h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Day One (7/16/05)

We leave the house at 1000 and hit the road. The drive goes very uneventful for most of the trip. We did make one unexpected stop, the view was so gorgeous, I made my dad stop at a view area to take pictures.

The area we are in is the San Rafael Swell in Eastern Utah, red rock country. The temperatures are pretty high 100-107F. We did get a couple of spots of rain, just enough to drop the temp a couple of degrees.

Day Two (7/17/05)

A fairly uneventful day except for oar chasing. We had pulled one of our rafts up on to the dock as it was not being used. A fairly large gust of wind came up and blew it back into the water, the raft was still tied to the dock but, when Aaron went and hauled it back out of the water, he dropped one of the oars into the river. He calls to me saying to brig life vests, I go running over to him, toss him a vest, get the scoop, put on my vest, and jump into the raft he has just put back into the water. The raft nearly sinks, Aaron sees this and decides to step into the raft thinking that will be safer, and the raft nearly sinks worse. We start rowing after our wayward oar only to be brought up short by the safety line attaching the raft to the dock. The last we saw of the oar was it floating down the Green River about ¼ mile from the railroad bridge we walked to. I suspect it is ½ way to the Grand Canyon by now.

Day Three (7/18/05)

I woke up. Then, I went downtown, to look for a job, then I hung out in front of the drug store. Wait wait wait… That’s not right. We took a trip to see Crystal Geyser, one of the few geysers in Utah, today. It was pretty cool, seeing a cold water geyser erupting and all. The eruption wasn’t very big but... After seeing the geyser, we went east and east and east to Colorado. This is my first time in Colorado, the first for my kids as well. We ended up in Fruita where we went to the Dinosaur museum and then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The trip back was very uneventful.

Day Four (7/19/05)

We got up early today and headed out to Goblin Valley. It was a very fun trip with the exception of a very fast descent down the middle of a small valley. I’m kinda laid up with a twisted ankle and a sprained finger (that I’m typing with). A good day despite that.

Day Five (7/20/05)

Another early day. This time we headed out to look at some pictographs and petroglyphs, we also went to yet another museum, this one in a town called Castledale. The ankle is fine, no pain at all as of this writing (2230). The finger is still bothering me though, if the swelling hasn’t gone down by the morning, I will go into town and see a doctor about it.

Day Six (7/21/05)

Today sucked. Got heat exhaustion today and I was drinking water and PowerAde all day. Major wind storm that knocked down a very large tree branch that was next to our campsite, had all the kids stay in the car until the wind died down. Not much else to report. Heading home tomorrow.


For more details, my contact info is on my PS.

Sounds like you packed a lot into a short space of time. Were the kids scared by the oar antics - or did they just think it was adults messing about?

Sounds like a memorable trip for all of you. Colorado is one place I definitely need to visit. I am green with envy.

Is this the same Green River that is in Washington? Of Green River Killer fame?

Teuchter, the kids were busy fishing when we had to go after the oar.

Hyp, definitely not the same Green that is in Washington.