Still in awe and the joy of climbing my first 14,000 foot mountain and witnessing my first tornado I was ready for some fun. Becca and I were off to our first of 3 festivals. FIBARK, First in Boating on the Arkansas. This was a white water festival. Lots of boater come from all over to play on the water for 3 days straight. It takes place in Salida, CO. It is a very small town, for such a large event.
We found a campground that had electricity, showers, and Wi-Fi. I couldn't more more thankful for this considering we just came from Pikes National Forest and camped there for 4 days, with none of the above. Also, we knew we would need the electricity for doing some work and having our electronic charged for the festival.
The first day of the festival was us, basically just trying to figure it out. Gathering all of our stuff that was shipped to us there, including our pop-up tent and boxes and boxes of freebies to give out over the next 3 days. We arrived early, unloaded the car, found our tent, and started to set up home base for the next 3 days. Once we were all set up we were ready to relax. There was carnival rides, fried food vendor trucks, live music, and tons of craft vendors set up.
We sat at our booth for 11 hours, sometimes trading off and letting one another walk around and stretch the legs. This would be our boring schedule for the next 3 days. Over the course of the first 2, we met so many wonderful people. Some of which we already knew, some of which knew people we knew, grew up in the same town we lived in, and others who were just so incredibly inspiring. Becca and I decided to spend our second night enjoying the festivities. We enjoyed some local brews, and some live music and dancing. We ended up at a local bar and had a great time meeting new people eventually getting back to camp around 1:00am.
I was quite exhausted the next morning, however my phone started to ring at 4:00am. I ignored it, it rang again, ignored it, then I rolled over noticed 4 missed calls and a voicemail and a text all from my mother. My stomach absolutely sank. I knew immediately something was wrong. My mom barely calls me as it is, never mind when she knows it's 4:00am my time, and leaves a VM and sends a text. I couldn't get out of my sleeping bag quick enough, rummaging around for my car keys and half asleep. I finally got out of the tent trying my best not to wake Becca. I unlocked the car, got in and called my mom. She answered the phone, I said "what's going on?" She responded with "Craig is dead." My heart sunk, my throat tightened up, and I just kept saying no, no, it can't be true. Then I finally asked how, and what happened. Her words froze me solid, shocked me. "His girlfriend found him in her bathroom, dead. He overdosed on Heroin." I just couldn't believe what she was telling me.
Craig was my best friend, a cousin I grew up with, spent almost every waking moment as kids with. He was a year younger than me. He was so happy go lucky, always acted as if he had a good head on his shoulders. When my house burnt down when I was younger my aunt and uncle let us move in with them until my mother found a new home for us. Craig was my brother. I knew he smoked marijuana, but I had no clue he had gotten into Heroin. I was sick. I started to cry, hyperventilate, and couldn't even talk. My mother tried to calm me down but I couldn't pull myself together. The heartbreak. The shock. Worst of all, it was Father's Day. My poor uncle.
I spent the next 2 hours in the car, crying. I couldn't stop. I was so far away from home. I didn't have my family anywhere near me. I had no one to talk to or reach out to in that moment who knew what I was going through. I had no idea how I would get home for the services, or if I even could. It was by far one of the most painstakingly things to hear about someone you care about so much. I couldn't imagine what holiday parties would be like in the future without him and his presence and goofy jokes. I eventually splashed some cold water on my face and calmed down until Becca woke up. I told her what had happen and she hugged me.
The last thing I wanted to do was sit around at a tent all day, thinking about it. But, life is life and I did. Becca tried to keep my mind occupied on other things. I tried all day not to cry and held it back so many times. Eventually, the day ended and luckily it was a half day and our last. We walked over to watch the dog jumping contest in the river, and then eventually headed back to camp. Becca was nice enough to take me to Wal-Mart and buy me my 2 favorite things to cheer me up, Corona and Oreos.
We were to get up early and head to our final destination in Colorado before heading back east to Ohio for our next event. We were off to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We arrived, after what was a close call for running out of gas at the Great Sand Dunes NP. This was a great way to take my mind off everything that was going on. We spent the day hiking the Dunes and getting whipped with sand at 40MPH, which felt like 1000's of bee stings across our legs, face and arms. After hiking we decided to take a short trip out of the park to go rent a Sand Board. We went back and Becca did some sand boarding. I decided to watch. It looked like a blast, and I got some awesome action photos of her.
Once we were done being pelted with the sand we decided to call it quits. Once back at the car, I kids you not, we had sand everywhere. I had enough sand in my scalp that I probably could have built Cinderells Sand Castle with it. My boots, a pound of sand, my mouth crunchy sand, and even the clothing was covered in sand, even in my underwear. How is that even possible?
Checked into a hotel for the night, I made a few calls to our boss, and my family about getting home for the services. We cancelled our event in Ohio, and Becca was kind enough to offer to spend every waking moment to drive me all the way back to Boston in 2 and a half days. I couldn't be more grateful for that! Even to this day.
Overall, our first festival was so much fun, and the Sand Dunes were amazing. I feel fortunate enough to have been able to spend enough time in Colorado to have seen pretty much the entire state. Colorado is definitely home of many different landscapes and weather conditions. Lots of beautiful mountains to climb, roads to bike, and massive sand piles to sled.
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