Am I Dreaming? Part 1

4/4/21 Easter Sunday

Well, you just could have never prepared me for the total mind melter of a day this was to be.. on every possible level … cognitively, aesthetically, physically, emotionally…. It was just a big one. First, Hoppy Easter! I had false hope that Easter just wasn’t going to be a thing this year, but that was dumb… the kids have been totally jazzed about the Easter bunny coming to the desert for WEEKS. The pressure is ON. Last night ended with me hiding out in the truck after hours, sketchily stuffing eggs with candy that had been hidden, wrapped up in matts coat and shoved under the driver seat for the last few days… I really can’t believe it wasn’t sniffed out, and thus Easter ruined forever… it was a definite possibility as there is NO place that remains off limits to these super sleuths. I glance up every few seconds making sure a kid isn’t sticking their head out of the camper door, discovering me in my deceit… an instant fail in my job as a guardian of childhood. I had made it through the Reeses and jellybeans, and was on to the final phase of stuffing… robins eggs…… when somewhat surprisingly, a new neighbor arrived (they must have a similar travel style to ours) As the driver pulls through their site, her headlights beam directly into the front seat of the truck, exposing me in my questionable, hunched position….. uuummmmm, do I wave? … naahhh, I’m going to pretend like we didn’t just make eye contact…that was awkward….. maybe she will put two and two together when she sees the kids out hunting eggs in the morning. With my covert mission complete, I strap on my head lamp and charge out into the dark desert night to lay some easter eggs.

I didn’t sleep well.. the wind picked up and was rocking the camper a bit. I hope to one day be comforted by the feeling, but at this stage in life it just sends my mommy spidey senses into hi gear… wondering who is out of bed and cruising the camper. I am also imaging the eggs I just laid blowing all around the desert, scattering my kid’s Easter dreams into oblivion. After I managed to slip into some form of slumber, Isabelle pops up in my face, panicked… “Mom… there is a man outside the camper saying “Please charge da bat, please charge da bat”…. What the @##$%^. As I try to focus in on what’s happening, indeed I can hear a man’s voice repeating something every few minutes. I’m shitting the bed at this point but rationalize and start running through what electronic toys we have with us that could be short circuiting and causing this midnight chaos. nothing is coming to mind… and its not the fire/Co2 detector. Poor Izzy is totally spooked… too scared to even go into the bathroom to pee. I finally identify what I’m hearing…it’s the new set of “honkey tonkies” (that’s what the kids call walkie-talkies), yes! That’s what it is! “Please charge the battery”. This is followed by the depressing realization that the honkey tonkies are not in the camper with us, but instead locked up in the outdoor kitchen (right on the other side of Isabelle’s bunk). IIIIIIIImmmmm taping out, this is above my paygrade, not the job for me, it’s like 35 degrees outside….psst, psst, pssstttt Matt….. Um…. you are gonna have to get up, go outside, unlock the outdoor kitchen, and turn the walkie talkie off. So sorry. I am so panicked that all the commotion is going to wake ALL the kids up, and that the focus is going to shift to the fact that the Easter bunny might have laid eggs already… which would lead to a 1:00 am easter egg hunt. PLEASE no… don’t wake up, don’t wake up, don’t wake up……..

After another few minutes of sleep, at I would say 6 am-ish… you guessed it… a train comes barreling through. Now I totally appreciate being trackside, absolutely love it, don’t even mind the early wake up, but I could have done for a few more winks before going into this particular day. Jack is in an absolute panic, poor little angel. Even with the sound machine blasting, it does sound like this train is about to come right on through the trailer. I run back to the bunkhouse to lay down with him, hoping to coax him back to sleep for just a little bit longer…… but the deed is done. After all the tumult the bigs are up and desperate to see if the Easter bunny came. I haven’t even found my glasses before they are already outside. I sure hope there is something for them to find out there.

