This weekend I made a quick trip to Utah because my Aunt was being sealed in the temple. For those of you who are not LDS and don’t know about the LDS Temple ceremonies. Being sealed in the temple is the LDS marriage ceremony. To be sealed in the temple you are married for time and all eternity not just until death. I left on Thursday and returned on Sunday.

The weather made my plans difficult due to the need to drive over the Sierra's. I had planned on leaving on Friday but the forecast was showing snow that day and all weekend. We need the water so I had very mixed feelings about the storm. I wanted to be able to get to my Aunts sealing and so didn’t want it to snow in the mountains but at the same time we really need the water so I did want it to snow.

I took off work Thursday so that I could leave that day since we had a break in the storms which allowed me to drive over the mountains just fine. Now when I say I took the day off what I really mean is since I work grave shift and I worked Wednesday night I got off work Thursday morning at 9:00 am and left on my trip right after work. I usually would have had to work Thursday night but that was what I took off in order to leave Thursday morning. Yes that meant that I got up for the day Wednesday night and didn't sleep again until Thursday night about 24 hours later.

I had a good drive Thursday even though it was across Nevada. Nevada is not a very interesting state to drive through and playing name that blurry plant does not work in it. Let me explain the Name that blurry plant game to you. When I was growing up and we as a family would take a vacation to visit grandparents and family my father would try to keep us busy by asking us what was growing in the fields along the freeway. He worked for Prudential making loans on farm properties so he had an interest in farm land. We came to know this game as name that blurry plant. Driving down the road at 65 miles an hour makes for looking at what you are passing hard to do but he always asked. I think he was just board and wanted to keep himself awake by asking the questions. Anyway as a kid it was something to do even though we rarely knew what plant it was that was growing in the fields. Not that we could argue with him if he didn’t name the right plant. He also included trees as well as cows and sometimes even horses. What kind of cow is that? What kind horse is that or what kind of tree? Etc. I don’t recall liking this game too much as a kid but as an adult I seem to find myself playing as I drive on long trips. Unfortunately driving through Nevada there isn’t much to see but sage brush. So playing the game is not very exciting when all you can name is sage brush, however there are a few cows out on the vast expanses of the Nevada landscape. So my trip was filled with oh look sage brush or wow a cow that pretty much covered all the sights to see across Nevada. I admit I have learned a lot about plants and trees because of this game my dad came up with to distract us as kids.

I admit I was a bit tired driving and because I was tired there are some signs on the side of the road that I have only ever seen in Utah. These signs say something like drowsy drivers take next exit. Fatigue then a circle with a slash symbol driving. I wish I had stopped to take a picture but I didn't have my camera in the front seat with me. These signs are kind of funny because as a tired driver that I was after seeing them I started to wonder if they were really there or if I was just seeing them because I was tired. It's a strange feeling to not believing what you are seeing. Let me reassure you that they are in fact there on the side of the road. I saw them again on my way out of Utah, not the same signs but some just like them on the I-15 headed south.

It was fun being around family for the few days I was in Utah. My niece Rachel and I had a little adventure of our own when we went to the store that I never found and then to the book store for her to find a book she was looking for. We drove all over Salt Lake City looking for the main distribution center and ended up at Sam’s club where I figured I needed to get gas anyway so we got some gas. Perhaps I will tell the details of this trip another time but let me just say my niece Rachel is one sharp girl. She has a quick wit and has never failed to surprise me with what she says.

For my trip back home the weather was still a factor and getting back across the Sierra’s was still going to be a problem. I decided to drive down south and go around the higher mountains to get back to Sacramento. I left Lehi Ut. At 7:15 am PST and arrived home in Sacramento Ca. at 11:45 pm., a total of 935 miles in one day very long drive with a couple of obstacles that detained me on the way.

On the I-15 freeway I ran into traffic in Las Vegas as well as between Baker and Barstow as that is where the agriculture check point is and we were backup for 9 miles driving bumper to bumper crawling along. All the L.A. travelers who were returning to Ca. after a weekend in Las Vegas probably didn’t think much about it because that’s how traffic is in their area. I didn’t like the fact that it took an hour to travel 9 miles. Then I had to stop on highway 58 because of the truck-B-Que. A semi truck caught on fire and the highway patrol had traffic stopped for about 45 minutes until they got the truck out and it was safe to drive past. It could have been interesting but I had yet to get over the Tehachapi pass so I was still worried about snow and it was now fully dark. Needless to say there was no problem getting over that mountain and I had pretty smooth sailing the rest of the way home. I drove a total of 1741 miles between Thursday and Sunday, with 935 miles being traveled on Sunday alone.

Don’t ask why I didn’t fly. Although it took me a long time to travel it only cost me $154.85 in gas a lot cheaper than flying. What with all the planes that seem to be having trouble I think my driving is a lot safer.