I Can See for Miles, Miles, Miles

Play this song while you read the update (for the full experience).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oCPAO3bp4Q



        Hey everybody, sorry for not updating in a while. Life has been on the move.

        Since the last update Levi and I have been pretty many places. We have been to Portland, Sequim (near the top of the Olympic peninsula), Seattle, Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Glacier National Park, Levi's brother's Zach's place in Montana, Yellowstone National Park, and now we are in Fort Collins Colorado, so we could have a lot to talk about. But looking back, what really stands out to me during our times in these places and driving to them has been the beauty of nature. Cam, a friend we stayed with in Kelowna, words come to mind...

      Searching for any sort of hold to latch my fingers into, which would allow me to work my way out of the overhang and onto the last slope of the climb, I quickly look forty feet below for some advice from Cam and Levi.
      "If you look up and to your right, I think you can grab that ledge that is just sticking out. When you have that, swing your legs around and put your right foot on the holds that are a bit father away." Cam instructed.
       "Almost done dude," Levi chimed in.
       Focusing on the advice, I reach for the hold and swing my right leg around the edge and onto the narrow surface that provides me enough space to hold steady and use my leg strength to bring the rest of my body into a standing position onto the last slope of the climb. With my forearms burning and most of my legs muscles begging for a break, I lean against the slanted rock face, take a few deep breaths, and gaze into the distance from my new vantage point.
       I can see for miles, miles, miles, I sing in my head, the line for that one Bon Iver song.
      The view is to much. Powerful but rolling golden hills, spotted with vineyards and pine trees, descend into the giant blue lake that the city of Kelowna and all of the other development in the area is built around. The sun makes an appearance but is anticipating her retreat because of the billowing clouds that promise rain in the distance. A little closer, a rainbow of new little boxes with matching black roofs paint the foothills next to the lake, and shortly to the left, tall, thin, black remains of the pine trees that once were remind of the destruction that is possible and of natures strength.
      "Are you ready to come down?" Cam asks.
       "Yeah," I reply.
      Taking in the last bits of my view from above I slowly sit back into my harness and allow physics to gently aid me down the rock face. As I reach the bottom, I bend my knees to brace myself for the solid ground and awkwardly bring myself to a standing position once again. I start to unbuckle the harness fixed around my waist while Levi squeezes in his shoes and Cam messes with the ropes.
     "Good view right?" Cam asks.
     "Yeah, super good." I reply.
      "I told my buddy this one time when we were up here," Cam continued, "If I ever get tired of this view, kick me in the balls."
       We have traveled through many National Parks, endless forest, dry desserts, and amazing cities. We have seen glaciers on the mountains in the summer, the painted red cliffs on the hills in the dessert, trees that are to big to see the top, sunsets that produce colors rarely seen; if I ever get tired of this, kick me in the balls.

     We are on the home stretch and will be back in Lancaster like August 6th. We will be passing through Nebraska, Kansas, Chicago, Illinios Canto Ohio, and some other places yet. We look forward to seeing everyone again. Keep us in your prayers


Much Love,

Levi and Elliot

People and Places

      With 80's rock-n-roll playing over the radio, people moving all around us, a surprising amount of undiluted degreaser, and some serious arm power, Levi and I cleaned off the dry grease caked onto a metal shelf which held dishes for the Los Angeles Catholic Worker House's soup kitchen.  This snapshot captures many aspect of what our past few days have been like.
      As I briefly mentioned last update, Levi and I were going to make an effort to stay with people rather than camping so much, and that is what we found ourselves doing this past week.  This past week we got connected with some people who's houses we stayed at through Mennonite Your Way and also through Catholic Worker Houses.  At these places we got to meet a lot of cool people, had lots of good conversations, learned some new things, and got to serve a bit.
      As I mentioned earlier we stayed at some Catholic Worker Houses.  We randomly got connected with this network of communities through, seemingly a God kind of thing.  One day we were sitting in a Starbucks in Las Vegas, we were looking for places to stay at our upcoming destinations and the Catholic Worker Houses came to my mind.  I didn't really know anything about these houses, except that Dorthy Day started the movement and that they were geared towards severing the poor.  I got the numbers of some of the houses through the Internet and made some phone calls.  At some point in the conversations I would say something like,
       "So, I'm pretty ignorant to what you guys do, but, would you be able to host my friend Levi and I for a night?"
      To my surprise, both the Los Angeles Catholic Worker House and the formerly Catholic Worker House in San Francisco offered to have us for a few nights.  At these places we got to hang out with the people who lived in the houses, listen to a speaker talk about serving the mentally ill and chronically homeless, have good conversations while walking the sidewalks of the city or gazing out towards the skyline while sitting on the third floor balcony, serve homeless people breakfast, clean a kitchen, and chill out.  It was pretty sweet.

