Coffee Shops

JASPER, Arkansas // Every morning traveling across the country has us waking up in a new town and new environment. We usually find a unique local coffee shop to spend some time, get coffee and tea, and then continue the drive before stopping for an early lunch. Sometimes when we arrive in a new town late afternoon, we try to stop for the wifi access and to just relax and journal for an hour or so after all of the driving. This brought us to some interesting locations in cities, and allowed us to see a slice of the local life. Here's a list of our trip to the west coast measured in cups of coffee and tea.

• Highway 61 Coffeehouse // Vicksburg, MS
• State Street Coffee at The Alcove // Dallas, TX
• Fourteen Eighteen Coffeehouse // Plano, TX
• Bergies Coffee Roast House // Mesa, AZ
• 99 Cups of Coffee // Pacific Beach, CA
• The French Press // Santa Barbara, CA
• Handlebar Coffee Roasters // Santa Barbara, CA
• Joe Coffee // North Hollywood, CA
• Bright Angels Bicycles & Cafe // Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
• Iconik Coffee Roasters // Santa Fe, NM
• Taos Cow // Arroyo Seco, NM
• Elevation Coffee // Taos, NM
• Cafe Evoke // Edmond, OK
• Blue Mountain Bakery & Cafe // Jasper, AK
• Cups, an Espresso Cafe // Oxford, MS
• Octane Coffee Company // Birmingham, AL

***Even after the road trip has ended, we are still trying to keep track of all the coffee shops we went to and keep the list going // see here: Coffee Shop Tour of the World

Small Towns

CLARKSDALE, Mississippi // Small towns are often full of the largest characters and the biggest hearts which is why they became some of our favorite spots on the road trip.

After a month on the road Adam's beard needed grooming and we drove around Clarksdale, MS until we spotted Marty's Barbershop off of the main street. Marty was in his 70s and the walls of his shop were decorated with photos and medals. Turns out Marty has run 24 marathons with his favorite being the Stockholm Sweden Marathon. He ran it in 3 hours and 13 minutes at the age of 53. Marty told us about how Archie Manning grew up nearby and after he retired from the NFL he opened a shoe shop that used to be across the street for many years. Small towns remember their hometown heroes.

Every day we ate breakfast at the only place in Jasper, AR that was open called the Blue Mountain Bakery & Cafe. According to the city limit sign Jasper has a population of only 446 and we ate breakfast with three of those locals every morning. Egg sandwiches, pumpkin muffins, and biscuits and gravy were the most popular menu items. The owner who also worked as the waitress and chef always greeted us with a smile. After our second day she already asked if we wanted our usual because she remembered what we ordered the day before. When we got sandwiches to go for lunch later that afternoon she packed everything in separate zip lock bags so that the lettuce, tomato and pickles wouldn't make our sandwiches soggy. At one point Adam and I were both on our cell phones catching up on the news with the free WiFi in the cafe and one of the older locals came over and told us to, "Get off your dang phones and talk to each other." At this point we began to laugh with him and he told us the story of his life and of the small town we were in. Everyone was so friendly and talkative, and the pumpkin muffins were to die for.

Most people (including ourselves) have never even heard of Jasper or Clarksdale, but these towns we found to be so unique and fun throughout our road trip. Making stops at these random towns, and middle of nowhere America, turned out to be the source of some our best memories of this trip across the country. 

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch

JASPER, Arkansas // Jasper, Arkansas may only have around 600 people, but they have Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, which is a premier sport climbing destination. With over 300 routes, we spent 3 days here climbing and staying at a cute little cabin called Little Switzerland. The routes are amazingly maintained and the approach is no more than 10 minutes. Here is a list of all the climbs that we completed as well as the difficulty ratings. Rock climbs are typically rated 5.1 through 5.15 with anything 5.10 or above considered moderately difficult. 

• The Greatest Show on Earth 5.8+
• Green Goblin 5.8+
• Cotton Candy 5.7
• Lion Tamer 5.9-
• Pauls Redemption 5.7 
• Private Property 5.10a
• Crimp Scampi 5.10d
• Leonid 5.9+
• Ides of March 5.7
• The Bulb 5.9
• Little Manly Man 5.7
• Sons of the Soil 5.10a
• Caught in the Closet Again 5.7
• Sendtember 5.10b
• Brat Holes 5.10d

Rest

TAOS, New Mexico // The trip west was filled with stops at friends and families. The trip east has been the complete opposite with most nights at campgrounds and hostels filled with unfamiliar faces. It is hard to unwind when you are constantly moving into unfamiliar surroundings. I've felt a little homesick and tired these last hundred of miles on the road. Not really homesick for a specific place, but just a familiar place with familiar faces.

