picture this...: July 2009

well, never let it be said that hanging out with whitney is uneventful. (c;

a couple of weeks ago whitney contacted me about going hiking this weekend. she has been working like crazy and hasn't had a lot of time to get out and go hiking this season and she saw a hike that she thought i could handle and would be filled with pretty pictures. double plus (c:

on sunday i played at church, so when i was done i headed over to whit's and we headed up to evergreen. the trip up there was great. lots of music and laughing and kevin bacon dancing innapropriately...maybe you had to be there...
the sky looked pretty wicked but neither of us were opposed to getting rained on. we were mildly concerned about the lightning, but didn't let that stop us either.

it was actually a really great little trail. tons of wildflowers and a moderate incline that i could handle. i could have lived without the bikers as the trail was not exceptionally wide, but there weren't an unbearable amount and we actually ran into a couple who were courteous enough to thank us for moving aside. i thought i'd never see the day.

the original plan was to do the 5.8 mile trail that was plotted out in the trail book she had. we started out on meadow view trail and were about a mile in when she realized she left the map in her car and neither of us were bright enough to remember a watch...but hey, we remembered the bug spray this time. the trails were well marked and we figured we could keep going without the map. we were, however on a time constraint because she was scheduled for a stand-up trip that night and had to be home in time to get ready for work and make it to the airport on time.

we were on the trail a little more than 2 miles and it still hadn't turned for the loop back. since we didn't know for sure what time it was...i am famous for lollygagging and getting distracted by pretty things, so 2 miles for us takes longer than normal people, i'm sure...we made an executive decision to turn around. after a few run ins with bikers, we finally ran into a hiker who could give us the time. we were pleasantly surprised at the time we were making. the sky never opened up where we were at and the only rain that we saw on the trail was a few sprinkles at the end.

highlights of the hike:
the revolutionary evolutionary tree (potty anyone?)
courteous bikers (no, thank you)
deer leg (tho it totally grossed out whit)
the most amazing trip catch i've ever seen (well done, whitney)
wind in the trees (so loud i thought there was a river nearby)
amazing conversation (life, love, expectation, worth...so good)
2 hot boys (how you doin'?)

whit had to be home by 6 in order to make her trip and it was about 4:30 when we started heading back to denver. plenty of time. we stopped at genessee so i could take pictures of the buffalo. we weren't out of the car more than 2 minutes when the sky opened up and just dumped on us. i love, love, love the rain, so it's not a big deal to me, but i hadn't brought anything to protect my camera...so back in the car we went.

still plenty of time.

However...we were driving along, minding our own when we heard a loud CRACK. neither of us said anything, but i think both assumed that a large rock had hit the side of her car. no bueno. but what are you gonna do? not long after the crack, whit said she thought that she might have a flat tire. no sooner had she said that did i feel the car start shaking a bit.

oh. yeah. that's even more no bueno.

we were almost down the mountain (red rocks was the next exit), but when you put rain and a flat together, that could be a recipe for worse things. so whit pulled over to the shoulder (and i use that term loosely). she had to park quite close to the guard rail, but i was able to squeeze out and survey the damage. it was not good. she asked whether i thought she could keep going down the mountain, but she was nearly on the rim and the risk was far too...risky.

so there were were. on a sad little strip of i70 doing our best not to get taken out by the crazy drivers and whitney needing to be home in just a little more than an hour. she said that typically in situations like these, she'd just call her dad but her parents were out of town at a wedding.

i said it was really no problem, if she had a jack and a spare i could change the tire. my brother made sure that was a skill i learned. couldn't always rely on daddy or james to do everything. since then, i've changed more tires than one should ever have to, but i digress. so, she goes into her trunk and gets the spare, but all she has is the tire iron...no jack. uh oh.

i'm good at changing tires. just not that good.

i suggested my brother or even my mom could help, even tho both of them were quite a ways away. but at that point our options were limited. so we began texting and calling anyone we thought might could help. hell, i was texting people i wasn't even sure could help.

after getting a few responses back from people who were unable to help, i got a call from john hartley. he lives in arvada and it would only take him about 15 min to get to where we were. he dropped what he was doing and came to the rescue.

he's the bestest. he gets some homemade cookies. (c:

we got whit's car down the mountain and she went to her parents house to switch cars with them...'cuz you know, eating a donut=good; driving on a donut=bad. and we made it back to her place with a few minutes to spare.

on my way home i called chelsea because she had texted me back after we found out we were going to be rescued by john. i had just told her 'nevermind', but wanted to call her and let her know we made it okay since she texted to see if we made it and i didn't get back to her. when i called her she told me she would have been happy to help, but she didn't know what she could do. she wasn't sure if she could change a tire. sigh.

now i have to sit those girls down and learn them how to change a tire.

learn, ladies. learn. it's a skill you hope you never have to use, but it's handy when you do.