The final leg of our road trip
After competing at the Westmont Pro Swim Series, my fiancée, puppy and I had one last hurrah for our west coast RV road trip. We left Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes National Parks over the course of a few days before arriving in Colorado Springs, CO for a two week altitude camp. We encountered some weather challenges, but still had some beautiful views!
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All pictures of Violet brought to you by Victoria Veterinary Hospital
What’s Happening?
Westmont Pro Swim Series
Direct Travel flew me out to Westmont, where I swam great butterfly and good free. Sometimes your prep for a meet favors one stroke, whether intentional or not. It turns out that this was a butterfly meet for me! I started off strong with a silver in the 200 fly. My time of 1:57.35 is currently sitting at third in the world for 2025. I also swam the 200 free, placing 10th in 1:50.27 (slightly slower than my 1:49.86 in the morning) and closed the meet out well with a 5th place finish in the 100 fly (53.11). Both butterfly swims are the fastest I’ve ever been in March and my 200 free was pretty close to the same benchmark!
Leaving ASU
During my road trip, I had two stints at ASU. Coach Herbie, the pro group and the college team were extremely accommodating. Competing and hanging out with them were a highlight, for sure. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of that energy during my short time in Tempe!
Grand Canyon
With our sights set on Colorado, we decided to hit a few more National Parks on the way back. First on the docket was the Grand Canyon. We got going early in the morning because a storm was supposed to form later in the day. We stayed mostly ahead of it, but as we were setting up camp, snow started to come down heavily. With only that evening and the following morning to explore the park, we decided to brave the winter weather and walk the Rim Trail on the south edge of the canyon. We couldn’t see very far in front of us, but it was still a unique hike! The following morning we got up to see the sunrise which took us longer than expected because it was tough to get the ice out of the wheel wells. With the winter haze dispersed by the sun, the view was spectacular!
Four Corners Monument
Due to the snow, Desert View Drive was closed. This is a scenic road that goes along the south rim which also happens to cut the corner on the way east. We had to backtrack through Flagstaff which added about two hours to our drive. Along the way to our next park we stopped at the Four Corners Monument!
Mesa Verde
We dropped our trailer at the beginning of Mesa Verde National Park because the winding mountain roads don’t allow trailers. Driving up the mountain and seeing the Mancos and Montezuma valleys at the various overlooks was breathtaking. However, the real charm of this park was the adobe settlements built into the caves and cliffs. Spruce Tree House and Square Tower House were my favorites. It was also interesting to walk through the kivas and pit houses that were made before the cliff dwellings.
Wolf Creek Pass
With one more National Park to go, we still has to cross the Great Divide. The mountain pass we chose was Wolf Creek Pass. As we gained elevation, more snow came down. There were loads of people out snowmobiling and we were slowed to a crawl with the steep 6 percent grade incline. We took the descent even slower and eventually the snow ceased.
Zapata Falls and the Great Sand Dunes
Our final park was the Great Sand Dunes. The campsite we stayed at had a short hike up to a frozen waterfall called Zapata Falls. We could hear the water flowing below (don’t worry the ice was thick and the stream shallow) which was eerie. The icy formation was stunning. We proceeded to the sand dunes where we hiked to the top of High Dune and then I made the trek to Star Dune. My calves were on fire the next day!
Olympic Training Center
The last stop on our road trip was Colorado Springs and the Olympic Training Center. It was a small group up there, but we had a lot of fun and got great training in. We were all on separate training plans though we still bonded through the tough altitude training. Next up I’ll be returning to Missouri for my preparations for Nationals in June.
Looking Ahead
By the time this newsletter comes out, I will be finishing up competition at the Sacramento Pro Swim Series. Read about it in next month’s newsletter!
Later this month I will be starting work at Counsilman-Hunsaker. They are an aquatic design firm and I’m excited to start putting my mechanical engineering degree to use!
Critically, this will also be a fantastic outlet to put my passion into outside of professional swimming (note how I didn’t say “outside the pool” haha)
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