Oceanside Occupancy and Mexico!

In our natural habitat

Urban camping at Mike and Megan's

 Crossing the desert to Oceanside, California, we had one nerve-wracking stop when we thought we heard an odd noise. Upon getting underneath the car we thought we saw transmission fluid leaking, however, after a call to our mechanic back home who fixed up the transmission, we were reassured that in fact the overflow we saw was fine and our fluid was at the right level. Crisis averted, we carried on, rolling into Oceanside, California and our friend Mike Archbold’s house at 7 pm

While Mike had a nasty fever and felt terrible, he mustered up energy and showed us around downtown where we stopped for a beer at Stone Brewing. Afterwards we headed to his favorite bar for another. It is amazing how good friends can pick up right where they left off; the night was filled with laughter over stories of the past and present. Across the street we grabbed huge burritos, bid Mike goodnight and headed out on the pier to eat. Brian was a kid in a candy store, he saw the ocean and freaked out, giggling in excitement over all the perfect looking waves and the surfers who were out night surfing.

Brian, Dave, and James with the boards

After a night of urban camping in Mike and Megan’s driveway (Mike’s girlfriend), our next day was dedicated to our last remaining errands. We found some used surfboards at Real Surf where Josh made friends with the owners six year-old, running all around the store with her as the rest of us found the deals we were looking for. The owner was a helpful man who led us to a great long board and a wide fish board design giving us an excellent package deal. If you’re ever in Oceanside this is the surf shop to hit (trust us we stopped at corporate Surf and Ride followed by a stop in the small shop across the way where an acid burnout tried to rip us off, pricing a terrible long board out for $250. Dave? at Real Surf Dave does great work and is not looking to put you out on the street.)

At Autozone and Carquest we picked up a kill switch, extra belts, cables for the back tailgate, and extra transmission fluid. At RadioShack we purchased an AC to DC converter. In a dive shop we found a Hawaiian Sling. At Home Depot we bought a cable lock, duct tape, and made extra keys. Gathering our new items, we started packing everything at Mike’s and cracked some of Josh’s excellent ciders. Brian, James, and I decided to get burgers at Mike’s favorite burger joint, Ty’s, for our last meal in the U.S. Ty is a friendly man who spent a few years in Bend and was nice enough to give me a free beer, what a guy. The western bacon cheese burger with haystack onions on it was superb. After some last calls to Mom, Dad, and the little man (Ian), I joined Brian, Mike, and Megan inside.

Josh's position for the day

Meanwhile, Josh was out on the town catching up with some high school friends. Josh came in at 11 pm in fine form, Brian and I sensed a rough morning coming, Josh assured us that would not be the case. In the morning, according to plan we rose at 5 am to get over the border early. Josh was in classic Josh form, let’s just say he did not do too much packing of the car and spent most of the time unpacking his belly. The car loaded, we headed to Tecate based on advice from Hanna Eckert my dear co-counselor from this past summer (she bequeathed us a treasure trove of information Baja information- more on that later). Driving through the desert was stunning, recent rains left the desert verdant and the rolling hills revealed copious granite boulders. The sights left Brian, James and I exclaiming in excitement while Josh silently appreciated the vistas

At the border we stopped to reconnoiter, purchasing Mexican car insurance and checking off our final boxes. We crossed the border, enduring an extremely cursory inspection of the car (all our canned and dried goods from home made it over!) and without showing our passports we were over. “Wooooeee!” we whooped, the trip was happening.

As Brian navigated the streets we tried to follow signs towards Ensenada but ended up turned around. Upon realizing our mistake we had our welcome to Mexico moment. As we were about to turn around Brian noticed that a motorcycle cop had pulled out behind us with its lights on

“Shoot, pull over to the side,” James suggested. We were all on edge as a pudgy cop stepped off his motorcycle and sauntered up to the door

“Do you know why I stopped you? Y hablas espanol?” he asked.