       This next week we will be up near Portland Oregon visiting my friend Daniel Lister and checking out the city, Seattle Washington, and Vancouver British Colombia.  We are expecting good things and delicious coffee.  

Keep us in your prayers,
Much Love,
Levi and Elliot

White Sand New Mexico (bring sunglasses)

Sedona Arizona, Church on the Rocks

Grand Canyon at sunset

Yosemite National Park, you can see half dome in the distance.

Lakewood Church.  Joel Osteen's church in Houston. 

 Apparently its the biggest church in the U.S.

The Alien museum in Roswell New Mexico.

After visiting we still don't know why Roswell is known for aliens.

Its a tourist trap...

My DTS friend Paul enjoying some In-and-Out.

Levi loves In-and-Out.

"We're in Vegas Baby!"

   

Five and a Half Hours Later...

       The trees are bigger, closer.  There are more people, less winded.  And the canyon is deeper, overwhelming. I thought to myself as Levi and I dragged our legs up the last few inclines of the Grand Canyon.  As we rounded the last bend, I could see the railings, and the trail head bulletin board, and a lot of people, and I knew we were finished.  With hunched backs and calves on fire, we strided up the incline.  As people passed we could no longer spare the extra energy of giving a friendly head node but kept our eyes focused on the finish.  I can only imagine the people's reaction to the sight of us,

      "What a wreck, maybe the hike is a bit harder than I thought," would probably be the typical response.

       My shirt was soaked in sweat, stained brown from all of the dust, and my facial expression was told people that I had a long day.  Levi was no better.  His earphones blocked out the noise of the excited  sightseers, his scruffy beard was magnified by the dust that dyed everything, and his giant backpack showed that he meant business.  

       As we approached the last few feet of the trail head, Levi turned around with a big smile and gave me a high five.  I slapped his hand with the little remaining energy I had left.  Although we only got looks of curiosity from the surrounding people and my legs barely had enough strength left to carry me to the finish line, in my head I was getting a standing ovation with my hands raised in victory.  

       As we walked past the end of the trail, I asked Levi, "You want to get one last look at the canyon?" 

        "I had enough of the canyon." Levi responded.

        I went over to the guard rail and starred down into the miles of deep, wide, brown walls of the canyon.  I climbed that, I thought. I am capable, I did it.  And with victory, a new appreciation for the canyon, and more respect for nature I took my last look than walked to the bus stop to take a seat.  

       That was a bit of our experience hiking the Grand Canyon.  It was super sweet, but extremely challenging at the same time.  

       The past few days we have also been to Yosemite National Park, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.  At these places we got to catch up with YWAM friends, Paul and Tina, and got to see God's crazy unique and awesome creations.  

      Next we will be heading to Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.  We plan on trying to utilize Mennonite Your Way, Couch Surfing, and Catholic Worker Houses more often.  We think it will give us a chance to hangout with locals more which we have found to be highlights of the trip.  So hopefully that will work out.  

      Keep us in your prayers,

      Much Love, 

      Levi and Elliot

      P.S. We found out that our car doesn't do to well on mountains, so keep that in your prayers.

Victory

"take my picture"

Our bearded sage friends we met at the beginning of the trip

gave us advice we have been following, 

"If you see something cool, stop."

So we stopped at this random lake in New Mexico.

Abandoned house in New Mexico.

Hmm...

Pit stop along a Texas highway

\

Drive by picture of the Alamo.  Parking was to expensive.

Oil thing

We went to Lakewood.  Joel Osteen is the pastor and 

apparently it is the U.S.'s biggest church.

The French Quater in New Orleans (Naw-Lans).