Day in the Life--Thursday

Going to Moab is getting to be like going to the Country House. Same distance. Same kind of roads. VERY different scenery. But familiar, in a half-comforting, half-exasperating sort of way. Now, (Mom and Dad), imagine driving there in the convertible. Towing a trailer.

7:17: Alarm! Hit the ground running. Need to shower and pack my stuff, then eat and pack SSQ's stuff.

8:00: Breakfast of birchenmuesli. I love this one, though without the side of hard-boiled eggs, it's a bit sugary. They serve bagels and English muffins instead, with the condiments I prepared yesterday for the SSQ resupply.

8:30: Packing coolers. Fortunately, more ice has solidified overnight. There is a ton of food to pack yet. We decide we need a bigger cooler, I go to get one, carry (and drag) it back to the kitchen, never mind, it all fits. Quickly discover why the guys are miffed with E. for being bossy. Leave her to finish and go find something else to do to save my sanity.

9:00: Trying to remember details. Sunglasses for portable store. Paperwork from the office. Get Seth's credit card. Does the cassette player in the Blue Whale work, and does the steering always grind like it did when I went to the P&D the other day? JR has decided not to set out the sack lunch for RMA, so I need to improvise my own. Thank god for leftover pizza.

9:40: Repacking the trailer to accommodate all the extra coolers. Need to leave E. to it again. She knows best. Pack watermelons. Ice pack or real ice for water jug? Oh yeah, fill my own Nalgenes, too.

10:15: On-time departure! This never happens!

10:20: Gas up at Cox's Conoco. It's a zoo. Hard to maneuver for a pump with trailer attached. I fight with the Blue Whale's crappy aftermarket radio while I wait. The buttons don't appear to do anything useful, but it doesn't seem to eat the tapes. Remember at the last minute to write down mileage because the gas gauge doesn't work.

10:30: Bound for Cortez, eating cherries from Monday, with my own mix tape playing and nobody else in the truck. I'm getting used to the boat-like steering. Life is good.

Sometime (the Blue Whale has no clock, and nor do I): drive past the massive junk yard north of Cortez, where the cars aren't stacked, but arrayed in lines in a field like a carnival parking lot. Cars of every make, style, and era, in varying states of decay. I notice a '50s Cadillac hearse. I'll have to take a bunch of pictures when I go to Hovenweep.

12:30: Stop at the Texaco in Monticello, UT. Eat, chat, move on.

1:40ish: Get ice at City Market in Moab. Appreciate the self-checkout.

2:00?: Pull up at the take-out. We've arrived before the group! Juggle vehicles, attach trailers.

2:20: I get 5 minutes to sit on a rock with my feet in the Colorado River. The best part of the day. We can see the group coming down the river.

2:25: The first of our boats pulls up. I go and bring down the canoe trailer (I backed it up expertly!). 2 hours of chaos begins. We have 2 rafts and 7 canoes to unload, a truck & trailer to pack, rafts to deflate and fold, canoes to lash down. Moab is hellishly hot and there isn't a cloud to be seen. I drink a liter of water just while we're there. Loading stuff is difficult because everything sears your flesh when you touch it. Water has to be poured on the tables to pick them up at all. Even the plastic oars are hard to hold for more than a few seconds. I get to practice my climbing moves tying down the canoes at the top of the stack. E. is very particular about how things get strapped. I decide that even though he doesn't talk much, J. is my favorite shuttle partner because he does his job AND he doesn't do mine.

4:30ish: Scene change to Moab community park. The kids can have their road dinner and do the "duffel shuffle" (emptying dry bags, packing duffels we brought, sending laundry back) where there are grass and trees, and take showers at the pool house. We can't find the screwdriver needed to open the Blue Whale's back door, so I get to revisit 1983 and climb over the back seat to retrieve the rolls and cookies ("peanut butter crack") for dinner. I set up the portable store, laying things out on a ground cloth. The kids want to do major shopping. I have to remind them that this is just what they can't do without until they return to basecamp in a few days. They crowd around for a long time. Finally, I yell "last call". Naturally, 1/2 hour later, when everything is put away, a kid tells me he needs sunglasses. We need to empty kitchen items from dry boxes (for the river) to action packers (like coolers, but not insulated), make sure everything in the Blue Whale is for the Rez and everything for basecamp is in the pickup, and get the kids something to eat. Both containers of pasta salad also contain chicken.

6:30: E. and I are finally excused. It's a shame to leave Moab because I probably won't be back soon--this is our last river takeout of the season. Truck seats are wet because E. & Program Leader jumped in the river while I was driving the BW to the park. Ground cloth from the portable store saves the day. I need food, but this is a tourist town and all the restaurants are swanky and/or kitschy, and expensive. I have petty cash for this, but the idea is not to finance our fine dining. I've OD'd on pizza lately, but a little Mexican stand would be nice. Finally, with guilty conscience, I spend $9 on a veggie burger. Consider ice cream (out of my pocket), but decide against it, and E. isn't down with that anyway.

7:17: We're on the road. E. is driving so I can eat my burger, but she's uncomfortable with the size of the rig. The red rocks are quite fetching in the sinking sunlight.

8:00: Stop at the Texaco in Monticello again. I wanted a popsicle, but finishing the cherries scratched that itch. I'm desperate for something cold. Morally opposed to buying water, but decide that if I buy a slushie, I'll still have plastic to throw out at the end, and I won't feel as good as with water. Leave with Aquafina. I'm driving now.

Next 2 hours: Long conversation with E. about co-workers, supervisors, field staff, Deer Hill in general. Interns definitely need field training. Working here is like being married to an alcoholic. Fiery sunset in the west.

9:50: Return to Cox's Conoco. I'm freezing standing at the pump. It's always one or the other. Truck is temperamental about filling up...the pump keeps shutting off. Get it most of the way full.

10:04: Basecamp. Consider unloading food, but decide it'll be cool enough at night. Seth can't put me on breakfast tomorrow like he did last time I got back late because I'm off tomorrow, and there's no breakfast anyway. Label credit card receipts, reconcile petty cash.

10:14: My time at last. Pick & pry spilled gorp off bottom of backpack, look at stars, retreat to tent.