9/1- Well, I Did It...

I ended up going back to Denver. I just felt like an idiot up there having gone up with no real plan or intentions. I'm glad I went back though.

My return started just after leaving the library in Evergreen around 5pm-ish. I walked about a mile or so, debated swinging by Robert and Penney's. After deciding to turn on the phone and give them a call I discovered they weren't even up there. I decided if I'm going to take it easy and relax I might as well do it in the comfort of a home with my friends around again. It smacked of needing to get out on my own back in Ohio and walking 9 miles to end up right back at Shelly's house.

I made one other call that night to my friend Ana for her birthday then found a nice little nook on the side of a mountain for the night. Wednesday I resolved to make the 25 mile trek back to Denver and shed the dead weight I'd brought with me like the thick book Danger's Hour I was reading.

Walking a little under a mile down the road a pick up stopped and offed me a ride to the other side of Kittridge 2 miles down. I happily jumped in and we hit it off. Jed was out of work due to an ankle injury. For the first few minutes of the ride he gave me the ins and outs of his business, but soon enough it turned to him wanting to have done travel like this when he was young. He'd thought I was fresh out of college, or on break, and seemed a little taken aback when he found out I was 33. I was not only out of college but had run through film briefly, and moderately successfully, to have given it up to start a podunk career in coffee shops which I'd also just given up. During this conversation he decided he'd give me a ride all the way down to the other side of Morrison. This was a good 11 mile ride.

He dropped me on the other side of 470 and I set to walking again. I quickly entered Lakewood and had dreamy visions of meeting Loreli at Izzy's school, which is in Lakewood, in time to catch a ride the rest of the way in. I didn't give these thoughts much credance though until Sarah stopped and picked me up fifteen minutes after I'd started walking.

Sarah heading to an appointment but had some free time. We got to chatting about my travels and her adventures and soon she was driving me past her appointment to drop me off on Wadsworth leaving me with a treat no less. From there it was a quick hour long walk to Izzy's school where Nathan, Izzy's dad, was picking her up. After a little wierdness of me thinking it'd be too much to ask since I don't know him so well, then walked off, then get a call from Loreli saying its fine since I'd given her a call, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. In then end Nathan could've cared less and he drove me in to Denver dropping me at the doorstep of REI. Fitting. It was a hop skip and a jump to meet Loreli on campus then a quick drive home, as I was acting chauffeur again.

I laid low that night and did some repacking. Thursday I helped Loreli out a bit then met up with Ang at Dazbog once more to kick it. She was meeting up with some other friends from work, Karen and Mike, so we all went out to Sanchos that night to hang out. We did little drinking, but lots of chatting going from there over to Charlies, a gay bar with dancing where many of our Dazbog regulars hang out. We got three free drink cards each at the door and I used one of them, then gave the rest to Mike. I retired to Ang's that night and we reclined to more of The Wire.

Friday was a bit more running about setting things in order, but by Saturday, when I intended to leave, I discovered I hadn't done the best job of it. Ang wanted to treat me to a goodbye breakfast at Annie's for the chocolate chip pancakes. While there I discovered something with the bank had gone awry and that I could either leave it or wait until it opens Monday. After much wrestling, in the end Ang and I both decided that I had no where pressing to be and that waiting would be better.

The night before, in some of my exodus preparations, I decided to switch packs. It was completely experimental and spur of the moment, but switching over to the smaller "touring Europe" pack was actually much more comfortable and somehow lighter. Todd had called then too, so he was debriefing me of his adventures all over the place while helping me trouble shoot possible problems in this impromptu switch.

Nevertheless, Sunday came around and I decided to lay low. I'd had my goodbye with Ang and it seemed silly to have another one. Everyone else didn't really know I was back in town aside from Loreli and family, but it was her house I was laying low in. It was a nice quiet rainy afternoon and she and Brandon had gone out for a much needed day to themselves. I stayed in and updated pictures on Facebook while watching movie after movie for six hours.

I had been in a strange funk since Saturday, as had everyone it seemed. I blamed it on the banking issue, but over all it seemed to be the strange rainy weather in Colorado over the weekend. It just doesn't rain much here and we're not used to it when it does, but everyone seemed affected by it.

The movies helped drag me out of that. I watched The White Countess which I always look to when looking for inspiration in owning my own coffee shop, but it helped here to. Then I put on Into The Wild to get me re-inspired to hit the road the next morning. I'd been losing my zeal to get out there since I'd been re-engrained into my friends' lives again and was loving it. It was akin to the feeling I'd had back in March when I was leaving, except I'd just had some of that travel bug apeased. By the end of it I was somewhat back in the rythme of it again.

After those I put on Naqoyqatsi which is much more like putting music on than putting a movie on. I dilly dallied around the house and decided I wanted to hang out one last time with Ang before leaving, so I sent her a text. She was quite pleased. Apparently she'd been having a horrible day and was really happy to hear from me which, in turn, made me feel really good. I shut off the movie and headed up to see her.

The night was amazing. After hanging at the shop with her for an hour I started off toward her house where I'd meet up with her when she was done closing. I ran into my friend Aaron, along with Josh and Melanie, in front of my old bar Barricudas. I told him I was leaving with about $25 in my pocket and it turned out he'd just won some football bet. He gave me $10 as "my shot" since he'd bought a round for the bar on winning.

Ang met up with me not far from there and we walked back to her place together. On the way, we passed a guy she'd been eyeballing and knew had been eyeballing her so we ended up all chatting and hanging out in front of his bar. The night just kept on like that, good things dropping in our laps. We did, however, retire to a crap movie, but the night on a whole was a great reminder of how the universe looks out for you.

Monday morning I left early and left her a note saying thanks for everything. I settled everything at the bank, got some breakfast at Loreli's, then took a bus out to the edge of Lakewood. Unbeknownst to me it left me a few minutes walk from where Sarah had picked me up on Wednesday. From there I walked to Idledale, about six miles away, where another guy picked me up and dropped me at Robert's street in Evergreen.

Walking up to Robert's house he and his dad were in the driveway working on his trailer. We talked a bit, confirming they were going to be leaving much later than anticipated but that we'd keep in touch and if I was still on the road when they headed out they'd grab me. Ten minutes later I set off down the road again, truly feeling like I was hitting the road now after talking with him at last.

I made it down some short cuts to I-70 and bunked down there for the night. This morning I woke up, walking maybe a mile to the on ramp and took a quick break there. I hung my thumb occasionally to get used to it once more and after half an hour a pick up pulled up next to me offering me a ride to Silverthorne. Couldn't pass that up.

Robert and I chatted off and on for the next 40 minutes or so until he pulled into a lot and dropped me off. We'll see where I go from here, but for now the progress seems pretty good. Feels good at least. I don't quite feel yet like I'm back on the road still, not entirely, but usually it takes a few days of sleeping in dirt and cooking rice every day.