It's After Midnight...How about a Post

So besides being a religious jerk this week, I hosted a German meal for 7 friends, I went to Community Group, and I worked on my "little slice of the promised land".

Please be kind.  I am a bachelor.  I live with two other bachelors.  I have actually never hosted, planned, and executed a party on my own before.  I had no idea what I was doing but Amy, Nick and Peter were very gracious and helped me in the food prep.  Nick actually built a sous-vide device for the bratwurst and it totally worked! His machine was amazing and a total success. My goal was to cook a German meal so that Peter and Amy could at least taste a little of home while they start their 13 month unpaid internship with Mars Hill. I kinda succeeded.  Well you decide. My meal consisted of:

• Bratwurst on Sauerkraut with Curry and Ketchup (don't ask it's a German thing)
• Broccoli with Cream Sauce
• Asiago Scalloped  Potatoes
• Plated Fresh Vegetables (cucumber, carrots, and red bell peppers)
• Fresh Fruit (mango and black grapes)
• Spaghetti Squash with Curry and Soy
• Pear Meringue Dessert (from Mora)

This meal could have totally used a woman's administrative touch.

I admit it really wasn't all that German...and my timing kinda sucked (I was 25 minutes behind schedule on getting all the food out). I would arrogantly call my little dinner party a low-scale success.

Oh well, at least we had great conversation; my friends Mora and Erik attended and Mora spoke high German with Peter and Amy.  Mirella and Josue also attended and seemed to have some fun.

Last night at community group, David our fearless leader, who just got his green card, led us to 25 minutes of silence to ask the Holy Spirit to convict and reveal our hearts in several areas. These are the questions and what I heard.

1. What is God's heart/will?
• God is Seeking Worshipers and he invites me to participate in that joyous task.
2. In light of Pastor Fairchild's vision to bring the whole Gospel to the whole of West Seattle, how does my life currently reflect this?
• I really have not pursued my little corner of WS in the 5 weeks I have been here.  I don't know my neighbors and what their needs are. Where is my heart? It is apathetic towards my lost neighbors.
3. How is Jesus calling me to repent?
• God's will is taht all my neighbors would come to have a relationship with Him. God wants my heart  to change from indifference to compassion so that I would respond to the Gospel by being intentionally pursuing them for friendship.
4. what are my skills/gifts/talents and how can I use them to pursue that vision?
• I am hospitable, organized, and a little kingly, and every once in a while I am generous so putting all these together, maybe Peter and I can invite the neighbors over.

I loved getting a little quite time in community with God.  We them broke into small groups to discuss what we had been praying about.  Jack, who as I have said before I look up to and want to emulate, spoke life into Peter, Amy, and myself in his fatherly way. We shared and prayed for each other; it was awesome.
And the last thing I have been doing is working on my house.  It is going well, I hope to start spraying paint tomorrow.  The siding company left all kids of voids in the caulking so I have spent several days correcting their work.  But as a pleasant surprise, I got to meet one of my neighbors!  I prayed for God to give me an opportunity, and he totally provided.  His name is Dave and he lives across the alley in the red house.  I learned about his struggle to fix up and fail to sell a house nearby and how he is struggling to financially get by.  He is a little older and lives alone with his wife.
When I have painted my house all of you are invited over...Well I am the only one who reads this, so I'll just invite myself over.  Maybe me and I can hangout and eat French Truffles and Drink Ice water while we sit out on the deck and hang out with Andy the neighborhood welcome cat. Gute Nacht!!

