A road trip can not happen with out a healthy steed. A few hours in and with a few more to go my steed was dumping white smoke down the highway and into the cab. I feared it was the beginning of the end of my 2003 sprinter van. I eased to the shoulder. Stopped, I set out to investigate. A 13 day trip around the Colorado front range lay a few hundred miles up the road but I was laying on a asphalt road with a smoking van. I didn't see any obvious damage or leaking. Hopping into the driver's seat I answered my wife's concerned look with a reassuring nod, a turn of the key, and a "We should be good". The old tin can held together the rest of the trip with no more issues. Minor problems like this are common at the beginning of a trip, the God of the Road checking your dedication.
Several hundred miles later... We pull into the lot of a cool little brewery in Golden, Co. We enjoyed a few brews with our buddy Blake and his buddy Robb. Company was prime and the beers were cold. We decided to go to Mt. Evans the next day and cruised over to Robb's to park and get some shut eye.
7 am came and went. Shannon and I were feeling sluggish. I sent a wake up text to Blake. My hopes for more sleep were crushed with a quick response. We clawed our way out of bed, dehydrated by the beers and elevation. The drive to Mt. Evan's is a beautiful one and can light a fire in even the most weary of travelers. The view crossed with caffeine overwhelmed the senses, it was converted into energy and perked us right up. The hike into Mt. Evans was anything but short. The high alpine boulders that lay at the end of the trail were well worth the walk. Monsters of ancient granite were nestled in a forest of pine trees. Peaks fill the horizon. The sounds from the wind in the tree and flowing stream combine to create a song that both relaxes and excites the mind. After a awesome warm up, we worked our way farther back. At our second boulder, a very unnatural pop escaped from Blake's ankle as he stepped off the pads. He became a victim of the uneven landing underneath many of the boulders. The swelling started but the pain was low. We pushed deeper just to lay eyes on some of the classic climbs in the area. The sluggish beginning of our day returned as we burned up the energy of the morning. We began back to the cars right as Blake's ankle realized it was injured. It looked bad. He ditched his sandals in search of a more comfortable platform, settling on hiking in his climbing shoes. By 9 we were back at the cars, now the invigoration was not for the start but for the end of a day of climbing/mostly hiking. I thirsted for both beer and water. I hungered for pizza. Woodie's in Golden satisfied all my needs. We finally found a wal-mart and with a flick of the light our second day of the trip was done.