OLD BLOGS FROM WEBSITE

8/26/10
Preperation

Where does one start something like this. Im Zach Mortimer.
Climber, Photographer, Naturalist, Free Thinker, Confident,
Smart, determined. These are words I use to describe myself.
I live my life with my fantastic girlfriend Nancy and our two
great dogs Sasha, and Red. The point of this blog is to recount
the adventures I go on in my life and to share stories of the
places I've been.

Why should you read this blog? Well, unlike most people ive chosen
to abandon "normal" living and go on the road to see all there is
to see, and do all there is to do. Many people have told me about
a lot of great places and now im going to see them for myself
and hopefully capture their beauty to share with others.

I titled this section preperation because I'm unfortunately not on
the road yet. Most of the particulars are taken care of and the
rest will be finished throughout this month.  I will be updating this
blog from the road via the use of laptops, solar energy, and wifi.
All of the things needed to do this have already been purchased
and now its just a matter of packing up my stuff and getting it
in storage in case i ever want it again. Till next time....
Zach

09/01/10
Everything Going to Plan
Everything is going exactly as planned...Things honestly
couldnt be working out better atm. Everything seems to
be falling in to place at the right time, on sale, and
gets delivered faster than it was supposed to. Now,
I'm just waiting on my laptop, battery pack, and  my
charge controller to arrive and ill have everything I
need to go.

In 2 days or so I leave for a short trip to the
Washington Coast and I am super excited for this
opportunity to see that area as I have yet to make it
over there in my  17 or so years of living in WA.
Should be able to get a ton of fantastic shots and
have a great time with my girlfriend and her mother.
Here's hoping the rest of my stuff gets here before
I need to leave for that so I can play with it all at the
coast :))

09/10/10
OLYMPICS...and the plan
 Man so much stuff to post about haha. Lets start  where we
left off. I got the majority of my stuff i was waiting on before
leaving to the Olympics. So i got to test most of my new gear
on that trip and it all worked very well. I did decide i will need
a larger batter unit though so I ordered a new one of those
today.  The Olympics were amazing and its definitely a place
I could see myself living sometime. I feel like I ran through all
the things I did while i was there and still didnt see even half
of the stuff i wanted to. However, the half I did see was
absolutely amazing. The rainforest on the peninsula is like
being on another planet. I keep waiting for an ewok to poke
his head out of the bushes or something. We basically made a
round trip around the peninsula of Washington with some little
side trips to see things in the forest or at the beach. All in all
it was a very very good time and I am very eager to go back...


10/15/10
SO...that took longer than expected
So its the middle of october and im still in the tri-cities. Bummer i know but its not
all bad, i am moving the last of my stuff to storage on the 24th and should be out
of here by the 25th or 26th, next stop the oregon coast and freedom!!!

im so unbelievably excited for this next chapter of my life icouldnt possibly put it in
to words. We've decided to basically slowly make our way down the coast until north
of LA where we will head to joshua tree then on through vegas to the grand canyon
and continuing east ending up in Texas for christmas/new years with some family
and friends. After the holidays we will start heading back west increasing our
elevation as the weather allows! I am really looking forward to getting to be in the
desert again, for those who dont know i was born in tucson , AZ and spent
countless hours wandering around the desert with my mom.

At any rate, all the logistics are set in place now and dates are set for it all.
so the time is finally upon us all be it several months later than i thought it was
going to be in the first place. so check back the end of this monthfor more updates
from the road


-Zach

10/25/10
Living in a van..DOWN BY THE RIVER
 ok so its not a van and its not down by the river...yet..but it might as well be.
I've moved all my stuff except for my computer equipment to my storage shed and
im now living in a nearly completely empty house  with no appliances except a
dishwasher, which would be great if all the dishes werent in storage XD.

Anyway, just waiting on some sleeping bags i ordered now . They will be here by the
29th (friday) and then its off i ride in to the sunset.

Each day that goes by i get more and more excited for this next chapter of my
life. I've now mapped out more places that i want to go than ill probably be able to
actually make it to in the time frame that i  set out initially  and ill most likely
want to spend more time than expected at a lot of the places. That being said,
I think ill be pinching pennies a little more than i expected to as far as my own
personal wants/needs go to try and prolong the trip more (or indefinitely lol).

That's where things sit right now, basically just playing the waiting game then its
off to the oregon coast first unless some where else sounds better on the way
there!


-Zach

11/14/10
time sure flies when you're having fun!
wow i expexted to update this so much more, and for not doing that i apologize.
however, if its any consolation i've been having an amazing time enjoying my
completely unhindered freedom. in the last two weeks ive abandoned my home, met
some of the strangest people imaginable (in a good way),  almost hit a black bear,
slept in several rest stops, backed in to a tree, ran in to Tommy Caldwell in the
Yosemite village store and got to wish him luck on the 2 week attempt  he and
Kevin Jorgenson started yesterday on tommy's project on the dawn wall of el cap,
once finished this will be the hardest big wall line in the world with a french rating
of 8b/8b+. Many other crazy shenanigans have also taken place in this short
time from getting lost on backwoods dirt roads, to almost being ran off the road
by psychotic logging truckers driving 85 mph down windy mountain roads. All in  all
this has been the funnest two weeks of my life and at this point i wouldnt want to
be living my life any other way than by the seat of my pants with all my stuff
packed in to my car. I must say if anyone has e ven a slight inkling of wanting to
just get out there and do whatever you want regardless of the risks it willl
require, i say do it, from my experience so far this will be the best decision you've
ever made.


LIFE IS SO AMAZING ON THE ROAD!!!!!!!!!

12/13/10
 Ahh..the good life!
Everytime I come to update my blog i realize that its been far to long since the
last update. However, this doesnt really suprise me with the outrageous amount
of fun i have each and every day. It makes it quite easy to not find time to blog.
That being said I managed to find some time today.  For the last  3 weeks ive
been bouldering nearly every day climbing 3 days on 1 day off and my day off
generally includes a long hike. I feel stronger than ever at the moment and it is
fantastic. Im easily accomplishing problems and moves now on rock that when i
came to utah i first looked at and said "yeah right". Thus far i am very happy
with my progression and the opportunity to climb so much with no injuries. heres
hoping i can keep that streak up atleast for the rest of this week.. On friday or
Saturday i plan to start leisurely making my way south to Del Rio to see my dad
for christmas. I am really looking forward to it and Nancy is looking forward to
meeting my dad. Hopefully i can find some fun things to do along the way.

That being said, I plan to climb as much as i possibly can until we leave. St George
will definitely be missed while im gone but i reckon our seperation wont last that
long.

-Zach-