Life is a little crazy + has a way of taking you by surprise, even when you plan all of the chaos months in advance. In the past 24 hours I have traveled from Monterrey, Mexico to Guadalajara, Mexico to Las Vegas, Nevada to Salt Lake City, Utah to Silverthorne, Colorado. I am now as close to “home” as I’ll get until I make the trek back to Wisconsin. My gear is here, there is ice cream in the freezer, the trails are dry-ish + Max was happy to see me!
I am officially moving into the TETON Sports #yourlead van…as soon as I finish up this last load of laundry. My climbing gear + trail shoes + running packs are all stashed away in the storage spaces. There are sleeping pads + sleeping bags set up on the bunk beds. The TETON crew did an awesome job of stocking the van’s kitchen. So, I’m basically ready to go, right?
But…where am I going?! Well, the route has changed a bit since I first posted about it. I’ll hit all the same places, just in a different order. I’ll be updating TETON’s Adventure Hub with more current + come-see-us details every Tuesday, but this is a rough outline of what I’ll be doing for the next three months!
June // Durango, CO + Grand Canyon + Lake Tahoe + Bend, OR
July // Seattle, WA + Grand Tetons + Denver, CO + Sangre de Cristo Range, CO
August // OR Show + Sun Valley, ID + Glacier Natl Park + Alberta, Canada
September…ha. Kidding. I have no idea! After I hand over the van keys near the end of August I’m running the Hood to Coast Relay with some of my Colorado favorites…then I have no idea what’s up. Aside from some crew/pacing duties at the Run, Rabbit, Run 100 in Steamboat Springs, CO + my own bib to rock at the Bear 100 in Logan, UT my September is wide open. I’m sure some sort of chaos will find me or I’ll impulse purchase a plane ticket somewhere. Probably.
As for my time in the van…well, I have a spreadsheet set up but I do not feel like it’s very planned. Due to a few “real life” responsibilities that come with manning the van + maintaining my day job at Ibotta I need to have a rough idea of where I’ll be + when I’ll have easy WiFi access. Beyond that, it’s all pretty open-ended. I figure we’ll base our trail runs around our campsites + our campsites around our trail runs.
If you’re going to be out on the road or if you happen to live in/near one of the places mentioned above + you want to try to run into each other, hit me with an email or DM. We’ll also have a few group trail-ventures set up with the TETON Sports van — think Bend, OR + Lake Tahoe, CA + Salt Lake City, UT + wherever you suggest. Keep an eye on the @yourlead_van IG + TETON’s Adventure Hub for all of those details.
Now…I must go fold the laundry + power pack the last of my “life essentials” so I can burn away the last of my afternoon catching up on Game of Thrones + overeating ice cream + playing my part as a responsible Ibotta employee!
11 Comments
Lynn Baumgartner · June 13, 2021 at 6:44 pm
When are you going to be in Tahoe?!?! Any fun plans yet?
Heidi Kumm · June 13, 2021 at 9:55 pm
The week before Western States. We should be there a handful of days — any suggestions!? On trails + cafes + everything else!
Lynn Baumgartner · June 14, 2021 at 4:55 pm
Awesome! I definitely have some suggestions, and would love to meet up for a hike/coffee/taco etc.
Heidi Kumm · June 14, 2021 at 6:03 pm
Um. Yes! Shoot me an email at heidinkumm@gmail.com…we’ll plan things!
Amanda | Chasing My Sunshine · June 14, 2021 at 7:48 am
Oh man, you know I will be hanging on every step of this journey! You’ve had a crazy last 24 hours and it seems like it’s going to get crazier, in a most fun way. Safe travels, Heidi. 🙂
Heidi Kumm · June 14, 2021 at 6:01 pm
Oh, it’s going to be intense! Unfortunately the last two days have been basic adulting with lots of driving but tonight…tonight we sleep in the wilderness + hit the trails at dawn! #happydance
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