I initially volunteered to publish Dave Klausler’s beautiful essay on crossing the Grand Canyon here, as I had read but a few pages and felt it a nice change from what had been going on here, the Pete saga. My technique for republishing Dave’s writing is to 1) move the text over, and then 2) go back and capture each photo with a link to three words immediately preceding it. I was tired at the time, and thought the essay presented a large reading assignment. It did not. I just read it this afternoon, and it took about half an hour.
Anyway, Dave’s works are on his blog, The Old Badger Speaks, and the photos, which I found myself crimping and cropping, on full and glorious display there.
The name of the essay is Crossing the Big Ditch. I urge anyone interested in adventure, natural beauty, beautiful photography, and camaraderie to take time to go there and soak it up. Worth your time.
Peace out.
Piece of Mindful 
Excellent read!
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Thank you for reading. The pictures don’t do it justice. The expanse is truly awesome.
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The pictures were amazing yet I know that pictures can never fully capture how it is seen in person.
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Those have been clipped and snipped too my buddy Ed captured some of those, but if I remember correctly, ALL were snapped with phone-camera.
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We come back from trips and I find my wife has taken much better photos with her iPhone than me and my SLR.
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Hah! I mentioned Wifey’s $1,500 model sitting on the shelf in my Where’s That Confounded Bridge<\i> post… You would like it… Birds N Shit.
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Awesome photos! How many miles was it total? You went to SIU, heard about the crazy halloween parties there, any stories on that?
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Duuuuude! I was 25 paying my way, Conan was 20 – UNDER AGE (didn’t matter), and he was a bouncer. I was assigned a dorm room to this hick on Jughandle Road – I kid you not – 40 years later still friends. That was one of the best years of my life. Fun shit. Ted Nugent had a serious disagreement with his #2 and VERY talented guitarist and powerful vocalist Derick St. Holmes… kicked him out. We saw HIS band live in a bar in Carbondale performing Stranglehold – FUCKING AWESOME… ten feet from him. Same place had the hotdogs that I mentioned – for a buck – TOTAL for four each. As with most colleges, you get out what you put in – as long as there are a few good staff members. I was in IT, not a serious issue anywhere. I chose that place to get away from my life – it didn’t work. I went there in the best shape of running life – a five minute miler – FIVE, not 5:59. Day one, CC coach tells me I’m ineligible – ignorant of the rules and DEVASTATED. Fuck it, I already paid, already met Ed… might as well roll with it. And so I did.
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I’ll bet the bar was Gatsbys or the Hanger. I think for a few years the place was voted the #1 party school in the USA.
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Correct… Gatsbys. ________________________________
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Oops, 24 miles standard… and we added that one or two up top in the snow.
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