rissy stories

Introduction

Hello all! Firstly, sorry to everyone who reads my blog every time I post – after I posted my last short story, I got really busy with finals, packing up & cleaning out my dorm room, and my trip to Utah. I didn’t have much time to either write another story or edit one I’ve already written to continue posting weekly. However, I decided that it might be a good idea to take a short break from posting short stories & poems and post details about the trip I just mentioned instead.

So secondly, as most of you know from Facebook, I went on a Geology 306 Demonstration Field Trip to Utah for the first 2 weeks in May. We drove across the country and then camped out in the middle of the desert in Ferron Utah for most of the second week and dug up dinosaur bones. So, I’m going to try and post on here at least once a week (because it’s finally summer and I have more time to post when I’m not working!) and I’m going to post a few pictures as well as explanations of where I went, the geologic history behind where I went, what I did, and who I was with. I’m going to make a separate post for each day of the trip (there were 15 days total) so I hope you guys like it!

Monday, 5/2/16, Day 1 – Ohio, Indiana (briefly), and Missouri

This day started around 5:30 AM for me, which was slightly rough because I wasn’t used to getting up this early. The earliest I needed to wake up this past semester was 8:00 AM, and I had just spent the past 4 days getting up later than that because my finals ended the previous Wednesday. However, I was VERY eager to move out of the dorm room that my roommate and I had shared for the past year. I also shared this room with an emotional support animal. A 9-month old black cat named Sootie to be exact – cue the cute picture of what my roommate, Kat (*buh-dum-bum-tsssh*), calls “The Derpy Kitty,” what my aunt calls “Little Monkey Face/The Sootie Mangabey” and one of my best friends, Rich, calls “The Fuzz Butt”:

However, my mother took Sootie home with her (since I obviously couldn’t take him to Utah with me) on Saturday and Kat had moved out on Sunday (along with everyone else in the building who played in the band at graduation, or people who graduated). So, I had spent that Sunday night in an empty dorm room/building. Needless to say, I was feeling very lonely, and getting up at 5:30 AM to take a shower and head out the door wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would have been.

After my shower, I packed up the rest of my stuff and put as much of it in my car as possible. I was thankfully allowed to stay in my room an extra night after we returned, so I didn’t have to move ALL of my stuff out of the room just yet, but it all depended on how late we got back and how tired I was. So I left a few things in the room and took the rest of my Utah stuff over to the Geology Annex – where our professor, who we call Rocky, told us meet with all of our stuff at 6:45 AM.

I got into my car and drove down to the campus police parking lot, where everyone was told to leave their cars and hand in their keys. But when I arrived at around 6:30, the police station door was locked, so I held onto my key and walked back to my dorm building. Then I grabbed all of my Utah stuff from my room and carried it over to the Annex. I was one of the first ones to show up along with a classmate named Jesse. Rocky was running a bit late, so eventually everyone else from the class showed up (1 girl – Casey, and 6 other guys), and then we waited.

Eventually Rocky arrived, probably around 7:15ish, and we started loading up the trailer (attached to the back of the white truck), truck, and van. Casey drove me to the police parking lot again with her car, and we were finally let into the police station. We dropped off our keys and then walked back to the Annex together. When we got back, Rocky told the two of us to go into the Petroleum Engineering and Geology building (called Brown), located right next to the Annex, and fill up everyone’s binders with more information sheets that she had printed out for us. Meanwhile, the boys continued doing the heavy lifting outside.

Afterwards, we all gathered inside the Annex and Rocky handed us our itineraries (which was not actually a set-in-stone schedule in the slightest). Unfortunately, I cannot post the entire itinerary sheet for you because it has my classmates’ (and professor’s) full names and phone numbers on the very top, but this is the gist of it:

In regards to explaining the “Numbers on Duty” column: my classmates and I were each assigned a number (there were 9 of us), and if our number was “on duty” that day, the three of us were responsible for filling up the van and truck with gas during rest stops, cleaning off the windshield, as well as setting up breakfast, lunch, and making dinner for the entire class. We were also responsible for post-meal clean up. FYI, my number was 5.

