There and Back- My first publication

You can pick one up for free at the Auraria Campus, any Denver area REI, or visit www.thereandbackmagazine.com to learn how to order an inexpensive subscription. If you're outside of Colorado, e-mail me your address and I'll send you a copy.

Present Update #2

Hey everyone--

Sorry for no entries in the past week, things have been crazy. Last week, I was working on the article for There and Back (great mag, you should all pick up a copy, and I'm not just saying that because I write for it), yesterday I went on a bike ride up Mt. Evans, and today was my first day back to school.

Anyways, the ride up Mt. Evans was incredible. My friend Brendan and I left from our door-steps in downtown Denver at a grogy 6:30 in the morning and rode out to Golden where we met Dave and Nick, two of Brendan's friends from school who came along in order to train for their bike tour down to Panama.

From left to right: Nick, Me, Brendan, and Dave at the summit of Evans

Once we got to Echo Lake, about 15 miles from the summit of Evans, I wasn't sure that I could go on any further. My lungs felt like they were already going to collapse, and my quads were torched. Thanks to Brendan, who reminded me to live without regret, I decided to ride the last 15 miles and conquer the highest road in North America.

I fell asleep in class today. I guess after a summer of non-stop adventure, you get de-sensitized to exciting things like the history of the English language and British literature.


I plan on getting more of my summer journal entries and photographs on here soon, so keep an eye out.

PRESENT UPDATE

Hello everyone,

First of all, thank you for reading my blog. I wanted to let you know that I will be taking a little time off from updating this blog in order to spend some quality time working on an article for the local Colorado magazine There and Back. The article is about my experience on the Colorado Trail, and I'll be sure to post it when it's complete.

I may or may not update this blog before Friday, but be sure to check back next week.

In other news, I've been talking to Christian, the Swedish guy I met while cycling down the coast, (he has not yet been introduced in this blog) and we are planning on hiking the last 100 miles or so of the Colorado trail the week of the Democratic National Convention. He's bought his plane ticket for Denver, and we both couldn't be more excited to continue our journey together.

Thanks again for reading,

Gavin

INTRODUCTION

It's my first day back on the job, and right now, I'm sitting in my cubicle listining to Weezer and waiting for the bossman to call and give me the next stack of faceless files to alphabetize and stash away in an attourney's filing cabinet down the hall. My feet are sweating within my old thrift-store dress shoes, and my puke-green 'dress-pants' are fraying both at the zipper and at the bottom of the pant legs. It's no secret that I don't want to be here.

There is a map of the Colorado Trail on a bullitin board infront of me that I pinned up before I left. Back then, the Colorado Trail was a dream; now, its a fragmented memory.

Which brings me to the reason why I've created this blog in the first place. Last semester, I wrote an essay for a comp class that was about my motives for writing. I was trying to be impressive, so I did this whole extended metaphor thing where I explain how writing is like going into war, and how I like to write for the thrill, and how I want to win the 'war of writing' and be famous and all that kind of crap. I have a confession: I was full of shit. I don't get an adrenaline rush when I write, and to say it gives me a real thrill would be like saying that I love watching grass grow, or even worse, golf. I write because I can immortalize a moment. I write because saying 'been there, done that' just isn't enough. Life is full of too many delicate intricacies and facinating details to rely on memory to recall all of the beautiful particulars. I write because one day, we are all going to die, and every moment not shared and recorded may as well have not existed at all.

I've kept a journal the entire six weeks of the trip, most of which I will be sharing with you. Feel free to comment or email me; I'd love to hear your thoughts.

ANYWAYS, thanks for checking out my blog. I'll be updating this page as fast as my fingers can type, so be on the lookout.

By the way, I'm dead-fucking-broke right now, so if anyone wants to buy a T.V., bed, some comic books, or a sex-slave, I'm your guy.

Cheers,

Gavin