JoshuasTravels

I was planning on doing a big summer wrap-up, but I don’t really think that’s going to happen. As much as I’d love to write-up the sort of big huge monologue that I’d like to think has become typical of JT.com, I’m going through some close personal loss right now and that somewhat dampers my affinity for writing. I’m not yet ready to share it with the world, but I am dealing with it, in my own pseudo-effective ways and I’m not about to waste your time publicly moping about it. It has, however, motivated me to keep busy and get this email out. Here are a few brief snippets of my summer and a whole lot of photo-links. I meant to get this out months ago.

The Fenton’s Go To Cali! http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/2_summer/family_road_trip/index.html

About a week after I got back from Where I Was Before, the four Fentons took off for a little quality time while touring the Greenest State in the Union – Crater Lake, the Redwoods, etc. A good time with some great photos to match.

River Excitement http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/2_summer/maryhill_jet_skiing_summer_2005/index.html

About two weeks after that, we took the Jet Skis out to the Columbia for still more fun.

Family Schtuff http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/3_fall/misc_family_pics/index.html

and

http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/3_fall/ken_&_jan_summer_2005/index.html

A few family pics, mostly from my Grandmother’s birthday, although there are a few from the big family reunion of nearly a year ago (I just recently managed to steal them off other people’s digi-cams)

The Hiawatha Trail http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/3_fall/the_hiawatha_trail/index.html

Early one morning, just before that same grandmother’s birthday, my Pa and I snuck off to that little corner where Canada, Idaho, and Montana all meet up. We biked the Hiawatha Trail, which is an old 14 mile long (with a lot of tunnels) train track that’s been filled in and is no longer a train track (although it still has a lot of tunnels). It was a lot of fun, and we ran into some neat stuff on the way there. In the beautiful city of Wallace, Idaho some clown put up a totally legit road sign proclaiming some street intersection The Center of The Universe. And, seeing as the only reason I’m such a photo-holic is because my father is, what did we do? (Hint: it’s got to do with pictures and taking them)

OregonChumsFun http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/3_fall/roosterrockfun/index.html

Late one afternoon, a few of my amigos meet up at Casa de Fenton for a BBQ, and then we went out to the Rooster Rock State Park, which is on the Mighty Columbia. We didn’t really do much, but managed to have a darn tootin’ good time anyway.

Roadtrip 2Truman http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/3_fall/2trumanroadtrip/index.html

All summer long I’ve been driving a big ol’ Red Truck around, working for a family friend – doing manual labor, hauling junk to the dump and performing generally manly tasks. Well, about two days before I was scheduled to drive cross-country to my college in Missouri (with my best friend E), the fuel system starting getting all screwy. Long story short, my parents graciously let me borrow the Fenton Family Ford Focus for a month or two. We’re planning on swapping cars back in Denver or Utah (each driving halfway) sometime soon. We laughed, we cried, hilarity ensued – check the photos.

Lastly, a little personal PowerPoint project of mine. On returning from the GDU, I had 300-odd photos I wanted to get professionally-printed out and make a big album out of. I did that, but I also made a quick slideshow of my Oz-periences. I made it mostly for posterity’s sake; I’d like to be an old man and hopefully this’ll help me get over myself one day. If nothing else, it’s gotta be fun to watch 6 minutes of my hair slowly growing out whilst appreciating the best in Josh Jams – a little Stevie Ray, a little Buffett, a little Clapton. Shoot, I love my taste in music. Once you open it up, click past the splash/title page and it’ll take care of itself after that.

http://fento.ath.cx/photos/2005/3_fall/OzPPTslim.ppt

And that, basically, was my summer. It was as busy as it ever is, but it’s over now. School has started, I like most of my classes, I’ve got a brand-new crew cut (all the other Cadets loved my hair, all the Officers were a bit put off), and I’m living the college life with two great housemates, Tim and David. And I’m re-establishing relationships with some totally great people – Iowa, Jason, the Dobson crew (we all lived in Dobson Hall frosh year), old neighbors from Ryle, the ROTC guys, and then some.

Ranger Challenge has started again (ROTC’s varsity sport – it includes lots of running with and without heavy backpacks and other strenuous forms of physical exertion), and it’s a bit more challenging than I remember it being. I’m paying for every glass of fun I had in Oz with every push-up I do in Missouri and a “coupla miles” seems a lot longer than I remember, but there getting shorter and, for the most part, I do more Passing than Getting Passed. It’s rough, but I’m sucking it up, toughing it out and doing the best I can.

I’m realizing that I tend to count my years as beginning with school, as I’m sure students everywhere are wont to do, and not with January. I’m eager to see exactly where this New Year will take me, but I find myself wondering about you, dear readers. If you’ve read this far, I’d enjoy just a little reply. Nothing much, just a quick update on Life As You; if you’re still doing the same thing you were whenever we had our last communiqué, the three most exciting things that have happened to you in that time, and/or whatever else you feel like. A sentence, a paragraph or seven pages, I’d love for you to drop me a line. If you’re not in the writing mood, fret not, fair readers. C’est la vie, eh comrades?

Fenton

PS- The last thing I want to do is spam your inbox: if you don’t want to bothered by my silly emails, let me know. In kind or harsh words, it doesn’t matter to me. Just let me know.