Safe and Sound in Santiago

Well, I´m not sure how it all worked out, but I made it. No sleep for a few days, a lot of last-minute packing, and 24 hours of travel; somehow everything seemed to fall together.

Highlights from Sundance 2008:

• Meeting one of the two survivors of the ¨Alive" crash who after 62 days walked for 10 more out of the Andes.
• Meeting Josh Tickell, author of From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank and long-time promoter of biodiesel.
• Seeing LL Cool J in concert (I guess this was a highlight?)
• My hot tub plus -10 degrees F at night.
• Spending some quality time with my friends in SLC.

I realized I´ve been absolutely insane since last October, with going to Costa Rica, quitting my job, visiting family for Christmas, moving out of my apartment, going to the Midwest twice in one week for work, then Sundance, and now. . . Chile. The last three were all one big pack job, and so far, I didn´t forget anything.

Today we had some coffee, met Mr. X (he requested I use this instead of his real name - if you know my dad you´ll know who he is), and did some shopping. I let my dad pack our dinners back in the states, which are just Mountain Home prepackaged dinners from REI. From the looks of it, we´ll be eating a lot of mashed potatoes and Kung Pao chicken.

We also stopped by the¨embassy¨ for lack of a better word, to check on permits. It takes a hell of a lot to get permission to cross into Argentina outside of the 6 security checkpoints along the border. As it turned out, Argentina hadn´t responded to the Chilean request to lets us pass into the country. Chile told us that if we wanted to hike into Argentina, they would have to supply us with an ambassador, which for food and expenses would cost $3,000 U.S.

The meeting would have made great T.V., but we left amicably enough, and decided on another route: one that would take us to 16,000 ft. along the crest of the Andes, but wouldn´t cross the border.

So all that was left was packing, and my 50 L Black Diamond Predator is absolutely maxed out with food for 12-14 days and anything else we might need in the high-altitude wilderness we´re about to ascend into.

Tomorrow we head north, with a potential stop at La Serena, a beach town I´ve had the good fortune of visitng once before. Since it´s in the 80s, a beach stop might be in order, and I might even grab a surfboard if I have the chance.

On the topic of revisiting this area, it turns out that the Hostel we´re staying at in Santiago is the same Hostel I stayed at almost 7 years ago, when I was studying abroad in nearby Valparaiso. I´ve closed the cirlce, somehow, in a strange but meaningful way.

This may be the last post you´ll see from me for two weeks. If that´s the case, have a great February.

GM Auto Show and Sundance 2008

Yes, that's my dream car...
It's been a busy week. I was in Detroit for the auto show and that was, well, awesome. My day on Tuesday consisted of having breakfast with the Chairman and CEO of General Motors, then I had a 30 minute radio interview with Timber Talk, then was interview for a short online video segment, ran around the auto show some more, and then spent the next 10.5 hours traveling to get back to Portland.

My plane was way late, so I only had a 12 hour turnaround time before flying back to SLC (my plane was re-routed there the night before). They lost my bag, so I had to pick it up the next morning when I came back to the airport. Good grief.

But I'm back at Sundance, and everything seems to be in order. I just got some exercise, so I'm building up red blood cells for our hike across the Andes in 11 days.

I've also put up a lot of cool stuff on gas2.org from the auto show, show check it out if you're interested. I'm going to go sit in the hot tub now - It's so cold here that my hair froze solid while I was in it last night :).

Wasting Away in Portland Coffee Shops (Just Kidding)

The year is off to a busy start. While I recently became unemployed, I've been 'reemployed' as the lead writer for Gas 2.0, which means I've been spending a lot of my time at local Portland Coffee shops. It's harder to work here than you might guess, but I'm managing. Gas 2.0 had a great month in December (the month it launched), with somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 views.

On Saturday, I'll be headed to the Detroit Auto show to cover the event. Check Gas2 for updates. Next Wednesday I'll be headed to Park City for the Sundance Film Fest.

It's just a whirlwind of activity here. Hold on, I'm going to get some more coffee...

Happy New Year From Portland, OR

It's hard to believe it's 2008 -- we're only 2 years from 2010!

I'm back in Portland, and will be staying with Robin for the next 2 weeks, while bouncing back to Corvallis to move out of my place there. Most of my stuff has been consolidated or it will be going to Goodwill, so I'm primed for mobility. On the 16th I'll be heading to the Sundance Film Fest, but before that I'll be flying to Detroit (twice) to cover the North American International Auto Show. If you can believe it, I'll be covering the show for GreenOptions and posting content on Gas 2.0.

We hit up Kell's for new years and got to hear Amadan (Corvallis band similar to Flogging Molley) play again. I'm ready for a break from all the socializing, and it's feeling good to get started on a new year.