Natalie Vartanian's Blog: The Colorful Clouds of Colorado

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Colorful Clouds of Colorado

Sunday, July 31 – We totally scored this morning. We just walked in to the hotel dining hall like we owned the place and had some hard-boiled eggs and fruit for breakfast (and grabbed some to go)! Thanks Best Western. Much appreciated. Today is another TLC day for ol’ Bess. We checked out the headlight and taillight situation since we have some out, changed what we could and left the things we don’t have supplies for to the professionals. Since there really is not much in Laramie for us to see or do, we drove to Loveland, CO to lube ol’ Bess up with an oil change. I had wanted to go to Fort Collins since the New Belgium Brewery is there, but Zack said they are closed Sunday and Monday. SO BUMMED! Oh well, I guess next time…Taking care of Bess is always higher up on the priority list anyhow so off to Wal-Mart we went in Loveland. (Confession Time: Sally and I are kind of loving on Wal-Mart these days, not only can you get your oil changed, but you can do your grocery shopping and even buy some clothes here and there on the cheap. There I admitted it.) We even snuck Coach in there! After the oil change was completed, we were informed that our tires needed changing as they are in pretty bad shape, so we added that to the list of RV TLC to accomplish as well. The rest of the day we tried to cool down since it was so fuggin hot and finally when the sun started going down, we found a park (Central Park) in Stapleton, close to Aurora, CO and laid out, watched the lightning show due to the storm in the distance and even got some exercises in. At one point, we were laying on the grass and looking up at the clouds which formed a huge circle in the sky of which we were in the middle and slowly changed colors from dark gray to a pinkish to a deep corral color. It was incredible to watch. Sally kept mentioning how the sky is so different in this part of the states and I am beginning to see why … it is just so expansive and it is all around you like an embrace. We capped out the evening by driving to Sally’s friend’s in Aurora and hanging out with them. Only down-side is that we were outside and the mosquitos went to town on me. I probably have easily over 25 bites (even on my face)! Do these blood suckers have no bounds??

Sally and Coach in Wal-Mart, Loveland, CO

Beautiful Bess at Bluff Lake Nature Center, Denver, CO

Clouds from Central Park, Stapleton, CO

Quality Puppy Time at the Park

Monday, August 1 – First day of August. I cannot believe it. Seems like just yesterday we were on the road but it’s been 27 days since we first pushed off from Southern California in good ol’ Bessy Lou. Unbelievable! Sally and I are REALLY working on staying present to the amazingness of our journey which is still happening and not allowing ourselves to mourn the near end of this trip. I don’t know if it’s cheating, but I’m using the Perspective of “This is not the end, only the beginning” to keep myself in check, as we plan to keep going as long as we can. Especially when the business that we are starting up is going to be amazing. In between visioning and planning for it’s launch, we did take some steps to get the tire situation rectified. Apparently for safety reasons, not all Tire stores can install tires bigger than 16”. We called around and found a Big O Tires in Aurora that will get our 19.5” tires by tomorrow morning and install them for us. That is one of those things that took major priority as we have a 1,000+ mile drive to make back to SoCal in less than a week. Since we had that taken care of, we went for a walk, processed some fears that are popping up for us in regards to continuing on our adventure and decided we get to just DO different than what we have done before. You can’t have different if you keep doing more of the same … if we want big, we can’t keep acting small. Shortly afterward my good friend Tom (who I’ve known for over six years and met while working at Clark Construction) picked Sally, myself, and the puppy up and we went to have dinner in the Aurora area. It was so good to see Tom since the last time I saw him was when I visited him in San Antonio a year and a half ago. It was also cool for Sally to meet one of my friends that I have talked about at length. Obviously they loved each other as I knew they would and we had a nice time at Sam #3 diner, especially since they allowed us to bring Coach with us while dining on the patio.

