Hello my beautiful people,

I know it has been a while and this has been done with a purpose. It is highly recommended you post anything about your exact location for safety reasons and for save the forest reasons and uhh FUCK YEAH save the forests!

Anyways, here I am near 3 weeks out from my first adventure. A grand adventure. I’m excited to challenge my memory recount these incredible and challenging moments I went through. Lessons in all of them. Vulnerability, strength, weakness, discouragement, pride, beauty and in pure awe. All these feelings and more as we continue this journey down this blog.

I’ll be honest with you, two days leading up to the trip lead up to a lot of doubt. Scratching my eye was incredibly painful. Not once I was scared that I would lose my vision, I literally just wanted the pain to go away. 0 out of 10 do NOT recommend. Just ask to skip that life experience because I had it for you.

I was sooo impressed by how quickly it healed. I think it was  mixture of rest, medicine, meditation, vizulatioan, all kinds of things. I was beyond grateful there was a huge difference in only 12 hours. And damn near pain free by 36 hours. It was incredible.

Secondly, my headlight switch had fried its self. I know it had, because it was set up the exact same way in my old XJ. So I stated the job of confidently, not only learning I needed to rewire the female part from the wiring harness. I am not confident in wires or electricity. That is one I never mind paying for. It seems foolish not too – hence why I’m hiring someone to do solar panels. I won’t do them.

I replaced all of it only to fnd it out still didn’t fix my headlights. I’m on the phone with my best friend and she goes “Check the fuse honey.” You mean to tell me it is the FUSE?! I didn’t need to make that a priority?! Ugh, just take a deep breath and we will sneak out by 3 AM. It reminded me of the trips my mom would take us on. We would always wake up at 2 AM and head out. I remember riding in the back seat, wide awake just watching the stars go by. It was such a magical time I will always hold dear to myself.

So, we fixed the head lights and headed out. The amount of wildlife I saw was incredible. From a fox, to antelope, to deer. It was truly a beautiful morning drive. From the beginning of being familiar of driving to Salida, and slipping away in to the infamous Wolf Creek Pass that I had never driven. And OMG, are you even in AMERICA? What a beautiful pass. I will be back to spend time with her.

We finally pulled into the campsite. I wanted to find a place I could secure so I could work shortly after I got there. I’d been up for 6 hours already and it was only 11 AM. Let the adrenaline kick in and do it’s thing. The first client forgets, which works in my favorite because I can’t get my starlink to work and I have no cell phone service. It turns out we were in a valley and poor tree coverage.

WAIT, that is the boring shit. Let me tell you about this incredible campground. It is owned by the Utes and it is called Lake Capote Recreation Area. I recommend it 10 times a million. It was incredible. The energy, I can’t even describe it. It is like the land knows it is okay to be land in it’s most authentic self. Including the animals. Some of it moves as if you don’t exist while others of it wait to see what you do.

The evening after my half-ass attempted work day, we took a walk around the lake to decompress and just enjoy that every evening walk will be something new and different. And I’m so excited to see what life has in store.

We head down to the lake, the check-in/little store is shutting down for the evening and no one is sitting at the recreation tables. The scene is beautiful. The lake is this deep, clear view blue and you can just feel its pure vibration. The way the colors of the rocks grew deeper and deeper as they faded below.

Now there is a bit of an edge, so the dogs can’t really jump in and out, there are certain spots that act as a beach. So we are on this edge and I look down and there is a beaver just swimming so gently with us. He doesn’t bat an eye at me nor the dogs and not once does he flash his tail as a warning to others. (That has happened to me in the dark, it scared the crap outta me!). We must of swam and walked together for atleast a quarter of a mile. The dogs went nuts, but like I said, he totally trusted me. What a truly unique and beautiful experience. The connection, I honestly don’t even know how to describe it.

So we came around to this inlet where you walked up and you were pretty surrounded by water. And Spirit says “hang out here for a bit.”

And of course I respond “The sunset still isn’t for another two hours. I don’t have the attention for that quiet yet.”

“Shhhhs.” Spirit replies. And I get it. Let us take this exact moment in. How much wildlife is just existing with me. Deer off into the distance watching me as well as grazing, fish swimming up for their bugs on the water. Ducks and geese swimming around as they actually are rather uncomfortable with me. Rather than the ones back home defending their territory, they are scary!

Then I hear a huge splash into the water, and out comes a bird and I think to myself “Oh, that is probably a loon, I wouldn’t see anything that special.”

Yes, I actually thought those words.

 The bird flew out, but it was too far away to tell, and then another bird takes out after this one and I go to myself “I don’t know if loons getting attacked like this, okay, this must not be a loon.”

Well my friends, was I not more wrong in thinking that I wasn’t special. I was proven wrong in these next moments.

I figured out, I remember this area having a page to their Osprey and cameras on their nest. It must be an Osprey, well one of them. I make out one and it is a Bald Eagle! The one that went fishing was the Osprey and the Bald Eagle was harassing the Osprey.

Did you know that Bald Eagles will go after Osprey for their fish? Don’t you think it would be easier for them to fish on their own? Jerks.

It was incredible. The two birds split and I don’t know who won what. But I watched the Bald Eagle perch themselves. And I scoured the skies for the Osprey. Finally, I saw them. The Osprey dove down into the water and scooped up another fish. I wiped my head around, and the Bald Eagle was at it again.

It was wild to see this happening straight in front of my own face. To watch nature exist in all her own glory with me as this witness. What a beautiful experience. One that I got on a Tuesday after work as I was going for my evening walk.

The rest of the walk was bliss and beauty. I could feel the ancestors around me dancing around the land. Proud of their land, proud of their people and how they continue to treat their land. It was, once again, I don’t have words. It was just incredible.

And to see the sunset behind Chimney Rock, I was ready.

This is my life. I think to myself, and I am beyond excited to know that if my first night involved a night like this, I was ready for anything and everything these new two weeks would give me.