The real Alaska Day 7

Miles: 2,715.7
Average MPG: 19.3
Gallons: 140.71
Bears and Wolves: 12
Alaska Beards: 7
Miles Hiked: 22.6

Present Day:
So I was planning to lead a small tour of Seattle last night where Peter (not sure if I mentioned that I have a genuine German Mars Hill Church Intern living at my house...well I do and his name is Peter) and his girl friend Amy  (also from Germany and also interning at Mars) could be properly introduced to their new home of Seattle (for the next 13 months at least).  Yulia also agreed to come along as well, she has not spent much time in the city, so she wanted to learn about it too.
But in God's providence, my plans were smashed in a beautiful way.  God's plan was better.  Some generous person bought out the 345 section of Safeco Field and gave all the Tickets to Mars Hills Proxy.  So Amy decided to join them with Peter.  So at 1PM I looked for an alternative activity.  After chatting with Kelsey via Sidney on "FacheBuuk", I was given the amazing gift of two free tickets to the game.  Yulia hadn't ever been to a Mariner's game so it worked out. The four of us enjoyed the game, but Peter and Amy were still baffled by many of the mechanics and arcane rules by the end.   Baseball (don't get me wrong, I love to play and occasionally watch) is weird, it just is.  The whole game is between two guys and they take a lot of time staring longingly into each others eyes until every once in a while one of them throws a ball by the other who tries to stop it from being caught by another guy who is dressed up like Optimus Prime. It was a fun night and the conversation was great.

A few weeks ago...in Alaska:
Previously on "Alaska: a Josh's Road Trip Expeience"...
Josh drove a large SUV then didn't sleep, then he hit a bird, then he didn't sleep again, then he got on a bus, then he got off a bus, then he got back on a bus, then he got off a bus, then he bought some tickets, then he kinda slept...
Day 7 YEAH I GOT MY DAYS ALL MIXED UP, thanks Yulia for providing me with your notes about the trip!
So we woke early and Yulia, Nick , Tina, and I all packed up and distributed our gear and headed out:

We left Mirella and Josue at Reilly Creek for one night and two days (with a can of bear mace, 1 Tim 5:2) so the four of us could go backpacking in Denali!  Yeah actually going off the trail across country and camping in the last great American Wilderness.
We sat through the educational training film on how to not die in the back country, packed up all our food into two Bear Cans (designed to keep anything the bears might be interested in out of their grasp behind some stout black plastic), and got on the 2PM Camper Bus.  We were let off the bus at the Teklanika River Bridge in Sector 29 of the park.  We off-loaded our packs from the back of the bus and strapped up as the bus rolled away.  We were left on the dusty road with the roar of water and the whipping of the wind as the reality of our loneliness hit us.  Were were going to be on our own for the next 25 hours.  Remember that the day before we had seen 6 Grizzly Bears and 5 moose (which are more dangerous that the bears) just yesterday, in fact two of the bears we saw were within 4 miles of where we got off the bus.  In Denali, the average concentration of bears is about 0.35 bears or wolves per square mile in the sub-alpine areas.
I don't know if all that data went through Yulia, Tina, or Nick's mind, but it sure as hell went through mine. As an aside, I got a chance to sit down for a Thai lunch with Nate B, he is on staff with Mars Hill this Thursday.  We talked on many subjects, but one thing that came up when I switched seats during the meal is that I try to always see the door when I sit somewhere.  I find all my exits, and I evaluate each person who enters.  This is all automatic, I have just trained myself to process people and locations and evaluate danger.  I don't try to start any aggression, but I try to be ready to respond if necessary.
So I had SO much fun on the approx. 7.4 mile hike into where we camped.  No! Really! That's not sarcasm!  I really had a lot of fun scanning all visual quadrants for any sign of predators, pit falls, or other dangers.  I looked for tracks (I am NOT a skilled tracker, I just know some minor principles of the trade and kinda what to look for) and watched for "animal sign", umm "animal sign" is kinda a euphemism for poop. I don't know why, but it is.  I was just "on" the entire time.

We started on the left from the bridge and completed this circuit.

Anyway, we headed north parallel to the Teklanika and made good time on the sand bars.

Bear Print

Wolf Print

Caribou and Wolf Print

We turned off the river and entered the tree line.  In Denali, the trees are not large (the Pines top out at 70 feet) due to the brutal winters and paucity of winter sun light. We faced our first river crossing and all four of us escaped with dry socks.

