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. . . driving in Folsom yesterday.  I’d just done the front brakes on the Jetta, and immediately tested them with a panic stop as I was making a left turn from one 6 lane divided highway to another not half a mile from my house.

Some idiot blowing the stoplight?  No.

A oblivious cell phone driver merging into my lane?  No.

A kid chasing a ball?  No.

A mule deer running straight at my car in the middle of this developed suburb at midday?  Yes.

It got so close I checked the front bumper for fur when I got home.   We have turkeys, but we do not have deer.  At least until yesterday.  Crazy.

Abi posted this photo on Facebook and it was so awesome I felt inclined to share it here - capturing a true transient state.

The pic neatly encompasses the sort boat mayhem that was one of the unexplainable running themes of sabbatical.   This was when the guide surprised us by intentionally flipping the boat;  I like how gravity yet to figure out that I’m not supposed to still be sitting in the raft.

I’m suffering from a big case of sabbatical hangover brought on to this thing called going to work everyday.  The treatment: Cynthia and I are heading to Paul and Rachael’s wedding this weekend.  It’s going to be good times.

This is what I found when I returned to my cube this morning:

The plaques around the edge are various “degrees”, apparently to go with my other three (which are at home, not in my cube) in with such impressive sounding names as “Master of Gaseous Expulsion” and “Master of Smug Superiority”.  There was even a “Bachelor of Freak Dancing” from Brigham Young (they know their dancing in Utah).  Besides the all the boxes and other junk placed inside, there were also tiny Ohio State insignia leaflets scattered about (thanks Jeff).

My first day back was not especially surreal or depressing, just another day at the sawmill.   I have a lot to catch up on . . . and get right back in the saddle with a trip to Oregon this week.

Some have asked about the future of this “blog”.   This site has historically carried the tagline “free of blog-like substance”, though it was on hiatus of late in lieu of 37 sabbatical related entries in 8 weeks.  This was by design - I don’t have the passion for writing necessary to really make this work on an continous basis, (especially in the face of a peer like Dave).  There are two fundamental issues - the first is one of ideas.  Despite my extroverted nature, I just don’t have that much I need to share with the world each day.   I had inspiration for this travel journal, but sabbatical is over.  The second issue is one of motivation, especially over the long term - it took me at least an hour or so to do each of these entries, and even then I didn’t find the passion and energy to make them as well written and engaging as I really wanted to (Cynthia is a better writer and it comes much easier to her).  So, the frequency will go down as my life returns to mundane normalcy, but if I come up with something else feel inspired to share, I will.   Certainly, this will not be the last travel journal, and I’ll continue to post pictures as I always have.

So, some final words about sabbatical.  I didn’t describe absolutely everything that’s been going on, but feel like I made the most of the time.  I went the all places and wanted to go and had enough downtime to recover and hang out.  It’s an addictive but ultimately unrealistic lifestyle.  That’s what made going back into work today bearable - no regrets.

So, as I write here at 5:09pm, sabbatical has officially ended. I just have a weekend, and then I’m back at work on Monday. I closed things off the way I wanted to - laying low.

Wednesday, I got up early and Charll and I went fishin’ on Lake Natoma. I’d found some recommendations on the internet, and after putting in his canoe at Negro Bar, fished among the rocks at the rainbow bridge. Charll was on spin tackle and I used my freshly resurrected fly rod. We had no bites.

Upon further reading of the recommendations, we realize a more desirable spot would be closer to Nimbus Dam. So, after a stop at Wild Sports for more lures and the splitting of a Subway $5 footlong, we put in at the Nimbus ramp. We eventually found the recommended spot, a hidden bayou that stretched on an on. We saw a couple of huge fish, but by then we were in the heat of the day and they weren’t interested in eating. We also spotted a couple mule deer on different occasions - one of which took a swim across a narrow channel. We enjoyed the Lewis and Clark exploration aspect of the trip, and vowed to return again when fishing conditions were more favorable.

Yesterday, Jeff invited Cynthia and I to float down the lower American River with his old group for his job change celebration- a classic trip we’d taken many times before, and as usual the drinks guaranteed that we’d have a good time. The river was lower than I’d ever seen it - there were 10 or so small rapids instead of the usual 1.

Today, I mowed the lawn, and met Charll for lunch at Mongolian BBQ, and tonight we head to Dave’s for dinner. I’ll post something on Sunday with some final sabbatical thoughts.

The pics from Tetons and Yellowstone are up, including altitude and GPS plots.

