Well, we left the City of Rocks after climbing on Saturday, before the rain and snow arrived. I keep thinking of calling it the Shire of Rocks, or the hamlet of Rocks…but that probably does not capture people’s imaginations as much.

The forecast was for a brisk, sunny day. Instead, we got something more poetic.

The weather and sky makes the Bloody Fingers corridor formations look like guarding sentinels

It was nice to experience and see the progress I had made from my arrival to departure. My first leads of the trip were shaky and hesitant due to being out of the game for so long. By Saturday, I was feeling like my old self.

Sweet off-width higher up on Animal Cracker

I miss this quality, dry rock already.

Sarah cleaning after my lead of Bloody Fingers

This was my first experience even setting foot in an RV, let alone living in one, and it has many advantages. I have to admit though, after ten days of RV life, I am very pleased to be back sleeping in a proper bed and having daily showers. And while there is always that dirtbag climber bit of me, I like “culture” and urban amenities too. I really do need it all, which is a really useful piece of information to have as I continue to think about next steps, but a slightly inconvenient truth as well.