The final days and farewell camp mystery hole

07jun15 - 13jun15

Day 5 - back on the wall 

After a day of white water rafting we were back at it for some more climbing. And rappelling... We met our guides and went to a different location. This one had a much smaller parking area... Maybe less well known, I dunno. I was completely unaware of titles and stuff. So I could have been on Mars.  This area was up from the path a little, and had some cool stuff.  They set up a chimney again, which was really tight but fun once I got the hang of it. Had to jam my knees into the rock, but once I got going there was a lot of starfish action. They also had a really tricky one right next to a tree... Which I used as a boost, along with a number of people. I saw some of the guys try the actual start and it was hard. Lots of up an over lips. It was a really cool place to climb, and populare with the locals since we had some come and hang with us. 

After some climbing and lunch action.....

it was time to rappel.  So we hiked back up to the spot with the ropes. This time I went closer to the beginning or maybe first... Memories a little foggy. And Sherpa Lerpa made me stay on my feet. He even bent down and held my feet until I was in a good position to go down. Really scary but good too cause it got me in a good position. This one once I started was a bit easier and I didn't cry. I was actually able to glance around and realize maybe this was cool.  

Man salmon was at the bottom and directed me back to the group (and helped me extercate myself from all the hooks). 

After everyone repelled we went Swimming... In yoga pants. And boy was that nice. To be grimmey and gross and than go cool off. Lovely, simply lovely. 

The one difference tonight was they told us our groups for tomorrow... Clearly we needed to be organized for tomorrow's adventures.

Grasshoppa, Princess and me after a day of climbing action :) 

Day 6 - the multi - pitch graduation climb

Today was our final day... Up and out reasonably quickly cause there was lots on the schedule.  As we were driving we all prayed for the weather to stick with us... Clouds and mountains are very unpredictable. We got to our location and distributed gear.  Then my group made its way to the graduation climb... Our first multi pitch. 

Now this was different. We were climbing but we were topping out, multiple times. In totally we did 4 pitches. And they were hard.

Ending on the top of the "pinnacle"  I'm not sure if that's the official name or if that's just what they called it to us. Regardless... It was high up. And we were going to finish with a rappel off the top. Yikes!!!  We slowly made our way up 1 by 1... With a moment of feeling like were in a chain gang since we were all hooked to a rope in a row.

The Chain Gang !!! 

Navigator May have been throwing nature at me... from above 

Really funny.  I also got to try something different called aid climbing. Or I think that's it. When you use a rope in your hands to help you up. And Danger (one guide) came and visited even though it was her day off.  

We all safely made it to the top!!! And enjoyed quite the view! 

Here we are pre - rappelling :-) 

We all made it down, and very hungrily chowed down! 

Because it's actually unsafe we had to move our location mid chow down, but we were going to find more walls, so it was all good. 

After eating we went to this place called the Junkyard. It was cool. They had a really big chimney which I did and it was really fun. Hard and fun. I think the scary thing there is because it's so skinny there feels like there is too much stuff to crash into.  I made it though.  And it was pretty cool! 

After all that action we were all sweaty and tired. We packed up our gear and made it up to the cars. Said goodbye to the guides and went back to the swimming hole.  

Again cool water on tired body felt great. We paddled around and than did a FD tradition. We got pens and found rocks. One to keep, one to toss. 

One with all the good 

And Toss away the bad!  It was cool, and cathartic. The kept rock proudly rests in my living room. 

Clearly from the picture I was tired and emotionally spent. 

We went home for a really amazing evening of relaxing, dinner, s'mores, fires, candles and Baci.... 

The candle ceremony was reflective and made me truly grateful that I still have my body, I still have my life. I know too many people that are not with us, or treatment leaves them too broken to have the ability to go outside and use their body in this amazing way and I am grateful that I can. 

The Baci was tied on by my good buddy Grasshoppa.  And a discription is below. 

Baci is a phi ritual used to celebrate important events and occasions, like births and marriages and also entering the monkhood, departing, returning, beginning a new year, and welcoming or bidding etc.^[1] The ritual of the baci involves tying strings around a person’s wrist to preserve good luck, and has become a national custom.^{[3][4] -wickapedia}

I still have it on and it makes me smile thinking back.