We existed the line of woods and entered rolling hills over fresh Tundra. Its composition was 30% wild blueberries, 20% moss, 30% low assorted brush, 10% Crow berries, and 10% grass. Basically when you walk on tundra you are walking on top of plants,about 6-10 inches off the ground.  We crested three rises and gained our first territorial view of our goal.  We actually stopped a mile and a half short of our goal but day light was fading. Our conversations ranged wildly, and slowly waned as energy and terrain took its toll.

 The land was full the sounds of flowing water and the call of small birds, the smell was that of fragrant fruit mixed with fresh wet earth, the taste was that of delicate berries blended with moist clean air, the touch was that of soft ground and pliable flora with the brush of gentle leaves on the palms of my hands, and the sight, the sight was that of yellow purple peaks with blue green creeping forests yearning for the heights they will never achieve and the spring green tundra with blue tasty dots of delight as far as the eye can see.
In a too trite word, beautiful.
We made camp on a ridge in the wind and Nick and I lashed the lady's tent to our tent tying everything down tight.  We ate MREs and stored our food 120 yards away. I placed a branch on the bear can and checked it the next morning, nothing had been disturbed.
I slept for two hours until 11PM then lay awake until morning.  The others slept well and hopefully dreamed of wide open lands and lush hills rolling beyond sight, beyond mind, beyond every fear and every anxiety.

VERY special thanks to Ratatat's "Nostrand" for it's incalculable contribution to this poor excuse for a Blog post. Also Marshall you helped too, you better love Hailey with all that you are.

Miles Run:111.29

Miles Biked:85.99
Total Miles:197.28
Stadium Stairs Run*:2244
Steep Steps Run*:1340
Days to Rainier:121
Summit Team:9
Aspirin Tablets:42

You know you have a problem when after a run you studiously enter all the way points into Google Earth and click "Show Elevation Profile" and get this:
And then your like, "I ran 12.1 miles in three hours?" But I still had energy at the end, I could have run farther.
When that happens, you have problems. Running is what you do in war, when bullets fly and your ears scream with the deafening roar of jet planes and the enemy's whizzing tracers cut laser-lines into your friends. Running is what you do when your son is in grave danger and you must snatch him out from the path of a barreling truck. Running is what you do when you see death coming for you and you thirst, you yearn, you passionately utterly maddeningly want to live.
Running is not a fun...thing...to...do.
So here I sit, body still high from the adrenaline kick, waiting for the heightened state to diminish, so I can sleep. As a side note, I decided to fill two of my hip flasks with water (my conventional water bottles just aren't comfortable to run with) and carry them with me. When taking hits (is it a hit, or is their another term for drinking from a flask?) from them down on Alki, no one seemed to care. But after running up near the Junction, I noticed a cop approaching just as I had paused for some water. I immediately tucked the flask into my elbow and did my best impression of a runner with a leg cramp until he drove past. I'd rather not have to explain, "No officer I am not consuming alcohol out of a hip flask in public, here smell, it's water....No, I'm not trying to get an officer of the law drunk while on duty...Do you really need to handcuff me before searching me?...!!!...Hi Bob...Yep it's my first time in lockup...Really you end up here every Wednesday night?..." The flasks may get me into trouble, but they are probably a better idea than my last run of 9+ miles where I hit cotton mouth at mile 6 and had to sneak water from someone's hose at 11pm just to make it home.

So I might as well tell you about what I did on Saturday night. I went to the ShowBox in SoDo to see a band oddly named the Dismemberment Plan. Now before you think, okay we all knew it would happen eventually, and finally Josh has snapped and is going off to some sick satanic band to quell the demons within. No, allow me to explain. This band saw the movie Ground Hog Day. Remember the insurance salesman Phil meets over and over? Well Ned Reirson is trying to sell insurance policies with optional death and dismemberment plan. So the band found a name.
Flash 18 years forward the whole band is in their late 30s and decided to come back together to re-release their album Emergency & I purportedly one of the most influential albums in the late 90s early 2000s in the indie rock genre. To promote their release, they made one quick tour. Some shows in Japan, some shows in D.C. their home town, and ONE show on the west coast---Seattle. So I went. My buddy Joe introduced me to them back in college, and they have been with me ever since, rattling around my brain and popping out of my atonal mouth when I think no one is listening. TO YOU bearded muses! May you reign as indie rockers of indie rockers forever!

