Three 17 year old young men and
1 old guy(me) driving
California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado
Wyoming and home. All in 5 days.
Danny said one day that he wanted to see the Rocky Mountains. I, (the old guy driving) also had a reason to visit an old friend in Longmont. With less than 3 weeks to plan this outing we said,
“Sure, let’s do it”.
Danny asked if two of his friends could come along. I said,
“Okay, I’ll need to meet their parents and get permission slips signed.”
Then the task of locating campsites at various places presented itself. No problem.
KOA Campgrounds came to the rescue.
“Let’s go”.
Danny, Josh and Richard and I set out at 11:00 AM Wed Aug 8th from Wilmington. We had a fabric automobile back pack on the top of my Rav 4. In this went our tents, sleeping bags, coolers and extra stuff. This left enough room inside for our personal things, snacks and the four of us.
We started out on the 110 freeway to the 91 to Interstate 15. Interstate 15 took us past Baker; home to the world’s largest thermometer. It read 104 degrees Fahrenheit as we passed.
Whew. Hot.
We headed for Nevada and Boulder City. We bypassed Vegas on this leg of the trip. The short version of the trip is as follows:
Colorado River Camp out. I cooked some yucky food.
Hoover Dam Tour. Wow.
Moab Utah KOA campground. Pool, better food.
Drive up Colorado River to Grand Junction Colorado.
Estes Park Colorado. Home to “The Shining” movie hotel.
I visited a friend I have known for 72 years.
Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Drive North to Laramie Wyoming, across Wyoming to Utah.
Down through Utah back to Las Vegas.
Tour through Las Vegas at 5:00AM. No crowds.
Drive home. Arrive 9:30AM Sunday morning.
Go swimming in Jim’s pool.
An adventurous good time was had by all. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
We traveled 2,538 miles in 5 days and 4 nights
And got to know each other.
Jim, Danny, Richard and Josh
My take away for the trip is a different interpretation for “personal power”. It does not come from enough money to isolate and have to live in a prison of wealth, fear and celebrityhood. Nor does it come from feeling better or different than anyone.
“Personal Power” comes from listening and looking for similarities in our Humanness and feeling safe while relating to all people as family.
These three boys from South Central LA live in a very different world from most of us.
“Human” is as good as it gets for any of us.
The Grunion Gazette did an article about Danny and I.