After explaining the itinerary, we were then informed about the rules and the class itself. For example, don’t step in between the truck and the trailer, don’t go anywhere alone, the person in the passenger seat of each vehicle must always stay awake & keep the driver awake, and ALWAYS listen to Rocky. The majority of our grade was based on attitude and participation, but we also had a quiz and one exam scheduled (which was eventually split into 2 exams). We were also each given notebooks full of information on dinosaurs, geology, and Utah. We had started filling them up during the school year, but Casey and I finished it right before we left.

Also, those notes included research papers that each student wrote on a specific location that we were going to be visiting while on the road, and at each location, we would stop and have a lecture. Whoever researched that location would give a “presentation” and the rest of us would take notes in our journals. We were expected to read through all of the notes while on the road, (But if I was being brutally honest, the majority of us slept, talked, ate snacks, took pictures, texted, snap-chatted, or listened to music – don’t judge).

After everything was said and done, we finally got on the road around 8:00 AM. Rocky and Gene took turns driving the truck while Randy and Colby sat in the back seat. Casey took up the whole first row of the van, I took up the second, Jesse took up the third, and Brent took up the back. Coleman and Mitch (all of these names I just listed are classmates) took turns driving the van, but Coleman drove most of the way. We were all very comfortable and happy during the trip in the van because of the large amount of space we had.

We weren’t allowed to drive a Marietta College vehicle unless we were over 21 and had taken a driving class through the school. So, unfortunately, because I wasn’t driving, I didn’t pay close attention to the directions. I knew generally where we were most of the time, but I didn’t know exactly where we were while driving. Plus, I fell asleep not long after we left. I slept through our entire brief travel through Indiana, but according to Coleman and Mitch, driving through Indianapolis was a nightmare and whoever slept through it was lucky.

So, we were on the road for most of this day, but once we reached Missouri, we stopped at a Dollar General to stock up on a few things like food and whatever else we needed. Most of the boys jumped out of the truck and van with their hammers to chip away at an outcrop that resided right next to the store. Casey and I eventually got out and joined them, and I collected a few rocks.

Then finally, we reached Missouri State Park and set up camp for the first time. Casey and I shared a tent (my tent) because we weren’t allowed to set up all of our tents at this specific campsite. Casey helped me put my tent together, and then she helped cook dinner (she was a number on duty). We ate chicken, rice, and corn that night (we did that a lot), and we relaxed. Rocky informed us that we should write in our journals that we crossed the Central Lowlands that day, and then we set up a campfire.

I then took the opportunity to inform everyone that my birthday was the next day (May 3^rd), and that I would be turning 21. And I didn’t come to this conclusion Day 1, but I honestly wouldn’t have wanted to spend my birthday any other way. Most people usually spend their 21st at a bar, or partying wherever with friends, but I didn’t feel like I needed all that. This was the first time on the trip where I finally felt relaxed, happy, and loved. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m shy and have social anxiety – so this feeling was very important to me. I was originally worried that everyone would think I’m weird & ignore me, and I thought it was going to be a nightmare because I’d have to be in a van for two weeks with everyone. However, this was one of the first moments when I realized that I would become pretty close with this group of people who genuinely respected and accepted me. And I’m happy to say that I was right.

I went to bed around 9:30, feeling pretty happy. I began bonding with Casey even more (starting with the fact that we were the only two female students on this trip), and we ended up becoming very good friends from this moment on. My fears and worries about the trip disappeared, and I felt much happier and more confident that it would be a great experience. And again, I’m happy to report that I was right.

That’s all I have for Day 1, I hope you all enjoyed it! I’ll be posting Day 2 in the next few days or so. Until then, have a great week and I’ll catch you later!