8/18  Driving south towards the United States.  I see a moose from the road.  After being pointlessly hassled by a border patrol guard, I'm back in the United States.

I have always wanted to spend a week in Glacier National Park.  It is consistently voted the best National Park by readers of Backpacker Magazine.  Unfortunately, I don't have a week.  I'm meeting Jessica, Melissa and Kyle at Devil's Tower tomorrow.  But I can't come this close to the park and not see it at all.  So I spend four hours being a windshield tourist.  Drive through the park and take pictures.  I get as far as Logan Pass on the Continental Divide, then depart the park and continue on towards Wyoming.

8/19  Drive all the way to Devil's Tower National Monument.  There is a huge hail/wind/lightening storm raging as I exit the interstate for Devil's Tower.  Wind tears down branches.  Hail accumulates like snow.  The storm passes and we see no more bad weather in Wyoming.

Funny story approaching the Monument.  There is bridge construction underway.  A flagman stops my car and tells me that I have to drive 10mph until 11pm.  I look at my clock... it is only 8pm.  I ask how far I have to drive 10mph.  He indicates the 100' length of the small bridge.  On the surface it might seem completely pointless... some would say idiotic... for the flagman to tell me that the 10mph speed limit will be in effect until 11pm, since that couldn't be remotely relevant to me.  Upon further reflection, I realize that he is giving me a choice.  I can wait there for three hours, then drive across the bridge at the posted speed of 30mph, or I can immediately proceed across the bridge at 10mph.  After weighing the pros and cons of both options, I choose to drive across the bridge immediately at 10mph.

At the Monument, camping is $12/site/night.  Split four ways that is pretty cheap.  Though if you arrive at the Monument late at night and depart the campground early in the morning, there is no one to collect fees.  I pick a site and leave a note at the entrance for Jessica, Melissa and Kyle.  They arrive late at night and promptly fall asleep.

8/20  We wake at 5:30am to climb the tower before it gets too hot.  Our route is south facing and will take all day, so we are going to bake no matter how early we wake.  Oh well.

By 7am we are roped up and climbing.  We climb the first pitch of Wiessner (5.4) to reach the start of Durrance (5.7).  Then up the six pitches of the Durrance route to the summit.  We did Bailey's Direct to the summit.  A tip for the direct finish -- take the crack system just left of the fifth belay, not the one directly above the anchor.  We are climbing as a party of four.  I lead every pitch, then belay Melissa and Kyle simultaneously.  When they reach the anchor, Melissa belays me on the next pitch while Kyle belays Jessica as she cleans the pitch.  Using this system we move relatively fast.  We reach the summit at 1pm.

The trigger wires on my biggest cam (which is only equivalent to a #2.5 camalot) finally give out.  Durrance is mostly offwidth, so I need my biggest cam and many bigger cams which I don't own.  I end up running out most of the pitches, but the climbing is never harder than 5.7, so it isn't a problem.

After lounging on the summit we take the four rappels down to the base and hike out.  We answer many questions from tourists along the way.  We tell them there is a Dairy Queen on top of the tower.  One man asks if the Dairy Queen charges double the usual amount.  I tell him that it is run by climbers, so they actually give other climbers a discount.

After washing as best we can, we head into town to eat dinner.  Then we drive to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota.  The place is a madhouse, even at 10pm.  It looks like a miniature version of Vegas.  The Monument is garishly lit.  Just parking nearby costs a ridiculous amount of money.  It holds no attraction for any of us.  We make an illegal u-turn and rapidly depart.

Just a few miles away we turn into the Black Hills National Forest.  We spend the night camped out in a quiet meadow and don't see another human the entire time.

8/21  Jessica, Melissa and Kyle leave in the morning, so I am solo again.  I drive east listening to the audio version of Kite Runner.  My inverter finally gives up the ghost.  I have become dependent on the inverter and quickly buy a new one.  Must have AC power on highway.  Also must have ice cream.  I finally manage to eat an entire half gallon of ice cream.  This is my fourth try.  The previous three attempts were nearly successful, but I always had to dump the last few spoonfuls.  The third try would have been successful, but I ate half a pound of chocolate before starting on the ice cream.

8/22  I've got a nice routine going when I drive solo.  Wake early in the morning and drive for a bit.  Stop for breakfast when I'm hungry.  Drive more, listen to audio books.  Escape the heat of the day by visiting a library where I can check email, use bathrooms and read current magazines and newspapers.  Visit the local grocery store for produce.  Drive a bit more, then stop for dinner.  As evening approaches, find a quiet place to spend the night.  Read until I'm ready for bed.  Sleep early and repeat the schedule the next day.

8/23  Continue east.  All rest stops in the state of Iowa have free wireless internet.  Pretty cool.  And the only reason I know to visit Iowa.

8/24  Arrive at Jason and Carla's house in Virginia.  I haven't showered for 16 days, a personal best.  I'm grateful for the chance to get infinitely clean.

8/25  Jason and I drive to New River Gorge.  After some confusion, we find Roger's Rocky Top.  It is $6/person/night which is somewhat pricey for port-a-potties and a semi-level field.  But Roger is cool and all the climbers hang out there.  It isn't Miguels, but it isn't bad either.

8/26  We head to Bubba City for some sport climbing.  After three months in dry air, it feels like I'm in the Amazon.  The humidity and lush forest is very different from what I have been climbing all summer.  Our first climb is Insistent Irony (5.10b) which goes pretty easily.  Then we climb Chicks in the Woods (5.11a) which is harder, but not bad when you work out the sequence.  There is a huge bolted roof which goes at 5.11 that I really want to try.  Don't remember the name, but it is just left of the walk down to Bubba City.

It rains lightly for a spell.  We eat lunch and check out the New River Gorge Bridge visitor's center.  Then we head back to Roger's and walk down to Kaymoor.  First we head to the Rico Suave area.  We stick clip the first bolt on a climb we think is Totally Tammy (5.10a).  It turns out to be The Uninflatable Ewe (5.12a).  I flail for a bit, then we leave a biner and bail. Next we run up the correct climb.  I flail on this too.  Totally Tammy is Totally A Sandbag.  That climb is at least 5.10d if not easy 5.11.  We are feeling frustrated, but we decide to try one more climb.  We hop on the area namesake, Rico Suave (5.10a) which leads up an arete.  I'm glad we did.  This is a fantastic climb.  One of my favorite sport climbs ever.  The arete is beautiful and the climbing is fun.  If Totally Tammy is a sandbag, Rico Suave is a bit overgraded.  It is more accurately a 5.9 though fun no matter what the grade.

8/27  We head to Summersville Lake, about 20 minutes north of New River Gorge.  After a bit of searching, we find the Orange Oswald area right on the lake.  At least one group of climbers arrives in their boat.  Much easier than hiking.

We start on Chunk Goes Bowling (5.9).  The first bolt is missing, so I traverse over from some hard project which is just left.  The start has me tired and I struggle up the route, even on the easier climbing.  We chill for a bit during the rain which seems to come every afternoon.  When the rain stops, we climb the area namesake (you can't go wrong climbing namesakes) Orange Oswald (5.10).  This is a fun climb and a good way to end the day.  And to end my trip.

Jason and I drive back to his house where we wash up and eat dinner.

8/28  Drive home to Ithaca.  I finish the audio version of Lolita that Melissa lent me and I finish Harry Potter VI.  I've become a real Harry Potter fan and I can't wait for the for the seventh book to come out.

Finally, after three months, 11000 miles, two car repairs, hundreds of pitches, a dozen times setting the alarm clock for a pre-5am wake up, nine books, and many gallons of ice cream... after all that I return home.