Matt's version of the trip across the US

I copied this from Matt nolan's Blog site http://mattnolan.blogspot.com/

The Road Trip Home - Yosemite

Sept 15, the day the year of the Ranch ended. Harris and I loaded up the last of our stuff into his volvo, and the journey that took me out of corporate America to the remote Northern California Mountains into the simple life of small town America was now taking me back home. We stuffed the volvo to the brink - literally there was no more room at all. When we left we both had eBay boxes in our laps and for the first 1000 miles the person in the passenger seat had to hold the food box in his lap. Our trip wasn't exactly a straight shot, in fact our first stop was directly below us in California - Yosemite.

We got there the morning of the 16th after a day of driving before, and went into the valley to check out the views from inside the heart of Yosemite. The place was a zoo though, with tons of old people and foreign people all over the place. It was like an outdoor disneyland, with people getting driven around on huge open bus vehicles for tours, and taking millions of pictures of some random stuff. Harris and I decided the only real way for us to experience the beauty was to get away from the crowds and do some hikes. Our first stop was Sentinal Dome, with a 360 degree view of the valley, and then we hiked over to Taft point where an immense dropoff cliff gave us some great views of El Capitan, the famous cliff across the valley. You could walk right up to the edge of these cliffs and look over - views that make your knees weak. In all we did around 5 miles of hiking.




We camped that night and the next morning started early to avoid the crowds in the valley. We hiked up to lower and upper Yosemite falls for some more amazing views. This time we were on the other side of the valley, so we could look across at where we had stood the other day.


There were also some incredible views of Half Dome. At the top we ventured down off the path to where the exact point where the river flows over the cliff to form the waterfall. The water was down, so we could walk around there, where we found this crystal clear pool that was deep enough to jump in, so of course I had to. I stripped down into my polypro boxers and jumped in.

As soon as I hit the water, my whole body siezed up from the freezing cold and I immediately began swimming to the nearest bank to climb out. I was also screaming like crazy...which drew the only other hikers in the area as spectators. There I stood soaking and shivering in my boxers..."I'm OK." We spent a lot of time taking in the views, praying, and enjoying the majesty that we were towering above. I could have spent days up there.

Then we busted it back down to head on to our next destination. We hiked around 10 miles round trip, and pretty fast without taking in too much water, which proved to be trouble since that night we both got dehydrated and woke up the next morning with what I'd call a hiking hangover. Although I am suspicious of that Quizno's steak sandwich...beware sandwich lovers.

The update...Birmingham

After several weeks of contemplating the future of my blog, I have decided to keep it going. I know that there is probably not anyone who still reads it but it will continue anyway, mainly for the benefit of everyone I was with in California who are spread out all over the world.

The trip back from California was great. Matt and I took 10 days to drive back across the US in the trusty volvo (pictures soon). We stopped at Several national parks and even visited Seth, Travis, and the knife guy. I was ready to get out of the car by the end of the trip. 10 days is about the limit for me unless I had an RV. We rolled into Birmingham and ate a great steak dinner with my family.

So the next day I was thrust back into reality when my dad let me know he needed me to help move one of the stores (translation: Scrub the floors for 2 days with a brush). I have been working with him since then (about 5 weeks). He has retail tobacco stores on the outskirts of Birmingham. I spent 1 week working at each store and another week filing everything he has not filed for the past 10 years. Basically I am learning how everything works and trying to document it.

It has been very strange to be back in a city where everything is busy. I miss the pace of life at the ranch and realize more and more what a great experience it was to be there for nearly a year. It is great to be back to see friends and family.

So other than that nothing to exciting is going on. Jim, Kathryn (my sister) and I are going backpacking on the AT in about a week and a half. 4 days 45 miles or so. Kathryn's first real backpacking trip. We are starting near Fontana Dam in the Great Smoky Mtn. National Park. It will be cold.

I am still not sure what I am going to do long term. So that is the summary of my life right now. I will be posting pictures soon.