We have been trying to pack our days full of activities on this road trip and sometimes we get overly aggressive and burn ourselves out.

So today we consciously decided to rest. We slept in and had a lazy morning. We made omelettes in the hostel kitchen with broccoli, spinach, pepper jack cheese, and a side of banana and persimmon fruit salad. We did a load of laundry and called our mom's and some friends to catch up on all the stories we have been missing. Adam serenaded me on the piano like he used to do in the dorms freshman year of college while I sipped my tea.

Then we drove out to Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, about 45 minutes from the hostel. For $20 per person you get unlimited access to 8 natural hot springs, a mud spring, the steam room, and the sauna all day. We spent hours soaking our traveling bones in the warm natural springs. We stretched and relaxed and recharged our batteries. We washed our faces in red mud and laughed at each other as we let it dry on our faces. The women's locker room was also complete with conditioner and hair dryers. Luxuries I have not been with for the entire trip. 

I feel like a new human. Ready to take on the world. It was a good reminder for our upcoming travel plans though. For every 10-14 active days we need to plan in a few rest days.

Wandering in Circles

RIO GRAND GORGE, New Mexico // A lot of things did not go as planned today, and we felt as if we had just wandered in circles.

We were all excited to rock climb in Taos, New Mexico. However, the information that we gathered from multiple sources sometimes contradicted one another. The guidebooks were published in 2005. The rock was rebolted in 2010, and some of the walls have since been renamed. The access to the walls are in the middle of the Rio Grand Gorge, so instead of hiking up to a mountain to climb, we were hiking down into the gorge trying to orient ourselves. 

We spent 30 minutes hiking to the wall, and 30 minutes hiking back unable to find it. We tried a different trail, found the bolted routes, but didn't know which wall or routes they were. All of the pictures and maps didn't align with what we were looking at. We spent 2 hours wandering aimlessly and unsuccessfully trying to match the wall with one of the routes. 

We were frustrated and tired. We hadn't even done a single route after hiking for hours. We decided to make lunch, enjoy the view, and clear our heads. At this point, neither one of us really wanted to climb anymore. Just looking at the maps, photos, and the wall gave us both a headache.

To justify the waste of the day we decided it was a "hiking day" since we actually did a back and forth / circular hike for the past 4 hours. At this point we just wanted to go into town and get groceries and go back to the hostel. Exhausted and in the sun, we now had to do an uphill hike with all of our climbing gear. As we turned to go, we looked down and saw something blocking our path and crawling toward us. It was a brown, hairy spider, about as big as the palm of your hand. A tarantula. We both freaked out and ran. 

Once we got back to the car and calmed down we laughed uncontrollably. We realized that days like this will happen, and things don't always go as planned. You have to enjoy the journey even it is simply wandering in circles.

At dinner Jenny wrote some Haiku poems about the day:

• Unknown emotions // wandering the pebbled gorge // dangerous beauty
• Sport routes elude us // but it's hard to be angry // in this "gorges" crag
• Tiny spiders I // do fear, large tarantulas // immobilize me

The Known and the Unknown

THE GRAND CANYON, Arizona // I woke up at 12:28am and didn't fall back asleep again until sometime after 3am. It was too cold to camp in a tent, so we set up our mattresses and sleeping bags in the back of the car.

The Mather Campground in the Grand Canyon is at about 7000 feet of elevation, and it wasn't even sundown and already we were putting on layers of clothes. It was Friday night, and a gamble to show up without a reservation and risk having to drive an hour back to the nearest town if no tent sites were open. Luckily, there were 14 spots out of 320 still available when we showed up around noon.

As I tried to get comfortable, warm, and fall back asleep, my mind wandered for those 2-3 hours. In many cases like this, I realize the small comforts of home and what I have given up to take this trip.

When I left NYC, most things in my life were certain. Now they are not, and that is what is appealing to me. I could predict within a 99% accuracy everything that would happen to me on a given day. The most uncertain things would be what I would have for lunch, dinner, and if I would go to the gym or not. The things that I have formerly taken for granted are no longer present:

• Getting 7-8 hours of sleep at night, a mattress, a pillow, warmth, water, wifi
• The luxury of not having to walk 10 minutes to a bathroom
• A refrigerator stocked with healthy food and vegetables
• Not having only 10 outfits to choose from in the morning

There are a handful of other things that when I wake up on a random morning, I don't even think of. Most of our time now is consumed with finding where we will sleep for the night, trying to eat healthy and economically on the road, and making sure our gas tank is full.

