Oh. My. Gosh. Ok. Here we go. This has been a pretty unbelievable day in many regards. It has been exciting. It's been long. And it's been extremely frustrating. Down right maddening even. But, I live for this sort of stuff. I guess. Let me tell you the tale of my first day on the road. Brace yourself because I still haven't figured this one out.
It all began a few days ago. Saturday actually. I needed to get new wheels on my car because they were worn unevenly and my car was pulling to the right pretty bad. So I went to Les Schwab and they told me that my car would be ready just before they closed at 5 so I needed to be there to pick it up on time, otherwise no one could hand me the keys.
I went home--and fell asleep because I was exhausted from working overtime and odd hours. And yes. You guess it, I missed my time to pick my car up by two hours... And not only that, and just bless their little hearts but they also happen to be closed on Sunday's. So I was without a vehicle for a whole day, which is, from my experience not quite as bad as being without your phone for a day. Haha.
Anyway, my original plan was to leave around 3 in the morning on Monday, but Les Schwab doesn't open until 8am. So I was set back several hours right from the start. But that's not so bad. I got to sleep in a little bit.
So finally I picked up my car and headed out! And wow, I wish everyone could just go on road trips all the time. There is nothing like setting out on the open road with nothing before you but the setting sun and all the awesome adventures to come.
The next thing I knew I was skating the Cedar City skate park. It was fun but dinky. Honestly I spent way too much time there just messing around. I filmed a little but the footage has been compromised. I'll fill you in on why in a little bit. Let's continue forth for now.
Then I drove through Zions National park. And sadly I didn't get any pics cuz it was over before I could blink an eye. I thought I had more time in the park but the exit came quickly. It was awe inspiring though, what I saw as I drove.
Then on to the Grand Canyon I drove steadfastly with a gleam in my eye! And I'm just absolutely sure that everyone and their grandma knows that the North Rim Grand Canyon viewing area is a 40 mile dead end, but apparently I had no idea... Otherwise I wouldn't have gone to the North Rim... That's 80 miles there and back to highway 89a. Heavens. 80 miles...
But it wasn't a completely loss! Actually due to current events it might have been. But I am still getting to that. En route to the Canyon I was over taken by a herd of Bison! I was able to get a lot of sweet pics. So that was exciting. Finally I got to the end of the road and realized that it didn't continue on. I sighed. Heavily. But I took advantage of the scenery and soaked it all in. It was beautiful. It was awe inspiring. And I tried really hard to get a picture of me kick flipping into the Grand Canyon! You heard me right. There was this stone wall. And there was a perfect spot for me to set up my Nikon to take my pic of my kick flip. Pause. I don't think you realize how cool this would have been. Look at the photo that I posted as my cover photo on face book and imagine me doing a tweaked out ninja kick flip imposed over that view!
I waited patiently to get the shot but it was just too crowded and I really didn't want to get kicked out of a National Park since I just bought a nationwide National Park pass for $80. So I was disheartened and left with mixed feelings as I began to back track forty miles.
Finally I made it back out and began my trek to Flagstaff. A whole box of Avenger fruit snacks and a Red Bull later and here I am lying in the bed of a Super 8 Motel.
But the story doesn't end there. This is where it gets dynamic! So I stumbled in the front doors around 11pm and got a room. I managed to get all of my electronics charging and after writing this whole post, plugging both my Go Pro with my Cedar City footage on it and my 32 gig SD card with my Nikon photos on it into my Mac, it dies. My mac. No, it didn't just run out of battery. It was plugged in and fully charged. I was watching the skate footage and bam. Just freezes and shuts down. The kicker is that I hadn't published this post yet and I am rewriting this whole thing on my phone:0 on top of that I am afraid to eject my GoPro and my SD card because I'm worried about corrupted data if I do that.
So, desperately thinking I realized that I need something to put future footage and pics even if I lose what I already have so, after groaning in my depths I decided to buy a new PC laptop from the nearby Walmart super center.
Upon evaluation my options I finally, begrudgingly decide on the one I want. Well, turns out in only appeared as though they had that one but they really didn't. Keep in mind it's 2am at this point. But he offers me another HP laptop for only $250 on clearance. The problem is I need to know what ports it has and the box doesn't say and he "isn't allowed to open the box."
I'm about losing my mind at this point. But the dude is trying his best so I take it easy on him. I really can sympathize with him. Yes, a little known fact about me is that I worked in the electronics section of walmart for a brief jaunt. But I don't like to talk about that.
Anyway he gets his manger and we finally agree that I can purchase the device, open it in the store, look at it and then return it if it isn't what I need. And guess what. It wasn't what I needed. And guess what again. It took 45 minutes to return the product...
I ultimately returned home... Um, I mean to Super 8 Motel defeated, tired, and unsure of how to document my trip now.
I am going to sleep on it. I figure if it doesn't start up in the morning I'll just unplug my devices and risk the data loss. Also, I can in the future use a handy feature on my Nikon and wifi my photos to my phone so I can upload those to Facebook and Instagram. Theoretically I can still post them to my site but the interface is horrendous and I'm not sure if it would be worth attempting it through my phone. As for writing, I'll just have to use my phone for the time being. The biggest problem is the GoPro footage. I think I can connect it with Bluetooth to my phone but I haven't used that feature very much and I'm not certain what I can do with it really. I guess we'll see.
So that is that. Just an unbelievable first day on the road. In one regard I'm in a pickle but in another I am still undertaking a great project that I am still way excited about. I just wish I could document it better.
Im going to sleep on it. And come tomorrow I'll be in the Lowell observatory pondering upon the Canals that Percival oddly claimed seeing on the surface of Mars and learning more about the discovery of Pluto!
Thank you for reading. I put more effort into this post than you know. And unfortunately it is probobly ripe with grammatical errors because. You know, I wrote it on my phone.