Moving Log #2 - Cleaning - Charleston, SC

Let's be realistic, moving is work. Last thing I'll remove from apartment is the internet router on the windowsill.

I can't hammock anymore since I sold my desk.

Moving Log #1 - Climbing - Chattanooga, TN

I'm sitting sleepy eyed typing this out at this awesome hostel called The Crash Pad in Chattanooga, TN. It's quite a unique place with friendly characters and is within walking and biking distance from downtown Chattanooga. Most everyone stops here for some sort of outdoor activity. There's always chatter around  a campfire about climbing or mountain biking or this week there was a film festival. This trip was a detour, a bit of time to break from the monotony of packing and just go enjoy some time with Phillip and Corey climbing outdoors at the LRC and follow up by relaxing at the Tennessee Aquarium. 

This is the first bed I've slept in a week. It's a bunk in a shared room with twelve other people and it's the best sleep I've ever had. I sold my bed a week ago for this move. I sold what furniture I could and donated the rest to Habitat for Humanity. I've stopped working in Charleston. I sold my 97' Toyota Camry and bought a brand new Subaru Outback. Theoretically I'm down to what can fit into my car, we're about to test that. But that's the plan, only keep what I can haul across the country in the Outback. The start, I think, is the hardest part of this move. Just determining how to go about things takes effort. The drive to Colorado, that's the straightforward part. 

Which is why I needed this detour. Nothing is really straightforward or predefined on how you should go about living your life. This trip was a reminder, not a farewell. It's been trips like these set a compass with what I wanted to be doing with my life. What I could be doing. Where I could be going. The premise for these trips have always been rather simple... find the things you love doing, gather as many friends together that would be interested, and take the party to locations you've never been to before. Never stop exploring. 

You get tired, you push harder. You get bored, you drive further.

From the Carolina Coastline to the Rocky Mountains

I am moving from Charleston, South Carolina to Denver, Colorado!

The cat's out of the bag. There have been few decisions so drastic and exciting in my life. The Rocky Mountains have been on my mind far too long. Ever since I left my home in the Smoky Mountains to run off to graduate in Computer Science in Murfreesboro, Tennessee... and ever since I took a detour in Huntsville, Alabama at their Saturn V rocket to zip down to the coastline of Charleston, South Carolina... I've been searching for an adventure.

I've been finding adventure too. Charleston has been great to me. I wish the best for those who continue to call it home. In Charleston, I met and worked with some of the most wonderful people I know. I partook and witnessed the forming of a new climbing community and boulder'd every week at Coastal Climbing. I even picked up playing the guitar. There's people here I'm going to miss. I'll have to come back and visit sometime.

I chose the photo which best captures one reason why I decided to move. This is me at Arapahoe Basin at ~11,000 feet elevation with Joseph Todd. (more images) I miss my winter snow. I was taking trips to leave the state on weekends to hunt for snow. At the same time, I was taking outdoor rock climbing trips to Rocktown, Georgia and Rumbling Bald, North Carolina and that really got me craving having the mountains in my backyard once more. These trips were ramping up in frequency. These became trips I desired to do every weekend, not just once a month, which was not feasible without moving.

This move is not all about the outdoors. With fervor, I am pursuing my career as a Software Engineer in Denver which is very important to me. It is what I do every day. I need to be creating, building, ceaselessly learning. I had a strong pull towards a job offer in Denver which really excites me.

I am thrilled to be taking the offer. I am very excited about the directions I am choosing in my life. 

Incoming blog.

Man this was a great choice of minimalist template. Takket Sindre Olsson. I finished the about page.