“No se, y si,” I replied. In broken English and some Spanish he claimed that we had not stopped fully behind a crosswalk while a person was on the far side walking over, and he claimed we were not wearing our seat-belts. We showed him that we were in fact wearing our seat-belts and confusedly tried to figure out what had happened. We were a bit discombobulated having been caught off guard, we asked how much the ticket was. He suggested that it would probably be about 700 pesos or 60 dollars. We were not stoked. He said that we could follow him back to the police station. Stopping short of the station on the side of the road, he returned to our car and coolly asked if we “understood things” in Mexico. Brian in the drivers’ seat did not catch that he was intimating, that he would not give us a ticket for the right price. He asked us how much money we had, having just crossed the border Brian had $11 dollars US and I had a $5, we told him that we had $11. As he hemmed and hawed, explaining that we could take our chances with the judge, that it would take a few hours, Brian slowly picked up the drift that he was suggesting a bribe would be best. Josh and I jumped in, explaining that I had an extra 5 dollars but 16 dollars was all that we had. Finally, he agreed that that would be enough. He proceeded to give us directions to get out of town (as we were definitely on the wrong track initially!)

Frazzled, we slowly got our bearings while making some more wrong turns and finally heading out into the country. The beauty of the desert slowly brought our minds off the shake down and back to the moment at hand. Crossing desert washes and large valleys planted with wine and table grapes we headed towards Ensenada

In Ensenada we parked the rig and Brian, James, and I headed into town to find a bank, we needed money. Trekking through town, we were offered free drinks, free massages, and free girls, the joys of gringo filled tourism. Turning them down with smiles, we claimed to be headed into the monastery, which brought some smiles. After getting the money we rushed out of the gringo tourist trap as fast as we could, filling up the tank on the far side of town.

Cruising through the desert once more, we stopped and picked up vegetables and fruit at an abborretes, or small grocery store in San Vincent.  In Colonet we took a side road that we knew headed to the coast and meandered out to a gorgeous point where we set up camp. Brian was stoked on the waves, James and Josh were stoked on a beautiful camping spot, and I was stoked on the wildly diverse desert. With an incredible sunset and even better company we went to bed happy campers.

Not a bad view

Best,
    Elliott

Southbound and Out

All of us together, FINALLY!

Utterly elated, relieved, and rejuvenated we phoned James when we knew the car was ready and told him to get ready! We were out! We tossed all our junk in the car and finally jetted out of Corvallis around 10:30 pm with Tahoe in our sights. Navigating cloying banks of fog and steep passes we cruised through the night, rolling into Tahoma, CA in the late morning sunshine

James and his girlfriend, Meghan, have a little love loft nestled amongst massive cedars and ponderosa pines eight blocks West of sapphire-blue Lake Tahoe. With a bathroom, quite literally a one butt kitchen, and a small room with a tiny loft it does not take much from the woodstove to heat their nest.  As we parked the car, a slightly hung-over James Teeter, replete with pajama pants and bleary eyes meandered out of the house

“LET’S GET PACKED!” Brian, Josh, I excitedly exclaimed.

“Whoa” James replied, “Let’s just chill out for a moment.” After a cup of coffee we headed out on an allegedly “half-mile” hike down to the lake. An hour and a half later we were back at the cabin laughing and relaxed, the majestic pine forests and pristine water rekindled our sense of purpose. We did not need to be rushing. Nature reminded us to enjoy the moment.

While we were a week and a half behind schedule, we were together and in exactly the right place. We quickly realized that our roof rack needed a few modifications so James and I scurried off to the plumbing office to cut and rethread our galvanized pipe. A few hours later after bolting pipe to the car and sealing with Lock-Tight, our roof rack was ready and our gear was organized and loaded into the car. 

Organized in boxes

All the gear

We stopped to say a quick goodbye to Ms. Meghan, James’ lovely lady, at Alpenglow outdoor gear shop where her boss pulled out a bottle of Fireball and encouraged us to take a swig for the road. James, the driver, abstained and the rest of us drank a little liquid courage and off we rolled down to Bridgeport hot springs in the eastern Sierra-Nevada.

After a couple hour soak in the springs, my hands resembled my great-grandfathers’ so we headed back up the steep hill and camped for the night. The temperature dropped to the low teens and we were damn cold. Nobody slept well and we packed up as fast as we could in the morning and cruised towards Bishop, CA.

In Bishop, James, Josh, and I took a trip down memory lane, stopping at Josh’s favorite Chevron to fill the gas tank and at Joseph’s market to grab some food. This time Josh chose not to purchase any Peach Snaps and was able to hold it together at the Chevron. Always a good sport, Josh posed for some photos.

