famous Wall Drug store in SD.

Be sure to check our pictures at the link over there and also don't forget that you can subscribe to this blog so that it emails you when we update it.
God Bless You,
Jonathan & Ashley