Friends are Awesome!

Well, since we last posted the crew has traveled to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas first of all. Having spent quite a bit of time here in the past both Daniel and I were psyched to show Kristen the awesome sandstone of the ranch. However, upon arriving near the ranch we ran into a horrible fog bank that cut visibility down to mere feat. The fog lasted until nearly midday and we ended up getting in probably a half a day of rock climbing. However, Kristen made short work of a 5.12a called "Lavender Eye" which was quite impressive. Daniel and I, well, we didn't do so much this day and ended up staying one more night at the ranch before heading out for points westward in the morning. Then we drove, and drove, and drove before stopping at a Walmart in Texarkana, Arkansas right on the border with Texas. It was getting dark at this point but we decided to push it through to Dallas in hopes that we could meet up with my high school buddy Brandon who we thought lived in San Antonio. However, about 100 miles outside of Dallas I got in touch with Stringer who happened to actually live in Forth Worth which was right outside of Dallas!! Needless to say after 14 hours of driving we were really excited to see a familiar face and have a comfortable place to stay for the evening. Brandon regaled us with stories of his friend "Jungle Death" and took us out on the town where Daniel and I were promptly hit on by a young gentleman. This was quite the unique experience for both of us to say the least. The next day, nursing slight hangovers, we got the tour of Fort Worth, getting to see some fantastic water gardens, stock yards, and a pretty good taco and margarita too boot. After staying one more night with the ever hospitable Stringer we moved on to Austin TX, apparently home to some fantastic limestone climbing. Once again, while en-route I got in touch with a college friend named Shannon and she offered up a guide book for the area as well as a gracious offer to stay at her pad while we were visiting the area. FYI the traffic in Austin is the worst I have ever experienced and this resulted in much consternation on my part seeing as how my pet peeves are heavy traffic and getting lost, both of which have happened in abundance during our stay in the Austin area. After getting the guide from Shannon's house we hit up a public park in the area called the Greenbelt and managed to make our way to a climbing area known as "Gus Fruh." This turned out to be a little disappointing with some less than stellar routes and bouldering. I guess though, when you live in the city you have to climb on what's convenient and sometimes not what is quality. Thus began our nationwide shit-talking tour 2010, coming to a crag near you very soon. It seems that limestone climbing is quite different than what you would imagine, it is like climbing on plastic, without texture. However, the next day we went to a semi-famous Austin climbing site, Reimer's ranch, which is home to a lot of limestone sport routes. The climbing was also very slick here but not quite as polished as at the Greenbelt. However, as you can see in one of the pictures, some of the bolting leaves a bit to be desired.. After climbing a few pitches Kristen and Daniel attempted some of the harder climbs, some of which were quite unique, such as "Liposuction" which comes out of a very interesting cave climbing stalactites and other wild features moving up the wall. As interesting as Reimer's ranch is I wouldn't recommend this as a world class climbing destination. However, the routes were interesting and most certainly a departure from anything we had climbed in the past. Today we decided to switch things up and go bouldering at McKinney Falls state park which is about 15 minutes from Shannon's abode. The climbing here is also on limestone and from what everyone had told us is considered extremely stout. We weren't disappointed as the climbing was extremely overhanging with slick feet and a myriad of one and two finger pockets littering the wave-like formation that was home to the bouldering. Daniel and I kept ourselves busy for several hours playing on this unique formation and were humbled many times by the difficulty of the climbing. That being said, it was a great challenge and we still managed to get in quite a bit of climbing. Some of these boulder problems were some of the most unique I have encountered so far, ever, but I wouldn't recommend driving to Austin just for this area. That being said, it was a pretty darn good day of climbing. This is probably going to wrap up our climbing in Austin but we are heading to Enchanted Rock tom morrow and will be meeting up with Shannon to volunteer helping Girl Scouts learn how to rock climb this weekend as well as doing a lot of climbing in the area. Tomorrow it is going to rain, for sure, so we're going to check out some wineries around what is known as "E-rock" which is also known as the "Na pa Valley" of Texas. When we post next we'll let you guys know how the wine, climbing, and girl scouting goes. Until then, enjoy the random pictures and we'll keep you posted as we make our way westward! I hope that you guys in Boone are enjoying the snow and that Twigs is hoppin'! We miss all of ya'll, kick back a shot of Woodford for us at the new smoke-free bar! To the rock climbers, I hope ya'll are finding some dry rock and hopefully crushing the proverbial gnar! Until later folks...