Josh at his favorite Gas Station

Best,
    Elliott

Failure to Launch

Corvallis, Oregon sits an hour and a half south of Portland, Oregon in the heart of the bucolic Willamette Valley. Situated on the edge of the Coast Range, Corvallis is 45 minutes from the rugged Oregon coast and an hour and a half from the stunning Cascade Mountains. The Willamette Valley itself is blessed with deep loamy soils. These soils were deposited when ice dams on prehistoric Lake Missoula periodically broke, sending torrents of water rushing from Montana to Oregon, forming the Columbia River Gorge and turning the entire Willamette Valley into a backwater. These soils support a diverse and successful agricultural industry. The Valley is the backbone of Oregon’s grass seed and nursery industry and Oregon is the world’s largest exporter of each. Additionally, the Willamette valley produces a multitude of small fruits (shout out to Papa Bear Finn!) and other produce. Corvallis is a magical town, with a burgeoning farmers market and bike lanes on 96% of its roads. The city has been rated as the safest city in the country in terms of natural disaster potential and crime and consistently ranks highly on lists of the top ten most livable places in the U.S. Oregon State University is located in Corvallis and is one of few (3?, 4?) land, sea, air, and space grant institutions in the country. The campus is filled with lush greenery and is one of the most beautiful around. Josh, Brian, James, and I met in McNary Residence Hall on campus

BUT we hate Corvallis. What? How? To the reader Corvallis sounds like heaven. However, after getting stuck in Corvallis for a week and a half Brian, Josh, and I were done with Corvallis. Let’s rewind.

On Friday, January 4^th, Josh and Brian met in Scappoose, Oregon where the Burb has been living for the last few months. Joel, the mechanic whom we were working with in Scappoose gave the vehicle back to them and said that after looking over everything, we only needed to replace a right caliper to keep the car from pulling to the right. Thanks Joel! They made the repair and packed up the Burb, putting our gear, our hopes, and our enthusiasm into the car. They drove onto I-5 only to have our hopes of fixed brakes quickly dashed. Turns out, the brakes were still pulling to the right way too hard. With some consternation Brian and Josh pulled into Corvallis where we were lucky enough to have a have a send off dinner with a variety of excellent friends and family. After saying our goodbyes we were left in a classic car jam. The next day was Sunday. No one is open on Sunday. 

Frustrated, we packed up as much as we could and readied an escape plan. We would get the car in ASAP on Monday, have tire issues remedied, have the  brakes sorted, and have a mechanic take a quick look at a starting issue and in no time we would be on the road. Or so we hoped.

Upon calling my good mechanic friend, Jack Hurley, he offered some recommendations on the right people to look at the rig. Of course his two recommendations were busy until Thursday, way too slow for us. Luckily, the second man recommended we head to J and H Auto in Tangent, OR. Thank goodness for his recommendation because we connected we talked with our soon to be savior, Jason. We explained our troubles and he said he would be able to get a look at the car the next day. A small delay we thought. We were sure we would be fixed up and headed to Lake Tahoe to pick up our fourth compadre, James Teeter in a day or two.

On the way to the mechanic we stopped by South Pacific Tires in Albany where our dear friend Mark Yeager met us and introduced us to Gary, a real chip off the old block. Mixing crude jokes with a brusque manner, Gary and his crew looked over our tires and kindly suggested that we replace two of them with decent tires, our 8-ply worn tires were going to be no match for the journey ahead. After some hemming and hawing we, intelligently upon a week of driving in Baja experience, decided to purchase the better tires. Gary was kind enough to put up with our cheap-butts and gave us an incredible deal on tires that will hopefully keep us safe and sound throughout our trip!

After dropping off the car with Jason and explaining the situation, we headed to run errands in Corvallis. One day turned into two days turned into three days. As it turned out, Joel hung us out to dry. Not only was there issues with the brakes and starting, but we also had a sneaky leaking gasket head, burning through 4 quarts after 100 miles of driving. He spied a hole in the air filter compartment among some other small fixes. All were issues we had been counting on Joel to check over. What a learning experience for us, fleeced by a shoddy mechanic. Fortunately, Jason identified the issues and went above and beyond our expectations.

Jason first believed our trouble was with the mass air flow intake, after some more tinkering he diagnosed the issue as one dealing with the distributor. Finally, Jason figured out that our computer was at fault. However, to understand the skill required to do this, you have to understand that the motor doesn’t match the car which doesn’t match a ton of the other parts in our car… meaning Jason had to sort through a clusterF*&^ of moving pieces and parts to get down to the Heart of the Matter as Don Henley might intone. 