Travis Morrison D Plan's Frontman @ ShowBox SoDo:

Me on stage with 80 others and Travis Morrison:

Vegas Blog - Day 1

Miles: 776.2
Gallons Burned: 29.7
Elvis Sightings: 0.0
Total Miles: 15412.4
Total Gallons Burned: 511.1
Total Caffeinated Drinks: 86
Total Gigabytes of Pictures: 33.6
I'm in Wells Nevada in the northwestern portion of this great state. So far I have seen exactly 0 Elvis impersonators, disappointing.
My kind traveling companion Par has been a great co-pilot despite his lack of sleep. Using my latest piece of road trip tech, Par has managed to predict the exact location of a series of thunderstorms and flawlessly modify our lodging plans all without the need to halt our relentless forward progress toward that oasis in the desert. How did Par know the weather's location and exact arrival time in advance you ask? He used my new netbook computer featuring an Ericsson cellular modem. This enabled my co-pilot extraodinare to connect to any cell tower in our path and utilize the 3G network. Using Google Earth he verified local forcasts, checking often to ensure our safety.
How terrible of me, I almost forgot to thank Nick for his patient and excellent dirrection that allowed me to activate and integrate the GPS cabability of my netbook. Nick walked me through the proper hyperterminal commands to render the NMEA protocols active. This rapidly updating system provided Google Earth with our precise global location allowing us to acurately judge our pace and the best places to resupply.
As the driver for this road trip, I have enjoyed being at the wheel of Par's fine 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. The first leg from Seattle to Boise Idaho was uneventful yet beautiful.

The second leg of our trip was slightly more eventful as Par regaled me with stories and wisdom of the ins and outs of Las Vegas while the weather predictably darkened. We saw this as we approached our stopping point for the night:

Just as we entered Wells the rain began in ernest and lightening shown in the Sierra Nevadas.
Allow me to share Par's imPARted wisdom ;)
1 - In Las Vegas they try to attract people to gamble away their childrens', grandchildrens', and great grandchildrens' inheritances by offering very cheap food - so be prepared for $12.99 all you can eat Prime Rib!!
2 - In an attempt to destroy your judgement to facilitate the rapid transfer of said offsprings' future wealth from your pocket to theirs, the casinos provide free alcoholic beverages to all active gamblers - so even if you are playing the penny slots very slowly you can score a free drink (Par's personal record is a 19 cent Long Island Iced Tea)!!
3 - Smoking is allowed in all Casinos, to better promote all manner of vice - so if you have asthma and a gambling compulsion, you could very well die at the roulette table, hmm maybe they should call it 'Merican Roulette so we don't fall behind the Russians!!
Tomorrow we will arrive in Vegas, and maybe explode from our planned Prime Rib eating contest, tune in tomorrow to find out!

After Galveston's Thunder

Miles: 5418.0
Gallons Burned: 188.6
Caffeinated Drinks: 35

I really am enjoying this meal at Pere Antoine's, so I thought I'd continue to blog.
However First I must discuss the great food I am enjoying:
I ordered and am now enjoying the New Orleans Sampler:
Seafood Jambalaya - rich and smoky with fantastic sausage and big shrimp
Red Beans and Rice - a New Orleans classic with a surprisingly multifaceted flavor.
Shrimp Creole - Sweet with a strong suggestion of lemon
Gumbo fairly plain, so I added some Tabasco (having just been at the factory I felt obligated)
Mango Margarita (Sauza Gold, Cruzan Mango, Grand Marnier, and sweet and Sour mix) - Grand Marnier's citrus comes through first, then there is a mid palate bite of tequila and finally a smooth finish of fruit (vaguely mango)
Bread Pudding - Smells of wonderful cinnamon, the frosting is not frosting but rather a sweet cream sauce, the chunks of orange are excellent as are those of kiwi.

