Those two songs that form the title of my blog are both String Cheese Incident songs. That's the jam I'm trying to hear when I've got my gear loaded up and am heading to the mountains or sometimes even when I'm out there. Black Clouds makes me think about the ever hovering dangers of a high risk exciting lifestyle, and literally speaking something that I contend with in the summer time when hikin', mountain bikin', and especially stand-up paddlin'. But then when the summer haze blows out after a good autumn hurricane and that wind picks up Restless Wind comes to mind, and that carries over into the winter when I am feeling it hard on a high ridgeline in the Smokies.
A few other pieces of info:
I am a born again Christian and go to church in my community of Swannanoa outside of Asheville. Like most Ashevillians, I put nature on a pedestal, but I want to make it clear that in my beliefs God gets all the glory. I don't worship nature, but I do worship the Creator who put it there and put me so close to it.
I own a home in Swannanoa and share it with my wife Hailey and two dogs. Roxy, a golden-retriever dachshund mix (I know it's crazy, but it came with the wife) and Cheoah, my border collie pup born 12-2-14. My wife Hailey is really good for the world. She is a teacher and makes a contribution to our world with what she does. Go Hailey!
Cheoah
From early 2012 to early 2014 a majority of my time was spent inside a huge pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with 6-day-a-week work. I am a chemist (masters in chemistry from Western Carolina) and now a lab supervisor and at work am driven by production of a variety of life saving medical solutions. I love my job and it is a total blessing, but during that time it absorbed a large amount of my time. I am happy to say now that things have changed. My schedule changed up with my promotion to supervisor and now I am on 12-hour shifts. This means I have an abundance of time off! It's awesome!
I am from Morganton, NC and love my folks. We are very close. I grew up at a state fish hatchery with hundreds of acres to roam freely on that bordered Linville Gorge Wilderness. That's part of the reason I am so into the outdoors. My dad got me into mountain biking at a young age and am still doing it today, although I have been through alot there.
I used to roll on a HUGE Specialized Big Hit mountain bike, made for big jumps and chunky downhills. I got hurt severely in 2005 when I was a senior in high school sending a jump I shouldn't have been on in Hickory, NC. I had two knee surgeries in '05 (LCL, ACL, PCL) and an ankle operation in summer '06 because I damaged nerves in my leg during the crash. Still on the bike in 2007 I did it all again on my other leg (patellar tendon), this time sending a large dirt jump on campus at WCU on an Azonic singlespeed (a can-can gone horribly wrong). Finally in 2009, right after I got healed up, I reinjured the patellar tendon again when I came off the bouldering wall on the wrong foot. I am happy to say now, after all that, I am still at it. Just very carefully. I no longer hit really big moves on the bike, and ALWAYS climb on belay!
Big Hit
This is funny... pre-Big Hit. Kona Kahuna. BTW yes the head tube cracked
Belay Cave at the top of the first pitch of Fruit Loops, 5.7+ Rumbling Bald
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