Jason when he first saw the car... Ah the surprises to come

In addition to the general difficulty that our car presented, Jason’s shop went a person down when a relative passed away unexpectedly. While Jason tinkered and diagnosed, we slowly went crazy in Corvallis.

The first two days of delay were a blessing as we ran a variety of errands and gathered our final items. However, by Thursday we were antsy. Heck we were a whole colony of ants ansty! We wanted the car and had no more tasks to do in Corvallis. 

“I am soo sick of Corvallis. I love it here but I have never, ever wanted to leave so badly,” Josh exclaimed every few hours. 

We eventually accepted the reality of the situation, Jason was fixing the car and it would be done as soon as it was done. Learning lesson, be careful when purchasing a worked on used car with odd features.

Strawberry Hill

By Friday we were toasted. We wanted to be headed south! We were tired of calling James and despondently muttering, “well we hope we’ll be there tomorrow…” Luckily Corvallis truly does live up to all the superlatives used early in this post. On Saturday we headed out to the coast with my parents for some morning tide-pooling at Strawberry Hill followed by afternoon mushroom hunting in the misty coast range. We found enough hedgehogs (dentinum repandum) and yellowfoot chanterelles (cantharellus tubeformensis) to make some tasty venison-sautéed ‘shroom quesadillas! We finished the weekend with a couple rounds of disc golf. At that point we were ready. So ready. SO SO ready. 

On Tuesday evening with Jason working his butt off until 7 30pm, we got the car. When Jason gave us the rundown, we couldn’t have been more excited. He was able to magic the car together and get us on the road. If you ever need anything done, there is not a harder working, generous, and knowledgeable mechanic in the Corvallis, Albany, Tangent area. Jason fixed the big issues and dealt with all the small issues, even encouraging us to call him if we run into trouble on the road. Jason is a true class act.

Jason after finishing our car late in the evening! Thanks so much!

Best,
   Elliott

Hey Check This Out!

http://www.gofundme.com/iwsg7c

Dear Friends and Family,

We’re driving to Panama! And… we would love your help! Brian, Elliott, James, and Josh are trying to make it to the southernmost country on our continent. If you want to pitch in and be part of our journey, we would ecstatic. We have all been saving for the past year for this trip but realized that we might need some help with car repairs and miscellaneous happenstances (ransoms?) and any assistance that you would be interested in offering would be extremely appreciated!

The CREW! James, Brian, Josh, and Elliott (L-R)

On the way down we will be writing about and photographing our experiences at http://thesuburbandiaries.blogspot.com/. We want to share the cultures, sights, and people that we encounter with YOU, our friends and family. We sent you this message because we think you might be interested in hearing about our journey and maybe even helping us fix a fuel pump in Acapulco, Mexico, a serpentine belt in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, or a tire in Puntarenas, Costa Rica- any little bit helps!

Donate Today!

Donor Levels:

($0.50)          “Ceviche Taco Donor” (while waiting for car fix)

($3)               “Gas Cap Donor”

($10)             “Spark Plug Donor”

($50)             “Fuel Pump Donor”

($200)           “Carburetor Donor”            

($????)         “Radiator Donor”

Background:

Five years ago four strapping young men settled into McNary Dorm on the outskirts of the Oregon State University campus. It was in this dorm, on the fifth floor where a goofy, long-legged hometown boy first connected with a fiery, bleach blond product of Scappoose, over camping in the beautiful Cascade Mountains. These two boys met a gangly rock climber from the depths of the Appalachian Mountains (pronounced with hard a’s, not those garbage soft a’s northerners prefer) who befriended a scrawny Seattleite with a mop of curly hair.

Together these four boys became good friends and eventually (arguably?) men, together, sharing a multitude of adventures- driving cross-country, shushing down steep slopes, climbing ridiculous routes, backpacking tough trails, disc golfing on sunny afternoons, and drinking IPA at local watering holes.

A year and a half ago after a few (many?) northwest nectars (IPA), someone suggested that we drive our butts to Panama. While most booze-induced ideas evaporate in the bright sun of the morning, this seriously far out idea grew into a serious thought, and grew further into a serious plan. Please think about donating!