The meal was fairly priced and excellent with a pleasant yet empty ambiance.
While I am savoring the last of my bread pudding, how about I tell you the story of Galveston?

In Galveston's Gray Thunder both of my sleeping bags, my pillow, and my boots were soaked. And my tent (containing all the aforementioned and a cylinder of propane and my cook stove) was overturned and 25 feet from where I left it. In frustration and (I'll admit it!) more than a little unrighteous anger, I disassembled everything and shoved it into garbage bags.
Right now all is laying out to dry on a bench back at the campsite at Bayou Segnette State Park.
After leaving Galveston, I drove north toward Nacogdoches TX where my awesome cousin Shelby attends Steve Austin University. But before I got there I ran into this along the freeway:

My exact 1.1 second mental analysis was as follows "Knife shop...hmm, wait along the highway!? I'm in Texas...hmm. Dude I HAVE to stop and check this out." So I slowed dangerously from 67mph to 0 on the gravel shoulder of the highway. I will neither conform or deny the alleged purchase of anything in said establishment. Only if you really know me (and Lili knows what I would do in a Texas highway knife store) can you say if I bought anything (You already know I am "cheap").
So after that, I made it up to Nacogdoches and took Shelby out to some Chinese food. I ate their version of Singapore Fried Noodles, LAME. But the time was well spent with my cousin. Me, being an awkward conversationalist, tried not to be too weird, but only Shelby can speak to that. I hadn't seen her in over 10 years and we traded stories of high school experience and unusual friends.
After biding her goodnight, I looked at the clock and saw it was only 6:40pm. I decided to push it a little and run for Louisiana. Kinda bad idea. I made the 300 miles in 7 hours (including the time I spent in a closed McDonalds parking lot stealing WiFi to find a place to stay for the night).
As I drove East on I-10 I saw a blessed sign "Welcome Center Next right, 24 hour security provided". Wow, I was so excited. I slept in their parking lot.
As an aside, sleep is important (in case you never guessed). I remember when I had a particularly terrible period of insomnia, 84 hours without sleep. And I drove 5 hours home on the tail-end of the sleep-cation. During the Joshua Tree and "Pass" in-car nights, I slept sitting up in the car seat. The result was periods of no more than 1 hour of sleep and a lot of "clock watching". That night I used every ounce of my B.S. and M.A. degrees and all the accumulated knowledge of my 23 years on Earth to notice: if I sleep sideways (across both front seats) in the car, I can actually be comfortable! It totally worked!
Well I guess that wasn't an aside. More like a conclusion. Next time Avery Island.

Joshua's Joshua Tree

Miles: 3683.2
Gallons Burned: 118.8
Caffeinated Drinks: 28

I'm here in Van Horn TX near a KOA campground enjoying my first precipitation free camp in more than two weeks. Winter is a fun season...more on that later

My 6 (single-spaced) page and counting trip dossier originally called for a stop in the Grand Canyon, but due to three back-to-back snow storms, the fissure is buried. So I diverted to Joshua Tree National Park.

My campground as seen from 3 miles away and 4,000 feet up on Ryan Mountain.


Up on Ryan Mt. Joshua Trees were scarce, but these little ones were a charming hazard that looked strangely appetizing when the snow came.

As I was stacking stones to form this Cairn the first flakes of the storm began. At 5,500ft there was snow. But when I returned to Earth the rain was gaining momentum.
The first night was so windy that my cook stove went out 7 times before I gave up on a warm diner and ate cold chili. Enjoying the hilarity was a 20 pound bobcat who begged until I spooked him/her. Then the rain intensified. That was the first of 4 nights spent in the car.
The next day I switched sites to lucky 13 with some stoners who wanted to split the cost of their site.
After the second night in my car, I found my tent destroyed in the high winds of the prior night's storm. So I walked about and met some college kids who were down in California's desert to rock climb. They had been there 3 days and only hit rock once. I suggested that we roll over to town 20 miles away and grab some lunch. The drive was really...wet:

I bought them lunch and we spoke of the Midwest where they hail from.