The hunt was over with a quickness, the joy on their faces worth every second of awkwardness with our neighbor last night. The kids were so stoked over their hunt…. if you ask them the favorite part of the day… even after I tell you everything else that occurs….. they would tell you easter egg hunt in the desert!

After a candy breakfast and minimal sleep, we head out for the day with a “loose” plan, and our fingers crossed that we can get into Arches at some point.

Things look promising as we head towards Moab. There is a mass exodus happening as Jeep Safari has drawn to a close…. RVs towing jeeps, trucks towing jeeps, 18 wheelers with stacks of jeeps, jeeps being jeeps…..oozing out of Moab. Perfect, we should have no problem getting into the National Park (we had heard they only let a certain amount of cars in at a time, and if full, they tell you to come back in two hours).

Cruising down highway 191 we find ourselves watching an airplane that is about to land at a little airport. Next thing that comes into view are tiny humans falling from the sky!!!We pull over on the next road to watch the skydivers, parachutes deployed, blowing around in the wind and slowly drifting to the ground. Henry of course verbalizes his desires to do this activity. Not today little buddy. With the spectacle now over, we assess where we are, and realize we have stumbled upon the beginning of a network of trails, trails that all the Jeep freaks have been out here tearing up for the past week. Well, what does one do in Moab? Sounds like the answer is …..trail ride. We’ve got 4×4 and some sort of “tough” package on the truck….. Matt is convinced it’s a good idea, the kids are down, I guess it’s a go!.

I am a little nervous about this one, picturing some narrow, rocky cliff drive that can only fit an atv (that actually comes later in the day, this is unknowingly our trail warm up). Don’t panic guys, it’s perfectly fine.. the roads are wide enough, not cliff side, and more dusty than anything else. But there are some hills…. big, steep, rolling hills. It is like being on The Scream Machine at Six Flags over Georiga. The kids have the windows down and are screaming” weeeeee” as we nosedive these dust humps. We stop on a hilltop to get out and stretch our legs. The vastness of what can be seen out here is simply amazing, with almost zero disruption by manmade bullshit. The beauty of Utah is blowing my socks off. I’m a little bummed I used up all my landscape descriptors on the Eastern scenery, because I need them ALL to attempt to relay this splendor. While the east coast has plenty to admire, it just doesn’t compare to the magnificence on this side of the country. The hillsides are a rainbow of colors, surrounded by red canyons, and buttes, and in the distance majestic snowcapped mountain tops. The kids are running wild and free, happy as they could possibly be. They know I’ve recently rekindled my love affair with rocks and gemstones and are amassing some superb hunks of rock and are presenting them to me proudly. It’s a tender moment, in which I am reminded that they really do love me. (we’ve been beefing a little bit lately) Dazzling pieces of rock with layers and layers of colors; some green, some red, some yellow, some almost blue. This is the moment, reminiscent of Daniel Boone Forest, where we, as a family, dropped in and found our groove on this new journey we are on. All the tension, angst, stress, and frustration that can come with travel melted away, and everyone is radiating peace. We found our happy, our joy, our ease, our connection with the Earth and each other. These are the moments that make it all worth it.

After our grounding moment on the hilltop, Matt gets the kids bikes out so they can mountain bike some of the road we are on. After such a connection with our surroundings, I just can’t get back in the car… so I decided to jog along with them. And the magic just continues. The temperature is perfect, the sun is gently shining down, the scenery is breathtaking, and my soul is soaring. These kids are badasses; I logged my run, and they biked their little hineys more than 2 miles up and over rocky, sandy hills…… loving every single minute of it. The road brings us to a tiny state campground, where there just so happens to be a nonchalant, completely off the beaten path, outdoor exhibit of fossilized dinosaur tracks. Are you kidding me??? Do you just drive up on this type of stuff in Utah?!?!?! We ogle over 200 million-year-old dinosaur footprints, discussing the mysteries of ancient times, evolutionary theories, and imagining dinosaurs walking around this landscape… This day is starting to feel like a dream.

Part 2 coming soon.