After WaKeeney, I hunkered down with the boys in Tulsa for the next week and a half, ish.
The first evening there, George took me to one of the Starlight Concerts performances in the Guthrie Green. I think that’s the first public performance I’ve been to since covid started. Aside from that, it was mostly our usual routine of small gatherings of friends, big meals, many video games, pondering about roadtrips yet to come, and work.
For the final stop on this walkabout, I made my way back out to West Virginia to chase my last day of work with a few days in the New. You see, when this trip started way back in Marble Falls, which feels like forever ago, I turned in my notice.
The “retracing of steps” felt like a rewind of what started after the Coronaroadtrip last September. In that light, I think the climbing trip can be best summed up in the victory of a single moment, among the many adventures: I nailed a move on what has become one of my favorite routes out there.
I struggled with that climb and ultimately bailed on it last time, feeling rather deflated because of how much I’d hyped it up. It felt good to put up a win.
Work usually escapes mention on this blog, but it is relevant in one key aspect: the new job, which starts in just under a month, features a physical office. I haven’t darkened the door of an office at all since early 2016, and haven’t been full-time in an office since 2013. And that flexibility has given rise to these many adventures.
The new company is still considering what its post-covid life may look like. And with the delta variant spreading rapidly, I expect that may be further pushed back regardless. The general sentiment I was able to extract during interviews seems to be that “everyone really liked the flexibility and no one wants to spend their life commuting” (is this news?) but that no solid decisions have been made yet.
However, if I’m honest, there’s something to be said for a measure of in-person future. Austin is an exceptionally good market in which to do what I do, but from a certain point of view: I’ve never really worked here. An Austin climber recently looked at me, dead serious, and said, “Explain to me why you do not live in a van.” There’s something enticing about that thought, too. But moving on to a new company, and hopefully one day putting covid behind us, part of me is excited to see what life is like downtown in daylight.
So my hope is that there’s a middle-ground to find.