Basic Facts:

     Who?       Brian Verwey, Elliott Finn, James Teeter, Josh Courtney     
     What?      We are driving to Darien, Panama.
     When?     We plan on Departing on January 3^rd, 2014.
     Where?    We will be traveling through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
     Why?       Because we enjoy each other and the outdoors.
     How?       We are in the process of outfitting a rig for a four-month trek.

Thank you for all that you have done to support each of us already! Donate today!

With Love,

            The Crazy Crew

James, Brian, Josh, and Elliott

Workin' on the Rig?

aka playing with Carlos...

Carlitos!!

Josh removing the antiquated air-conditioning unit

With Elliott battling a post-Thanksgiving food induced coma and James weathering the high Sierra winter storms in northern California, it was up to Josh and me (Brian) to design and construct the storage unit in the back of our 1986 GMC Suburban.  Knowing that this isn’t your average road trip, Josh and I spent a considerable amount of time the day after Thanksgiving sitting in the back of the rig bouncing storage designs off each other while drinking PBRs.  After getting a good lay of the land, we agreed that among the more important details, the storage unit needed to be:

 (1) Accommodating for four travelers while remaining spatially economical

 (2) Relatively thief resistant

 (3) Comfortable and homey to keep our spirits up for the duration of the trip  

With these ideas in mind, we headed over to Josh’s Grandpa’s house where we were going put pen to paper.  Grandpa Courtney has years of experience designing living spaces in the many RVs he’s owned over the years, so it was no surprise when upon arrival he brought us into his workshop and showed us a design he already had drawn out on graph paper.  His design nearly matched ours and within five minutes he had the table saw ripping apart boards we had brought over from Josh’s house.

Safe box frame

            The storage unit is ostensibly divided into two sections.  The section nearest the backseat is approximately 36x36x20” and is going to hold gear that warrants “protection.”  It is an enclosed box that has a sliding door on the top that can be padlocked when away from the vehicle.  Although not completely thief proof, the design will safeguard our gear in the inevitable smash and grab robbery. 

The safe box fully enclosed

Fixing the Coleman

           

           The second section of the storage unit is going to store our kitchen items including cooking utensils, food, and our 3-burner Coleman camp stove.   Although this section is unsecured, we are crossing our fingers in hopes that any thieves will be uninterested in pots and pans.

As I mentioned before we wanted to make our rig and homely as possible.  Back in college “family” dinners were a way for us to kick back, relax, and eat good food with each other.  To keep this tradition alive we raised both storage sections off the floor of the vehicle in order to slide a table underneath which we will then be able to use to prepare meals and eat at. 

Spice Rack

The back with the table partially pulled out

Brian fixed the stove!!

Sidenote:

Because of our limited post-graduate funds, we created a YouTube video detailing the construction of the storage unit.  Considering the quality of cinematography and overall aesthetic appeal, we are expecting this video to become a YouTube sensation, providing funding for our adventures. 

WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GSPlWYfWO8&feature=youtu.be

 Photos:

Josh raising the 'Burb

Mr. Electron

The back

Cushy carpeting

Coleman Stove compartment

           

Where are we now!!!!????

We all congregated at Smith Rocks State Park three weeks ago to cure separation anxiety and iron out a few remaining trip details

After three months of phone conversations, everything seems to be coming together all at once. The blog, the letters, the car, the shots, the food, the gear, and for some of us (ahem Elliott), our passports, have each made it to some stage of completion. Our calls seem to always be so short but yet two hours have passed by the time we’ve managed to cover everything. Ok, 1 hour was spent listening to Elliott ramble, 45 minutes spent trying to understand one of James’ zany ideas, and the other 15 minutes actually getting work done. But we have been disciplined. Working on hammering out car purchases, fixes, and improvements. Planning routes, activities, and trip timelines. Creating blogs, photo sharing devices, and document photocopies. Discussing timelines, gear necessities, and vaccination requirements. Buying flights back to the homeland. Generally we relished the company of four of the coolest dudes that any of us could ever want to hang out and stay caught up with. We mostly spend the time laughing and having a good time

It’s true; we have managed to plan our way through most of our trip. We have a 1986 GMC Suburban. The car in two words; pure sexy.

Josh found this gem on Craigslist. He made the purchase and $1300 dollars later; we had an awesome vehicle complete with a 2004 Corvette motor allegedly giving us 21 mpg (we ‘aint fools, we estimate 14 in reality), a faulty transmission ($1600), rough tires ($100), and a bad fuel pump ($250). Altogether the fixes were rough but a great learning experience. We know what to check out when purchasing a car and the mechanics of replacing a fuel pump! The car is beautiful. More on that to come later.

