Let me apologize to those of you who sit at your computers and hope for a blog update on an hourly basis. I know there are so many of you people out there (NOT). I am going to pretend that people pine after this blog regardless.
Also, since this blog is being written a day behind schedule, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that this day is nothing short of unbelievable for lack of a better term. The day began in Denver, Colorado and ended somewhere in Zion National Park, Utah. The destinations are truly insignificant compared to the things that happened between them. After a much needed stop at Target and Dick’s for necessary things such as a hot pot, can opener, hiking shoes, and air fresheners we began to make our way 9.5 hours toward Utah, home of the Mormons. If any of you haven’t visited or driven through the Rocky Mountains, you are missing out. The views from I70 are absolutely breathless. I had moments along the drive that I could barely pay attention to where we were going because I was so mesmerized by the gorgeous sites that surrounded our trusty minivan on all sides. The beauty, peace, and tranquility of Colorado got turned on its head when we crossed the border and entered the fascinating state of Utah.
Wild happening number 1: Apparently Mormons don’t believe in gas stations. Literally, gas does not exist in Utah. At one point we saw a sign on I70 that there were no services for the next 106 miles. 106 miles?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Then, as soon as you pass the exit that has gas there is a sign telling you yet another time that there are no services any time soon. Im no expert but don’t you think that once a person is on the interstate they don’t need a huge sign that screams “if you cant make it 100 miles, you’re screwed.” I think that if the person doesn’t have enough gas, they don’t need to be told immediately that they wont make it. To make matters worse, when 106 miles ended and gas become “readily available” the gas was actually 25 miles down the street. Who is willing to drive 25 miles the wrong direction in the middle of Utah to get a little petrol? Not these guys. Turns out in retrospect that it was almost an unwise decision not to travel the extra 50 miles.. After a tense 30 miles and a good amount of time spent in neutral on 70, we rolled into an overpriced gas station in the middle of nowhere 10 miles short of our first catastrophic blunder.
Wild happening number 2: In Utah it is acceptable to post signs that state “damaged road next 100000 miles.” If you decipher the code this means that the road will have random bumps and jumps ever so often. Well turns out that one of these bumps got the better of us. JD was cruising along around 75 mph (speed limit was 75) and all of a sudden a bump jumped up on us. During this slight rollercoaster ride JD somehow managed to hit his knee on the key in the ignition and shut the car off. Yes, we all realize this probably wasn’t good for the car or JD’s knee but needless to say we pulled the car over and had to restart it.
Wild happening number 3: The great sleep debacle of 2009. To say last night’s sleeping experience was enjoyable would be the correct use of an antonym. It all started when we decided to stop at Kolob Canyons, a piece of the greater Zion National Park. By doing so, we ended up pulling into Zion around 9:15pm with no camping reservations and a sky that was as black as coal. Problem #2: All campgrounds were full. Alright, so I guess we will have to drive into the park and camp on our own…WRONG. After driving through the entire park we realized that not one car was parked along side the road and figured it was not worth collecting a ticket for unlawfully camping in the national park. Finally, we decided that we would park just inside the camp by the ranger station and sleep in the car until the sun came up and then begin our adventures in the park. Sound like a good plan? Well it couldn’t have been much worse. 3 guys sleeping in a van full of stuff is not ever a good idea. Sipe and I tried to sleep on our makeshift bed while JD used the passenger’s seat in the front as a bed. After 2 hours of laying in silence losing weight by the minute from the extreme amounts of body heat in a small space we decided something had to be done. It is now 12:15am. Sipe and I moved ourselves to the ground outside the bed where we could be fully exposed in case any wild animals needed a midnight snack. JD took refuge in the now free bed that exists in the back seat of our van. Although we clearly made it through the night without losing our lives, it may have been the worst night of sleep we have all had in our lives. Nevertheless, its all part of the adventure.
Random fact of the day: We saw a gay guy in Burger King…That’s bad news for both Derek and JD who have recently had advances placed on them by homosexual men.
Quote of the day: Coming to you from Mark Twain- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do…Explore. Dream. Discover.
You tried S'in in the V?
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