A full week since my last post, but a combination of frantic activity and lack of electricity made it inevitable.  Here’s a summary of activities since we last chatted:

Wednesday:

• Woke early drove into Yellowstone.
• We see Bison and Elk in Lamar Valley
• Went to the backcountry office in Canyon and got permits for an overnight spot at Grebe Lake for Friday night
• Secured a campsite at the coveted Norris campground
• Toured the all the major Geyser basins except Norris - Monument, Midway and Old Faithful as well as Fountain Paint Pot
• My favorite spot, Artist Paint Pot, is closed for a boardwalk rebuilt
• Attend Ranger campfire talk on the lives of Bison
• Attempt to repair leaky air mattress
• Cynthia and I forcefully befriended by Chris, the 10-year old Colorado boy from a nearby campsite
• Buy firewood and build an anemic campfire

Thursday

• Wake up on a flat air mattress.  No park stores have a new one (should have bought it in Teton when I had the chance)
• Tour Norris Geyser Basin
• Drive through Mammoth.  Cynthia unimpressed after a day and a half of thermal features
• Swim in the Boiling River at the designated spot where a hot spring meets the cold river
• Showers at Roosevelt Lodge - I think we were supposed to pay for this, but no one charged us.
• Buy fishing license, flies, bear spray at Canyon Sport shop. Also buy 6 wt fly line marked down to an irresistible $5
• Do some fishing on the Gibbon River near camp with my back-up rod.   Bison bull comes out of nowhere and walks within 25 yards of me when I’m trapped in a bend.  I walk away avoiding a sure goring.
• Fish are rising, but not to my stuff.

Friday

• Hike 9.6 miles from Norris to Grebe Lake campsite 4G5 through lots of burned forest.
• Set up camp.  Mosquitos are biblically oppressive
• Fish and actually catch fish - 3 Fluvial Arctic Grayling.
• Cynthia builds roaring campfire that barely helps keep mossies away
• Tent not attacked by bear during the night

Saturday

• Wake up, decamp, walk back the way we came, arriving in 4 hours.
• Both of us are seriously blistered
• Lay low rest of the day staying near camp
• Checking out Museum of the National Park Ranger
• Fish the Gibbon some more, but the fish aren’t active
• Go to ranger talk on Grizzly Bears
• Burn rest of wood in campfire

Sunday

• Wake up, decamp.  On the road by 8:45am
• Leave through East Entrance, turn on cell phone
%3

Short and to the point since I’m on the BB: We woke up at 6am for some wildlife watching. This proved a bit tricky since we don’t have binocs, but we still managed to spot the elk herd and a few of them crossed the road just a few feet away. Next, a 6 mile hike around Bradley and Taggert lakes. The weather was perfect, the trail was verdant and there weren’t many people. The Teton rockscapes and canyons reminded me of Desolation Wilderness. On the way back, we had a late lakeside picnic lunch at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, then headed back to the cabins for a much needed nap. Cynthia was out like a rock and slept till almost 4:45. Afterwards, we paid $7 between us for showers. At 6pm, we drove out to Jackson Lake lodge for a ranger meet and greet. We didn’t find the rangers but did locate the Blue Heron Lounge for drinks. Next, fishing license in hand, we drove back to a fishing spot on the Snake river I’d scouted earlier. The mosquitos we’re absolutely swarming - the were literally hundreds buzzing in my personal space - so thick it was hard to see well enough to thread the flies. Thankfully, Cynthia had picked up a vial of industrial strength 99% DEET. I only picked up a few bites, but might grow a third arm. I could wade far out in to the river, but struggled with my longer casts since I’d really never had the chance to use them. I am getting slowly better and was casting best in at the end. The cutthroat were rising all around me but I couldn’t get a bite. Even so, I fundamentally love being in the river striving for tight loops, water cool through my waders as the sun sets and the heron fly over.

7 hrs of driving later and we made it to our spacious tent cabin with a covered porch. A storm rolled through (the first rain in three weeks apparently), and we were glad to not be in our 2 person tent, unable to cook and miserable. After dinner we did a short hike out to Jackson Lake and got some incredible shots of stratified clould over the Tetons. We also checked out a couple of ranger programs on elk and how indians lived in the park. The second speaker was an Native American and had a really relaxing cadence that got us in the mood for bed (in a good way). Tomorrow we stay in Grand Teton for wildlife viewing, hiking, and fishing.

Cynthia’s ailment has passed and I seem to have dodged the same bullet. We’re rolling through McDermott, NV on our way to Nampa for a visit with the mother-in-law, and then we’ll head for the Tetons and Yellowstone, hoping for some luck with first come first serve campsites and/or backcountry permits. Otherwise, it might be a short trip with a lot of driving.

It’s been a slow few days here - we’ve spent most of the time puttering around the house, watching TV, and catching up with the friends we hadn’t seen for a month.  I’ve gotten feedback that you people like lists, so here’s a list of the things I’ve fixed:

• Fixed poorly located water heater strap
• Flushed water heater
• Replaced missing but non-critical roof rake tile (which has been on my list for literally four years)
• Fixed gate latch on fence
• Re-mortared some damaged brickwork

We also began planning next week’s trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons, but this morning Cynthia came down with a nasty stomach bug.  Two suspects here - our recent international travel, or the flu that all some friends had last week.  Everyone we’ve seen had already gotten over it, but they were all here making themselves at home on Sunday and theoretically contaminating everything with their poor hygiene.  She’s miserable and there’s not much I can do about it - I’m making Jello and some chicken soup but as of this moment she can’t keep anything down.  Hopefully she’ll be feeling better tomorrow, or we’ll be forced to start cancelling some reservations.  The silver lining is the flexibility of sabbatical means moving dates around a bit is no big deal.