Happy Birthday Sprinter!

Jan 31, 2014

Dusk in Malibu Creek State Park, just 20 miles north of LA,

A year ago on February 1st, we boarded a Greyhound bus from Portland to Eugene to pick up our Sprinter. Three months ago, we packed up the van and hit the road on this trip. Zooooooom...amazing how time whips on by.

We just realized this thanks to Chelsea's cool 1-sentence journal that she keeps that shows entries year-over-year. I'd write more, but we are getting up at 5 am tomorrow to volunteer at a 50 mile ultramarathon race that happens to be starting at our campground at Malibu Creek State Park . One of the racers took us out for Chipotle and a litany of racing stories tonight and we're gonna get up and root for him in the pitch dark as he and 250 other runners rampage off into the mountains. The race is the inaugural Sean O'Brien, if you're interested. (It may have me thinking, "Hey, a 50k could be a fun challenge...")

Live from the race (yay technology!). The 50 milers head out at six am.

Live from the race (yay for iPhones and remote publishing with Wordpress). The 50 milers head out at six am in 28 degrees. Top finishers will run about a 7:00/mile pace and finish in 6-7 hours. Smokin' fast!

Chelsea crushing the (very steep) Bulldog Road in Malibu Creek.

Wrapping things up! A few pictures from our time here in Malibu Creek State Park. After a scant 12 hours in L.A., our plans changed when two sets of family and friends came down with the flu. Instead, we escaped up here 20 miles north into the Santa Monica mountains and are sticking to some of the core themes for this trip - getting out in nature, meeting amazing people, grabbing serendipity by the horns, and not getting too serious.