Elliott managed to bumble through the State Department warnings, travel advice, and world maps to make a tentative route. Meanwhile James toiled away, designing a roof rack, and water purification system with five gallon buckets and bike pumps. And Brian? Brian did as mama bear Brian does and designed a huge packing list- personal and group, gear and goods, utensils and tools,  Frisbees and balls. He also developed a first aid kit with mama bear supreme Theresa that will keep us safe and sound in the southerly sands.

We’ve been getting ready but most of our prep time is still in front of the screen or on a phone line. It has been great but we are all itching to go. We have tons of places on our lists to see. We want to go now! One month left.

Best,

The Crew

Meet the Team!!

Meet the Crew 

James, Josh, Erik, Elliott, and Brian (Left to Right)

 All of us together. Ready for Country Fair

Profiles:

BRIAN!!!!

        Seen in typical form above, Brian aka mama sleeping bear, likes to hibernate. We hope he does this for no more than half the trip! Brian is the chiller of the group, happy in any situation and down to try anything new.

        If you looked at him and thought, huh, he kinda looks like a snow bum, you would be right! The dude is a ski-bum with a delightful lease on life. He loves shredding the gnarliest gnar in the woods and killing back-flips on kickers when the mood strikes. When there is no snow in the mountains you are liable to find Brian catching the latest swell on the coast. He managed to out-surf, in days on the ocean, all of our friends by double (Shelby Merrick excluded!) last year.

       While most of us questioned whether Brian actually ever went to school- I mean, who salmon fishes two days a week and then springs for a weekend of mushroom hunting and still does school!??!? The answer to this riddle is Brian Verwey, a Seattleite, born to Mama Bear Supreme Theresa and Jeff Boeing. They produced a brilliant kid with a noggin and a half. While we only saw him sleep (we hypothesize that the sleeping is related to the nourishment his large brain requires, possibly his head of hair though too) and have fun, he somehow managed to graduate Magna Cum Laude with an honors degree in Fisheries and Wildlife AND submitted a kickass honors thesis which described the distribution of giant salamanders in second and third order streams in the cascade mountains as impacted by light distribution. This paper is on its way to publication. The man has some serious scholastic chops. Brian also happens to be the leader of a research crew in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest working on a multitude of forest stream studies. Whether grad school or the Forest Service, Brian will be an asset to conservationists and the earth for years to come.

ELLIOTT!!!!

      Meet Elliott the resident Space Case. You've likely run into him as he sprinted across campus, town, or house to meet some deadline, after two meetings with four people, followed by a slug of coffee, followed by a study session in the library until 3 am followed by a cold bike ride home, followed by four hours of sleep when he gets up to do it again... and wait!... oh  S$*?! he forgot to do something and that's when you see him, sprinting, again.
      Amazingly he manages to live a serendipitous life where these things always seem to work out for the best. He hitchhikes with people who take him hours out of their way. He gets adopted by French families in the Alps, fed fresh croissants and coffee every morning, followed by alpen hikes and happy hour. He has his friends pick him up in the middle of farm fields in Central California and promptly taking him on hiking adventures in the Sierras and the Rockies. Each experience is sure to be filled with warm, tasty food and cheer. Yes, his life is serendipitous and he does not forget this fact.
      While a space case, Elliott does manage to produce some quality items and ideas. He graduated Magna Cum Laude, much to his parents surprise?, delight?, ambivalence? with degrees in both Biology, and Environmental Economics, Policy, and Management as well as a minor in Chemistry. Additionally he surveyed individuals environmental worldviews and determined whether there was a connection between the outdoor recreation that people participated in and their environmental worldviews, investigating this connection over both time and place of residence. As his 16 and 17 year old Coloradan backpacking, rafting, and mountain biking compatriots (part of the leadership development program he co-ran with Hannah Eckert) would attest, he is a giant nerd. They half-joked that he would make the perfect "Weird Dad" someday.
     Spend an hour in the forest with this guy and it is likely that he has already found and named, genus and species, four separate mushrooms. The guy sweats mushroom hunting like Swedes sweat sweat in sweat lodges. For Elliott, a fresh patch of Boletes is akin to Christmas, Hanukkah and Ramadan all in one moment. While his passion for 'shrooms is deep, his passion for teaching is deeper. Spending the summer teaching incredibly bright young folks about the natural world convinced Elliott that teaching is his true calling. He cannot wait for grad school, publishing papers, and teaching.

