Hot damn! Just bought plane tix to Alaska

It should be a great leg of the trip. I'll arrive in Anchorage on August 9, in time to go to some MMA fights that a fellow BJJer is refereeing that Saturday; he said he could get me in! I'll train at Ted Stickel's academy for a couple days and do some sightseeing, and then after the weekend I'll head to Juneau to visit my friend Debbie from high school. She is a midwife and a doctor of naturopathy there. She has delivered hundreds of babies and has helped me with naturopathic remedies. (She has not delivered hundreds of my babies.)

I've visited Debbie before and liked it so much I'm going again. Last time I visited it was April, which is cold and dreary, obviously, because it's Alaska. This time, though, it will be light for about 20 hours a day, the town will be full of seasonal workers and tourists, and all the fun stuff to do in the summer will be going on. I can't wait! In the meantime, she sent me a great birthday package, complete with homemade brownies, Mad Libs--and a harmonica! I'm gonna get all John Popper up in here. (That's how the kids talk.)

Just packing up my stuff to leave Denver and head to Salt Lake City. I'm still reeling at how much I learned and how great everyone was here in Colorado, and I will definitely be back! I had a hard time sleeping again, this time because I kept going over and over the techniques I learned. I'm excited to hit the road again; the travel bug definitely has its little pincers in my hide. Tomorrow it will be training at Pedro Sauer's academy for a couple days, and then it's on to Idaho.

Life is good on the road. Life is a highway. Or so I've heard on the radio. I'm gonna drive it all day long, at least for today (8 hours to SLC).