The Road to Phoenix

Time for the most important event of the month: the second annual baseball Spring Training trip. Like last year, we're taking a couple of days off to drive down to Phoenix and watch baseball (particularly my favorite team—the Texas Rangers) and be warm (it's been unseasonably warm in Utah this last week, but I'm hoping the forecast is right and it will rain and be cold while we're away just so I can brag). However, I'm going with an entirely different group—Lori (who couldn't go last year because of a Microeconomics conference), Amber Morris, and Joralys. Amber decided to go because she was stressed out with work, and Joralys decided to go because she loves baseball and one of her brothers played professionally for a while.

So how is it that I ended up on this baseball trip alone with three women (not that I'm complaining, of course—3 women and baseball, what more could a guy ask for)? Well, Mark was supposed to go, but about 2 weeks ago he backed out because he couldn't get that much time off and still have some time left for his honeymoon (oh, yeah, he's getting married to Krista in June. They're such a good couple). Mike decided to go on some kayaking trip instead (which he subsequently back out of). Kyle decided he didn't want to spend 20 hours in a car over the course of 4 days. Erika (who I hadn't even seen for half a year until a few weeks ago at Stake Conference) had back problems and couldn't sit in a car for that long. And various other people backed out as well, including Patrick who didn't even tell us he was backing out—he just wasn't home when we came to pick him up and didn't answer his phone.

Anyway, we spent all of today on the road. We left Provo around 10 or so. Amber entertained us at first by reading from Lori's book—"The 5 People You Meet in Heaven." We made it half way through the book (which was okay reading—kind of got on my nerves in some places for being a little preachy) before we stopped in Kan Kun for lunch. Well, okay, it was a Mexican restaurant named Kan Kun sitting right off the Interstate in Beaver. The food was okay. And then there was the gas station with the giant-sized rocking chair right next to it. Then we got on Highway 20 and cut on over to Highway 89, which was a great drive—very scenic in the Spring time. It reminds me of passing through some quiet European valley with little villages sprinkled all over the place. I liked Kanab especially. It was during this drive that we entertained ourselves by making Lori a CD with a lot of random music like Sting, and then made Joralys a CD with a lot of Dixie Chicks on it. Then, by complete accident, we took a scenic detour down 89A in Arizona. This was totally different scenery—more desert-like and dry, but still pretty cool. It took us down within an hour of the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and we were thinking of going since we were so close anyway, but it was still closed for Winter. That made me sad. The most interesting part of the drive from there was a town called "The Gap" which has a really really old and cool looking gas station, but strangely enough no Gap outlet. That was at about sunset, so the rest of the drive wasn't as scenic, although we did get some pretty interesting pictures at another gas station with Cowboy and Indian cut-outs and a fake prison. We stopped outside of Flagstaff for dinner (McDonalds—it was kind of lame), and got into Phoenix about 10:00.

Lori's great-aunt and uncle were kind enough to give us a place to stay. They're a cute old couple—the uncle was standing outside with a flashlight when we arrived, just so we'd know which house it was. He must have been standing there for half an hour at least. We took few minutes to settle in, then we watched Seinfeld while we tried to see the images in the Magic Eye books in their basement (you know—the ones with pictures that look like noise but supposedly have a 3D image). Amber was the only one who could see them. I think it's all a big conspiracy.

The ladies all fell asleep during Seinfeld (which ended at midnight). So I guess it's now my turn. Good night.

Posted March 25, 2004 (12:56 PM) | Comments (1)