Little Rock City

When we last left our intrepid explorers they were holed up in a coffee shop in downtown Chatty drinking PBR and waiting for the rain to stop. After spending the afternoon there and then holing up at a Wall-Mart in Chattanooga for the night I got to see my first glimpse of the famed Little Rock City boulderfield. Located on the Montlake golf course the area is a very strange blend of aging duffers playing the seemingly dogtrack links of Montlake and the younger generation playing on the beautiful boulders that border the fairways of the course. The climbing here is on gorgeous, bullet-hard, white sandstone that offers both very aesthetic as well as fun rock climbing. Being as it was MLK day Monday was busy at the boulders but we met many nice folks including friends of Seiray and getting the phone number of our friend Laban who went to school at ASU during our time there. Aside from that Daniel had a fantastic day, once again climbing nearly everything he tried first or second try and finishing his day by completing the classic problem "The Wave." Kristen also had a good climbing day completing the LRC classic "Super Mario Brothers" among a host of other proud lines. Another great feature of the LRC boulders is that the golf course will sell you beer and then let you go bouldering with said beer! What a novelty! We next spent another lovely evening at the Soddy-Daisy Wall-Mart that is located very close to the golf course and bouldering. As much as I think Wall-Mart is a horrible corporation that exploits small towns the parking lots are a great, safe place to camp with accessible bathrooms and everything you could possibly need for a comfortable evening in the truck. There was even a Mexican restaurant in the shopping center with a great happy hour that we indulged in after our day climbing.. life is good. The next climbing day was a great one for me and I got to finish up one of the most enjoyable climbs of my trip so far, "Spyro Gyro" which consisted of a giant dynamic move to the finishing hold and a tall, proud top-out. On another interesting note, Luna has only bitten one person the entire time I've owned her and that was in Kentucky nearly a year ago, of course the first person I meet on our second day at LRC is the same guy that Luna snagged! The climbing community is extremely small and we keep getting reminded of that on a day to day basis. That night our friend Laban was kind enough to put us up in his new home, show us a good time on the four wheelers, and take us to one of the cheapest, tastiest breakfast places I have been to in a long time. After a sumptuous meal we pulled out for Nashville and the home of Kristen's high school pal Mansi, who is a ninth grade math teacher. However, along the way we took a detour to visit the famous Jack Daniel's distellery in Lynchburg TN. The tour was great and informative concluding with some delicious lemonade and a strong hankering for a glass of whiskey. Once we got to Nashville we enjoyed some television, pizza, and whiskey at Mansi's lovely apartment,got some good sleep, and now we are poised to head out to Arkansas! The trip has so far been awesome, good times, good people, and fantastic southern sandstone! Off we go!