Hey Jeremiah and Catie! Maybe I'll see you both when I swing through Michigan!
When I got back the snow stared in earnest, and this is what Ryan Mountain looked like that night:


I've always wanted to wield a flare in snow. No particular reason why. Just the idea of carrying a 3,000 degree torch that will burn through nearly anything and never go out regardless of weather appeals to my sensibilities.
On the way out, I had to go retro:

Next time I'll tell the tale of the night I spun out in heavy snow at 5,000 feet almost nose diving into the mighty Colorado River...

Discourse on Gear

Miles Clocked: 1147
Gallons Burned: ~33
Caffeinated Drinks: 8

Well today has been great I got to hit up an auto show in San Jose and enjoy time with my cousin Dave. Here are a few of the highlights including my "dream" car (to be purchased used in 2020):





I also spent time retinking my "cockpit organization" and "gear ergonomics" to increase comfort/safety while driving. To let you all share in my strange pursuit here are the pieces of E-Gear whose placement have been optimized:

My First VLOG

Miles Clocked: 1147
Gallons Burned: ~33
Caffeinated Drinks: 5

Hello,
I apologize to you for not posting something earlier but I have been with out WiFi until recently, and then I had some technical difficulty with uploading a 270MB file to youtube.com. Anyways now everything should be in order.
I am well. The second leg was exciting, two nights of camping, about a thousand awesome switchbacks, huge redwood trees, jaw-dropping beaches, and one creepy run in with a hidden California state prison.
Here are my favorite pictures (sorry for resolution variation, 3 cameras were used):






Here is my first attempt at a Video Blog.
This video was taken HERE with me standing on top of a cliff.

The Video:

Portland Oregon

Miles Clocked: 187.2
Gallons Burned: ~6
Caffeinated Drinks: 2

I downed 2 energy drinks to make it to the green citadel to Seattle's south and met up with my buddy Andy from Hillsdale College, my old Alma Mater. I have only forgotten two things so far: CAT 5 Cable and all my warm hooded sweatshirts.

As I type this I am enjoying the REI Thermarest sleeping pad that Jen so Graciously lent me and a small glass of Arabica Cherry-Cafe Wine.

I am tired after 40 hours of preparation and driving, so I'll end with a quote from Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz...

There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by
a God who knows what he is doing. They hang there, the stars,
like notes on a page of music, free form verse, silent mysteries
swirling in the blue like jazz.

Gearing Up

Miles Clocked: 0.0
Gallons Burned: 0.0
I just purchased a box of military surplus MREs (meals ready-to-eat) from my local army navy surplus store. Now I have 7 days of heated emergency rations in the event I get stuck in a blizzard/zombie invasion. I, being a total nerd for these sorts of things, did a little research and found out about the history of military foods stuffs from the Civil War forward. About 1.7 million became ill and 45,000 men died from tainted food in the Civil War. The Department of War (later "defense") has been working on this issue ever since.

Anyways the modern MREs I've got will still be edible for the next 7 years, so I'm all set.

For those who are interested here's the menu:

(No dreaded ham omlets)
Here is the US government's official MRE site for further study:
http://www.dscp.dla.mil/subs/rations/programs/mre/mreabt.asp

Gear for the Road

This a list of the gear I'll be taking. Does anyone have any suggestions for additions/subtractions from my gunna [Late Latin "gunna", leather traveling garment, term for all one's worldly goods]?

Net book computer
GPS unit: Magellan Maestro
Power Inverter (1200 Watt 12 Volt DC to 110 Volt AC)
DC in-car refrigeration unit
Propane cook stove
2 man tent
12 emergency rations (Military MREs)
Costco of hand warmers
ThermaCare Heat Wraps
-25F bedroll
Cameras
Books