Tuesday, August 2 – Ran for a half hour with Sally and Coach this morning. Boy was it brutal. We find out later it’s because of the altitude in the Denver area. No wonder! Even when I went on my own yesterday I was definitely having a tough time of it. At least it’s the altitude and not me being out of shape! I mean, in addition to Mission Rockin Body on the Road, I have a personal mission as well of Half-Marathon in Austin this Fall! Good to know I’m not starting from scratch. Brian, one of Sally’s friends who we had been parked outside of their house, suggested going to Amy’s work (his wife) to have lunch. So cool! Amy works for Clear Channel and is involved with Research and Sales for the Denver area (eight stations total). Sally had been there before when she was with the band and had performed there, so it wasn’t new for her, but it was my first time at a radio station. I got to see some of the rooms where they air the radio shows and get a tour of the offices where the behind the scenes magic happens. After lunch, we took ol’ Bess to get her tires changed. $200 a tire (including tax and installation) for a no-name brand! Crazy how expensive this stuff is … this is one of the reasons we’ve been thinking about a truck and trailer RV for the next round of RV adventuring. When we finished with the last of the RV TLC activities, we headed to Englewood to spend some time with another one of Sally’s friends, Rachel. What an AWESOME girl. I loved her. Sally said she knew I would. She is such the gracious hostess. We had Prosecco, appetizers, wine, talked about exciting projects and business ideas and I even did a tarot reading for Rachel. We had an absolutely lovely evening. Rachel and her roommate are Burlesque dancers and so their apartment is totally girly, vintage, and decorated in classic boudoir fashion. Oh how I saw myself living in a place like this as well. My mouth was gaping open the whole time we walked around getting the tour of the place. Sally and I definitely plan to come back and hang out with Rachel next year when she showcases the art exhibit she is working on with her friend and colleague.

More amazing clouds!!

Bud Light Station at Clear Channel, Denver, CO

Wall of Photos taken by Amy at Clear Channel in Denver, CO

Wednesday, August 3 – Showered and worked at Rachel’s. Really starting to do the work for Girls Gone Moto and the steps to building and launching it. Obviously with anything you create or grow, things change and it is a natural evolution process however for both Sally and I we are learning that you just get to do the work, bit by bit, day by day. So cool to see all that is presenting itself because we are simply in motion! That evening we had dinner with Marty, his wife Kristine and their kids Emily and Erik. Kristine made an amazing vegan lasagna (thank goodness they are in the process of going Vegan since it lended itself to yummy food for us!). Such an adorable couple. It was another example for me of a loving, healthy, reciprocal relationship. Gives one hope for sure. I feel like a lot of the trip has been various physical examples of the possibilities in love, whether it be meeting cool guys that break the stereotypes in my mind or awesome couples whose relationship has not only stood the test of time but continues to blossom. After dinner we went back to Rachels’ place, met her friend Brittany and played dress up in her downstairs wardrobe room (yes, they have TWO!).

Living room, Rachel's place, Englewood, CO

The hat wall in Rachel's dressing room, Englewood, CO

More colorful clouds in Colorado

Thursday, August 4 – Another day of hanging out at Rachel’s place to shower, work, have our meals, exercise, etc. So much is opening up for us in the business area. Being on the road has exposed us to so many amazing people doing some cool ass shit in their lives. You cannot help but be changed. I know I feel like I am coming in to my own. I was sharing with Sally on our walk that the Costa Rica experience gave me the spaciousness to just be, process the things in my life and get me grounded in what I want. This RV adventuring is giving me permission to just be ME, to realize how amazing I AM, to do and see things I have always wanted to do and most importantly, a gratefulness that this is my life. While I was on my run, Rachel and Sally were masterminding and wow is our business growing in clarity and scope. We were supposed to leave Denver today to slowly make our way back to SoCal but as luck/fate/destiny would have it, the registration papers had not come yet so we got to spend more time with Rachel. It’s in those moments when you know, “that’s why it didn’t happen!” I made the ladies some dinner and we got to talk about what we want to intend for the rest of the month. This is what happens when you have dinner with a bunch of coaches. Okay not all coaches, but with Sally and I anyway. After dinner we drove to Centennial so that we could pick up the registration stickers in the morning. It was the first time during our trip that we slept at a Wal-Mart parking lot. We felt legit … like real “full timers”. We never thought we would say this but Wal-Mart rocks! They did our oil change, we’ve done our grocery shopping there and they provide a safe, lit space for RV’s to park for the night. What’s not to love??