Although there are a lot of things that I miss from my past life, the challenges and spontaneity of our days has made every moment worth it so far.

Free Hikes

THE GRAND CANYON, Arizona // There is a scene in the movie Wall Street where Charlie Sheen’s character, Bud Fox, says, “I think if I can make a bundle of cash before I’m thirty … I’ll be able to ride my motorcycle across China.” What’s ironic is that he already has enough money to do that. $1,000 max for a used motorcycle and $2,000 max for a flight. He doesn’t feel like he has enough. It's always a nagging fear we had before we left our jobs. 

We have budgeted for $50/day per person. This includes shelter, food, and transportation. Let me give you a few examples to show that this isn’t extravagant nor is it limiting.

Gas typically costs between $2-$4/gallon. If we drive 4-6 hours/day it typically takes a tank of gas, around $40/day. Camping in the Grand Canyon or Mojave Desert cost $12/day. Climbing in Big Bear Mountain was free, since we already owned all the gear. Hiking into the Grand Canyon is free. The hostel we stayed in was $28/night with breakfast and dinner included as well as free wi-fi. After one month we have stuck to our budget fairly well.

There is no way to put a price tag on the memories we have made and the time we have been able to spend doing the things we love with each other. 
 

You can't move forward until you look back

SAN BERNARDINO, California // We visited my first home when we were driving through San Bernardino, CA. I don’t remember it because we moved when I was 9 months old. My dad was stationed at Norton Air Force Base. It was a quaint little home in a standard neighborhood. My mom remembers the olive tree in the front yard and strawberry patches on the hillside in the backyard that my sister used to eat from. 

My parents were 29 when they had me, exactly the age I am now. I feel so unaccomplished and immature compared to them. 

I also realized I had never asked about these things. My mom took me on a mental tour of the house as we sat on the road looking at it. So many memories I don’t share but am a part of. So many memories my parents share that I have not either asked about or been listening to when they were told. Im excited to hear more stories.
 

Impactors

HOLCOMB VALLEY, California // In our recent travels we found ourselves surrounded by new faces, listening to new stories, and we realized that across the country people are impacted by tiny random moments. The irony is that the impactor in the stories are often times unaware of the effect they have.

We ate dinner with an extremely talented musician in Santa Barbara. We asked when he first started playing guitar and he said he got hooked at camp one year when he heard You Are My Sunshine played. He knew at that moment he had to play the guitar and he hasn't put down stringed instruments since.

We met the boys 16 frisbee champion of the world as well as his extremely talented aerial dance sister. They organized a rubber band attack on the housemates post dinner that took everyone completely off guard. One person mounted a counter attack and then the war was on. Play. Contagious, infectious, belly aching laughter filled play. The smiles on everyones faces impacted what I want my life to include everyday.

A rock climber next to us in Holcomb Valley, California almost died and what's ironic is that it seemed we were more impacted by the event than he was. The gravity of the situation was shockingly unapparent to the climber and his group which was also scary. He had set up a rappel off an 80 foot set of bolts at the top of a climb. After a closer look we realized there was a fatal error in his set up. The second end of his rope was still 70 feet off the ground (it should be at least touching the ground) and there was no back up knot at the end of it, no prusik, and no one at the bottom giving him a fireman backup. We pointed out and corrected these faults and helped him safely to the ground. If he had rappelled without the changes he would have free fallen 70 feet to the rocks below. It was a stark reminder that climbing can be extremely dangerous if certain standard safety steps are overlooked. I don't think I will ever forget this man's face. Luckily Adam and I always take the time to triple check each other every step of the way, and I feel extremely confident in the safety steps we have learned over the past 6 years of climbing.

This got me thinking though. We interact with people everyday. Some moments impact me and I am impacting others with my actions and don't even know it. The ordinary moments to you could in actuality be very influential in someone else's life. 

Climbing

SANTA BARBARA, California // Rock climbing is a puzzle. Mentally and physically you must figure it out.  You need to find a way to place your hands and body to stay on the wall and continue vertically. You need to have confidence in yourself that you can get to the top. You need to have trust in your partner, your gear, and your anchor. 

We haven't gone rock climbing now for weeks. This is an activity that we have done often while in NYC and hope to continue on our travels. Before we arrived in Santa Barbara we noticed that there are several climbs right outside town that are easily accessed within 20-30 minutes. After a day of scouting, we returned with all of our gear on an overcast morning and climbed for a few hours, enjoying the fog and being outdoors. 

Completing a climb is such a rush of adrenaline and a sense of accomplishment, and at some point you forget everything else in the world and all that matters is you and the rock.