Montana Summer Recap: Not What I Expected

Montana is my happy place. I’m not originally from here. I grew up in Lake Tahoe, California and spent some time going to school in Nevada, but Montana is the place I identify with most in the United States.

I was apprehensive about returning “home” after spending a roller coaster of a time solo traveling the world for 9 months. I try not to place too many expectations on any one place, and I thought I had done a good job of avoiding that this summer, but I was wrong.

One of the reasons I love Montana in the summer is because of the plethora of outdoor activities and sports. I love trail running; playing soccer is one of my favorite things in life; hiking in these mountains centers my soul; I thrive off of these things and naturally assumed they would be part of my summer.

It never even crossed my mind that I might get injured and ruin all hopes of doing any of them.

I had only been here for a month when I collided with some guy playing soccer and we both went down, hard. I knew the white-hot pain was a bad sign, and the “pop” I heard was probably worse. What I suffered was a grade 3 ankle sprain. It’s been eight weeks since then, I’m still unable to run, hike, or play, and now it’s already time for me to leave. I missed most of soccer season, I missed my races, I missed hiking, and I missed my optimism.

I spent the majority of my summer forced to step back and take it slowly, taking care of myself instead of saddling up and attempting a full 8-second ride, which is how most Montanans approach our short window of summer.

So, what did I do?

1. I discovered paddle boarding. Now here was something I could do to enjoy the best of nature without having to use my ankle. I am now the proud owner of an inflatable iRocker stand up paddle board (watch my video).
2. I took some time off from daily social media. When I’m sick or injured, I get depressed pretty easily, and when I can’t just go running to snap myself out of it, it gets worse. Since I didn’t feel I was doing anything particularly amazing this summer, oh, and since T-Mobile doesn’t exist in Montana (I had no data), I took a step back, sorry if you missed me 😉 I’ll be back momentarily.
3. I went regularly to the chiropractor. My neck was pretty messed up after hauling a backpack around and slowly losing grip on my regular yoga practice. Travel is rough on the body. Stay tuned, I’m going to publish a video I recorded with my chiropractor to share some great tips for staying aligned and loose on the road.
4. I started yoga again. Please keep me accountable. I don’t do well without it.
5. I caught up on all of my general health check-ins, including dealing with multiple dentist visits, oh, and I legally changed my name. So many appointments.
6. I went to two rodeos, one gorgeous Montana barn wedding, and lots of trying-to-be-“happy hours.” I also went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Bigfork, Montana, and even made a quick visit to Lake Tahoe to reconnect with family and friends.
7. I spent a lot of time prepping for the next phase of travel, which starts now.

So, what’s next?

The plan is to drive to Seattle first, where my truck lives while I’m away – I have the best friends a traveler could ask for. Then I fly to Alaska where I’ll explore Denali National Park and attend my second Adventure Travel World Summit with the Adventure Travel Trade Association, my tribe.

After returning to Seattle for a bit, I’ll head to New England for all of October to see the fall colors. My entire extended family is from the east coast, yet I’ve never experienced New England in the fall. Maine has long been on my bucket list, time to check that off. On that note, anyone know of a nice spot on the coast where I can cozy up and eat lobster? Anywhere I can do some SUPing? Any takers on Vermont’s IPA Highway? Patriots football? I’ve never been to an NFL game.

The Patagonia trip I’m leading this November will take me south to Chile and Argentina once again, and from there… we shall see.

I didn’t realize what great expectations I actually had for the summer now that I look back. I wanted it to be another stop on my nomadic adventure, but it quickly turned into a massive, time-crunched to-do list, getting things fixed, changed, tended to, and of course, being completely down for the count with my ankle injury. I’m ready to move on from this season and get back into the things that really make me feel alive: exploring, traveling, and of course, being healthy. Oh the things we take for granted.

Are you ready? I’m ready. Let’s go.

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