The Long Haul

Well I made it, Seattle Washington to San Luis Obispo 1,019 miles and 16 hours. Nell and i left at around 3:00PM on Wednesday afternoon after getting everything packed. We arrived in Portland Oregon to see Amy and Chris and their three sons Evan, Caden, and the newborn Brennan who was only a month old. It was great to see family again and play a little guitar hero, which i am terrible at, and eat some real good homemade waffles (with peanut butter of course).

We decided that we would leave around 8:00 in the morning and make the rest of the trip that day. 13 hours later, dehydrated from too much coffee and stiff as all getup we made it to San Luis around 9:15 PM. I am surprised neither Nell or i got a ticket cause we were driving 80 the whole way. I am staying with Jack and Mary and there one year old Vanessa the miracle baby until i can find a place for myself (which believe me is harder than it looks). I went and visited a few places but they are all pretty trashy, but i guess that's the life of a jobless decathlete who doesn't have much to spend on rent.

Surprising enough as you can see from the pictures, everything that i owned except for a few things that i sold to the track shed fit in the truck. On a side note i absolutely love my truck! Piled down with everything from a giant tv to pole vault poles, it sucked gasoline like there was no tomorrow, but i loved every minute of driving it. The truck has been something that i have always wanted, a big Chevy Silverado!

So its been a couple days down here and it still really hasn't hit me yet that everything i own is here and now i live here. I am sure after i get settled into my own place i will realize just what a big deal this is. Yesterday i just did a little warm up on the track and some hurdles and that's it, while today Jack had me do a 500, 300, 200 at pretty fast pace. It didn't feel too good but i think the mental and physical part of the travel are taking its toll. Its been great to have Paul Terek as a training partner, he is teaching me a lot and is very gracious from getting me a few days free at the Kennedy club to a new wetsuit to surf in (which i tried today). I watched the sun set out on the ocean tonight as i sat on surfboard in pismo beach, what a life.

This next week will be a real transition week for me as i start really getting on a training schedule and hitting things pretty hard.

This transition has been tough for me but i couldn't have done it without all the people who have helped me and supported me through this big change. Between the prayers, gift cards, gas cards, emails, and letters, its easy to think that i am the luckiest guy on the planet. So thank you, thank all of you for supporting me through this time. This decison was the hardest one i have ever made but i know that i am doing the right thing i am excited to take the leap and see where i land, i have a feeling its going to be good. I am hoping to write on this once a week or so with some pictures of what i am doing. For now you can all gravel over my truck and also laugh about how ridiculous it looked while driving down. Don't forget randoincali.blogspot.com, however you want to say it ran doin cali or rando in cali, they both work for me, surfs up!