Reminiscing about road trips…

I love road trips. I love driving through small towns and going to diners. Gas stations make me incredibly happy. I have an association with being a kid. It meant I had money to spend on soda or our family was going somewhere. A very happy day.

As an adult, I learned to travel alone. Waiting for a friend to go with me would never happen. I didn’t want to miss out anymore. I enjoyed the long drives to let my mind wander in a different way. I enjoyed the excitement. I enjoyed testing my intuition, not just for safety, but for learning what ended up being fun and what didn’t. I learned which voice to follow.

I had been doing quite a few road trips on the weekends. I loved getting out of town. I started thinking I should find a job shipping something that would fit in my matrix. I had good energy at the time. I always pulled over if I got tired. I over caffeinated for sure.

My birthday was coming up and I had a trip planned through Vegas, to see a hike nearby with hot springs and to go to a beautiful spa recommended to me by a client.

The spa was excellent. I still think about it. The architecture is so well done. You can’t understand how the colors, textures, sounds and especially lighting can affect your nervous system until you go in a place like that. It is a personal favorite thing to go in a spa that has a cold bath, warm bath, spa, relaxation room. Nothing is better in my opinion. I featured part of my Europe trip around bath houses.

The hike I was headed to was a natural hot spring outside of Vegas with a series of pools, getting hotter and hotter as you progress down. There was a warning about not drinking the water. I arrived at the trailhead and headed out. It seemed pretty straight forward. As I was about a mile in, 3 Bucks were headed toward me on the trail. I saw them and they saw me and a little smile crept the corner of their mouth. That’s right, grown men, wearing shoes, backpacks and buck naked. This is common with hot springs for people to get naked. I imagine there was a sense of freedom to be seen that way, adventurous maybe. I didn’t want to be subject of ‘let’s see how uncomfortable we can make this person.’ I tried to be cool as a cucumber. As they passed, we have spoken words about how far the hike is or just a hello. I don’t think they had any bad intentions, but I think this would have been a great time to have a gun, just sitting in my holster, plain view.

After some time passing a series of hills and dipping into a gulch that went on for a few miles, I hit the hot springs. There were a couple of foreigners there. They made good company. I decided to go back before them. The woman told me she was going to eat her ramen noodles, using the hot water from the spring source. I didn’t see her eat it, but she was convinced it was fine. I wouldn’t do it. The internet lies.

On the way back, I got in a trance of walking and looking ahead when I realized I had been in the gulch too long. Dessert hikes are very tricky this way. I have gotten lost on another dessert hike as well and learned that first time how important it is to be vigilant. The trail is not obvious. The first time, the cairns were leading us in a completely wrong direction and I was following them, ‘See? Another cairn.’ What set it off was they seemed to be different from the map and leading nowhere. Luckily, we were able to return the way we came. I was pissed at those cairns.

I have hiked quite a bit. It’s only 3 miles out and 3 miles back. And those are exactly the attitude that leaves you unprepared. No matter the time, always pack a flashlight and plenty of water. What has saved me is that I never needed to get to the top. I was always okay with hiking in for 30 minutes and turning around. I never, ever go off trail. Someone trustworthy, that is not your beneficiary if you die, should always know what hike you’re doing and when you will be back. You can also leave a paper with the hike, your name, and when you’ll be back under your carseat at the trail head. One of the best things you can do, is visit the Visitor’s Center, if there is one. They will ask you where you are headed and let you know if you are unprepared. Most importantly, they will see you. 👀

No one knew where I was. I am very guided sometimes, but unfortunately, I did make this mistake again before seeing the fault in it. Around this time, I was living in la la land where I was past the age of bad things happening. That has changed. If I didn’t come home, I would have passed through 3 different states. Think about it.

So here I was again. I knew the lesson in trails. On the way in every time you make a fork, you have to turn around and really look at it. Mark it. You don’t know there is going to be another identical looking fork that you won’t even see on your way in. It is an upside down Y, behind you. Getting lost and finding your way back is a good experience. You learn not to freak out, to slow down and to never be unprepared again.

Because there was one gulch, I knew if I went back and carefully checked the side for the right trail, I could find my way back. I was hoping to run into the two foreigners, who were going to head up after me and it may time itself right. Problem, I didn’t have a flashlight, mistake two. I had my phone flashlight and it was getting close to dark. I moved quickly but calmly. This hike had one direction and a highway at the trailhead. So if it came to the worst, I could safely go straight to the highway. I didn’t want to spend the night there, but that would be wiser to wait for the sun, if my flashlight died. Staying put is sometimes better than confusing oneself more.

The gulch was sandy, so it made the walking slower and every step seemed to crunch. Whenever this happens, I always start apologizing and bargaining with God. This one was not as serious and I knew it but I was definitely humbled. I checked carefully for the turn and finally I reached it. (There is one important turn on this hike.) On the way in, it looks like a one way. On the way out, you can easily miss it.

I felt relief as soon as I saw the smaller trail and familiar terrain. The elevation sloping to my left was the exact opposite as it should be on the way out. I was hoping my phone battery would last at least until I found the fork, and I was grateful for that. It lasted the whole way back. The last mile or so, it started to rain. I felt concerned for my trail friends. When I got to my car, you would think I would be relieved, and I was. The plan was to sleep there. (I was doing a lot of car sleeping at the time.) I could not settle myself. I couldn’t sleep at all. So, I drove to the nearby casino.

I do recommend this place. It’s a casino in the middle of no town. It was a weekday and a pretty chill evening but I enjoyed being inside until I was ready to head out in the morning.

The next day I drove through Arizona and got to Williams, which was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know about it, was just driving the highway to Flagstaff and planning to head back to Utah that way, in a loop, which is my favorite way to travel. It was a really cool looking town and I was hoping to go back. I saw a bunch of rainbows on the way home. It was a great birthday to myself.

*Around the time of covid I decided to buy a gun. One of my roommates, did not want a gun in the house. She didn’t tell me I couldn’t but she made it clear how she felt. Out of respect for her, I waited to buy one. I am not really happy about that now. I got one the next year. I love having a gun. A gun says, ‘Messing with me will not be easy. I am not easy.’