JAMES!!!!

      

     And we have James Teeter. James is our resident oddball. He is a unique man with myriad talents. James has the distinction of earning an incredibly difficult Chemical Engineering Degree, passing all the FE ‘s, engineering final tests, was Certified as a chemical engineer; and…. decided to take up plumbing down in Lake Tahoe, CA. Anyone on the outside might look at this decision as crazy, but to those of us who know James Teeter, this was classic Teets Mageets (affectionately). 

      He knew that cubically exercising his brain and body would break his creative soul and so while he dedicated to finishing his degree, he knew that despite a couple of positive interviews in the corporate world, he preferred a different route. James needs a rock to climb, even better? Lots of rocks. Heading south was an easy decision once James found out about the copious outcroppings in the Sierra Nevada.
This is not the first time that James decided to blaze his own trail. Coming out of high school in North Carolina (Cackalackian?), James uprooted and headed for the Beaver state with the intention of heading back to NC State his Sophomore year. As Freshman year pulled to a close, many of his close friends pleaded that he stay on the Best Coast, ok so really just Elliott begged, and he remained noncommittal through the Cherry Pie Invitational Bike Race in spring 2010. At this race, Wes Stein powered up the final pitch for a top five performance and more importantly, James realized that he had not read the fine print, and he would not be able to transfer to NC State until Junior year and by that time he would already be in pro-school at OSU! OOps! Classic Teets. On top of that, he fit in the West coast. His heart was Oregonian, the man loves coffee, IPA, and the outdoors- in any order. The West coast snagged a good one, someone who adamantly demands that the Appalachian Mountains be pronounced App-A-Latch-an's and brings a sly smile to every situation.
     Tahoe was next on James' itinerary; Belay on! He currently spends his time crafting beautifully simple, efficient, and attractive plumbed jobs when he is not off packing his ropes into an alpine granite field, sending routes, and summitting boulders. Equally brilliant with a shovel, hoe, and pruning shear as he is with calculator, pencil and MAT-Lab, James brings an incredible mind to the group, offering us interesting solutions to tough problems.

JOSH!!!!

       Josh, our resident burned out hippie, cough cough, ha ha, not, in reality the only one of us whom has figured out the big question, what do I want to do with my life? The kid might look like a ski bum (he was, see below), and be known for his love of 40’s and subsequent need for Rolaids but he really is a wise man. He is matriculating to graduate school at Denver University next fall to follow his true passion; electrons!! 

       How Josh got here safely is a much debated point in the Courtney family. As an adolescent, Josh was part of the Warren, OR Menacing Maniacs, a group of testonsterone filled youth who terrorized the community with illegal fireworks, frozen raccoon roadkill, and errant arrow shooting. Upon graduation, Mom said, "whew,.... thank goodness". While Josh was once a bucking bronco, he has matured into a stately stallion with occasional acid reflux issues. Whenever one of the rest of us felt like complaining about the workload that we were dealing with, we would always look at Josh and shut our mouths. He worked his way through school, selling Blue Sky energy, hawking hot dogs, and managing troubled youth among a multitude of other jobs. And he still managed to write incredible essays and ace his tests!
      Entering a specialized energy policy program will allow him to focus on what he loves most and does best, energy policy; whether in the field pitching Blue Sky, or in the classroom challenging assumptions, Josh is an energy wiz. He again showed his ridiculous work ethic, spending the summer canning salmon in Alaska, impressively supervising 35 others, making sure the cannery ran as smoothly as belly-fat. All the while he was saving up money for our trip to the south, dreaming about the possibility of warm sun after spending 18 days in miserable deluge conditions in Bristol Bay with little to show for it. He is presently stoked the trip and the break before jumping into the graduate school ring of fire. 

Blasts from the Past:

Typical Brian

 Cuddle Puddle Love!

And yes, we love and hug trees.

Tooling around Tides

Summiting The Three Brothers (Yosemite)

Keough Hot Springs in Eastern California

Teeter's National Park- Teton NP

Hanging out in Death Valley

Josh and Bri shredding the Gnar, drinkin' pbr.... is this the start to a new Country Radio Hit!!?

Best,
     Elliott Finn