Once we came inside we sat on the couches for awhile... Surrounded by a lot of taxidermy and then went to bed. 

Day 7 - a farewell... But see you again 

Today was slow... We all had different departure times, so it was a quite morning as people got ready to roll.  One of the first out was my roomie for the week Cheeta.  We worked well and it was a pleasure to share the space.  

After some seating around, coffee drinking and food scrounging. (I wanted to bring lunch since my flight was at 12 something) Lil D, Furiousa and I loaded into a car and went to the airport.  We got there and through the very quick security and had a bit of time to chat... Then they saw me to the gate and I was off. 

It was an amazing ride!!!! Goodbye camp Mystery Hole!!!!!

Final thoughts and reflections 

Now almost a week out I still look back on the week with such gratitude, smiles, fondness and love. It was an amazing thing to be a part of, and I am really glad our group seemed to gel well.  And moving forward maybe Pigeon will make more appearances in every day life... Cause all you have to do is commit and try.

Contemplations, Actions and stuff

Its been a busy time.  Lots of things and lots of thoughts.  Health wise things have been ok.  I mean I'm over the main hump of cancer related issues and now just deal with normal yet really irritating stuff.  Like thinking I may have herniated a disk and wishing my sinuses would stay clear for more then five minutes at a time.  The only addition with that stuff is of course that the normal stuff brings a slight background paranoia voice of "you have cancer again" " something is wrong" really.  But I'm following all the necessary protocols and I have to beat that voice down with a stick.  I personally call it the fine art of distraction and it works great 95 - 98% of the time.  I'll take it.  If I can keep the crazy away at least most of the time then that is a win.

On to the fun stuff.  With the improved health I've been tossing lots of vacation ideas for this year.  If you have any thoughts on the matter let me know. I'm open to suggestions.

And lastly I started doing something really cool.  As I've sort of mentioned before

I've been rowing and it has been awesome.  After the Crash B's international comp we switched to prepping for the water.  Unfortunately because of my neck / elbow issues my PT told me I could row.  But I am going to Cox for the military program at CRI and its going to be awesome.  We are starting on the water this tuesday morning.  So I'll make sure to update after that.  I am so looking forward to flying through the water and the awesome sunrises over the charles.  Its going to be a GOOD week.

Thats all for now

Later Gators

Side effects can suck it/ ok life is pretty good

I've had a lot of side effects happen to me in my day. I historically get most of the common ones, and sometimes some  a typical ones. All of them suck. I mean really they suck. And cancer brings on a whole slew of side effects that almost counteract each other, so it feels a little you're on an episode of candide camera

This first paragraph was started a while ago. And now that I've had a little more time, and actually some of the side effects have warn down a bit. I realize things are actually pretty good.   Though sometimes I still feel like I'm getting punked with what I have to go with, that whole you're only given what you can deal with mantra (admittedly not my favorite but applicable at the time) came through and most of the chemo side effects have lessened. In other words I don't feel like a 90 yr old women when I stand up. I'll take it. 

Radiation has been going along and it wasn't until recently that things started to get interesting.  Radiation for those new to the party is when they send photons into your body to kill shit.  Topically this results in, can you guess, a burn. An it just keeps getting worse, like you got a bad tanning bed experience in really stupid places( ex. Mamory fold, arm pit) yeh who knew those would be fun places to tan. But anyway. It wasn't a big deal at all until this weekend when skin decided to blister and crack... I will be asking about infection tomorrow. And now it just hurts. Bring on the pain and sleep aids... Two weeks to get through and we'll be good.  

Otherwise things are going pretty well. I've been teaching yoga a bit, or occasionally, depending on your unit of measure ;-) and it's been awesome. I've also been focusing on see people in small or single groups. Large groups haven't been calling my name lately. Taking care of my self with lots of bad TV dates. Experimenting with dietary changes and cravings. ( I have to admit I caved today and had a vegan chocolate chip cookie) damn sugar you scream at me, but bright side... NO DAIRY!!! Hey I'll take it.  And trying new things, or old things in new places. 

Off to yoga cafe @ south boston yoga. 90 min class with live music.... It's going to be awesome tastic