First of all, there will need to be an update. For the past several months I have been a student at Colorado State University until I graduated in December. It was over the last semester of University that I decided I would avoid anything academic or employment oriented. I believe it is time for me to take a little vacation from school and work. I am not shutting a door, merely not gazing at the doorway.
The whole idea started in October when my buddy George and I began thinking about what we might do after school. We were for the most part completely oblivious to using options considered as work or school. While work and more school may be fruitful and fun, we both decided it was not for us. Early on in the process I knew that I had to travel back to Sweden where my mother is from. It was an easy decision considering I had not visited in five years: the longest hiatus from the place that I have ever experienced.
It was shortly after my complete commitment to Sweden that George and I began climbing in Indian Creek, Utah. Indian Creek is a magical place and it captured our imaginations. Whilst in the Creek we would climb with friends who had been on the road for months traveling from popular climbing crags in search of a good time. It was the inspiration from our disheveled mentors that inspired us to go on our own journey. It was decided after one of our trips that we had to become dirtbags.
JW and GF sporting their creekstaches in Indian Creek, UT.
A dirtbag, a representative of a lifestyle replacing that of normal working life, is to be my new career. My initial impression of dirtbags was negative of course due to my bourgeois upbringing, but this would all change. Our pals at the crags were great people from impressive walks of life. On our initial trips we met lawyers, teachers on sabbatical, college graduates, doctors, surgeons, engineers, and a lot of Europeans. They were all decent people in search of living a life of quality. After those trips, we learned that the equity placed on the dirtbag lifestyle was far higher than that of any ordinary citizen working and living within the cities and towns of the country.
Unfortunately, this story is beginning to shape up as another one of those ‘come to nature’ types. At this point I have to inform you that the recollections of my travels will not be a boring story of transcendental nature walking or how life on the road is most peaceful and serene. This is my promise, and this is my disclaimer! This blog is about Me, my family, my pals, and the stuff we have all done.
I have sidetracked. While the dirtbag life is fun and glorious, it is after all winter, and climbing is a summer sport. So George and I graduated and went our separate ways for the cold season. He has gone to his home in Silverton, Colorado where he spends his days skiing in waist deep powder, and I will be traveling to Sweden to be with my family. We will both be waiting out the winter in our respective happy places.
Sweden will be my home for the next several months. It is going to be a nostalgic experience, with time spent with my family and friends just south of the Arctic Circle. The first portion of this blog will cover the experiences of my family while we are on vacation in Sweden.
My trip to Sweden is the beginning of my dirtbagging. I am nervous because I have begun to develop the urge to work and slave over projects. I am however committed to learn from this lifestyle I have chosen. For the endless questions I get about when I plan on getting or a job or how I plan to pay for all of this, my answer is as follows: I have never been a bum, and I will never become a bum! Thanks for reading.
Feel free to stay tuned over the next couple of months for some pictures and accounts of our lives. Be well.
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