Rocking Out and Burning Rubber on the Endless Road

This weekend we planned to have a fun and exciting Saturday of Rock-hounding out at the Dugway Geode Beds. We went with our friends, Matt, Kathryn, Amelia (3 yrs) and Ellie (6 mos) in their Chevy Tahoe. Talk about getting more than we bargained for. We had planned to drive for two hours or so, spend the afternoon digging for Geodes and be home in time for a block party some friends were hosting at 5:00.

We left Matt and Kathryn's house at about 10:30. Kathryn driving, Me riding shotgun and Jessica in the middle. Matt was in the back with the babies.

We were traveling down the old Pony Express trail making pretty good time. A couple of miles from Simpson Springs (Alas, we didn't see Homer or Marge) we hit a rock (at about 35mph). A couple miles later we crested a hill and the truck fishtailed a little bit. Then it felt like a bunch of little bumps. At that point Kathryn said, "I think I'm going to slow down." I looked out the window and saw chunks of rubber flying through the air so I said, Kathryn, "YOU NEED TO STOP NOW" We got out and inspected the scene. The tire was smoking it was so hot. Here's Kathryn and Ellie as they surveyed the damage while Matt and I got out the tools and prepared to go to work.Luckily they had a full sized spare. Luckily we were only going about 30 and not 70. Luckily......, but most importantly, we had said a prayer before we left. Now, GM doesn't design it's trucks for quick tire swapping and if it had been snowing, I might have had some very unkind thoughts for the schlub who said, "I know! Let's put a hubcap over lugs that must be unscrewed (7 times) before you can start on the lugs themselves."

So after about an hour we were on our way again. We finally arrived at the Geode Beds around 5:00. We stayed until it got too dark to dig and started for home. After several exciting (and scary) wrong turns, we finally found the Pony Express road again. Why were the wrong turns scary? Well, some of the roads we were on were little better than ATV trails and as you can see in the above photo, the sky was pitch black. But after a few more turns we were back to I-15. Finally, our fears of blowing another tire in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone were laid to rest. An hour or so later we were back at Matt and Kathryn's in Salt Lake. Then a half hour later, we were home. There was nobody left at the block party. Can you believe that? We were only 9 hours late.

But we had a great time with them. And even though we drove forever, Jessica and Kathryn have been friends since middle school so we had LOTS to talk about. Thanks Kathryn and Matt, we had a great time collecting precious stones and precious memories!!