Day1- The Start of the GLBBT

May 15^th, 2013

El start of the el baseball tour

Provo to Murdo, South Dakota

BYU won.  I took this awesome pic.

     Soooo…. Today was technically the start of our Great Lakes Baseball tour as Garrett and I began our trip across the country.  But technically the tour starts tomorrow when we all meet up in Minnesota.  Or maybe it technically starts on Friday when we have our first game.  Also it is worth noting that it probably didn’t start yesterday, but it is worth mentioning that I went to the BYU- Utah baseball game at BYU’s Miller Park (not to be confused with the one we will go to next week in Milwaukee!).  But technically, who cares, right?

     Last night’s BYU game was a thriller.  It was a rivalry game so the park was pretty full.  BYU went ahead in the bottom of the 8^th inning when someone legged out a ball to short with runners on the corners, in order to prevent the double play and allow the run to score.  After loading the bases in the top of the ninth with two outs, we struck out some dirty Ute, and pulled off the 5-4 victory.

After that game, I went home, ran to the Jensen’s old apartment (literally ran…) to pick up their car, then came home and eventually went to bed.

     I woke up this morning, threw a suitcase together, took a shower and remembered to grab my passport (for going into Canada) at the last minute!  That could have been problematic… I hit the road at 9:00 and headed up Provo canyon towards Park City.  I turned on my “How to win Friends and influence people” book on tape, and finished it by the end of our day’s drive.  It was a good listen, but got boring by the 10^th hour!

In front of my apartment before embarking

Traditional McD Smoothie

     I met up with Garrett (who left from Salt Lake) in Evanston, Wyoming, where we got our first McDonald’s smoothies, which is a tradition we started back on our first baseball tour.  We then headed out following each other with walkie-talkies in hand.   We crossed southern Wyoming, which was very pretty, yet very ugly at the same time.  There were only brown tones, but there were also neat rock formations and stuff.  We cut up towards central Wyoming and crossed the continental divide a couple of times.  We passed Martin’s Cove, which was neat for me, as it brought back memories of our Trek that the Hemet Stake took right after I graduated high school…

     Now something many people don’t know about me is how much I love nature.  I don’t like to eat fish and am not the biggest fan of hunting, so I don’t find enough opportunities to get out there, but man, I love the outdoors.  I could sit and watch an animal all day.  So this drive through Wyoming and the South Dakota was really cool for me.  Antelope and deer everywhere you look, etc.  At one point there was an antelope just walking along side the freeway, inside the fence that have erected to keep them safe.  We passed Devil’s Gate, Independence rock, and made our way towards the black hills forest.

Devil's Gate in Wyoming

One of the places hidden in the
Black Hills cities!

     The Black Hills of South Dakota were SOOOO pretty and so cool.  We drove through windy mountains, passed all kinds of fun rocks (that reminded us of Bear Mountain at Disney’s California Adventure at some points), and it was just awesome.  There were little tourist communities every once in a while that were super fun-looking, too.  We made it to Mt Rushmore around 8:00 that night, took some pictures, and then we stuck around for a presentation and light show at 9:00 about the presidents on the hill.  Mt Rushmore was really cool, but the little towns we passed in the black hills and the hills themselves were amazing and made that drive alone worth it.  We hit the road again and drove to Murdo, SD where we stopped for the night at 2am, in a super 8 motel.

Garrett and me at Mt Rushmore

The Night Shot

     I am super glad we decided to take the scenic route and go to Mt. Rushmore, because the 13 hours we spent driving today hardly felt like that because it was all so scenic.

Quotes of the day:

-At the mount Rushmore gate, we pulled in a second time at the entrance gate and said “Hi, Sue! We’re back!” and she said “Enjoy the park again!”  I pulled forward to the gate, and a co-worker of hers was just chilling there.  I leaned out to him and said softly, “Is there something I need to do to get this gate opened?” after a second he yelled in at Sue, “Hey Sue, we gotta get these guys through! Open it up!” it was funny at the time, but it doesn’t sound that funny anymore…. :/ haha

-When we got to the motel tonight, the night attendant was telling us about the breakfast.  “We used to have a waffle maker here before it broke.  People would pour dry batter into the waffle machine.  Can you believe that?!”  And I thought, “Yeah I can believe that they do that if you put dry batter out!”  Why didn’t the motel just mix the batter rather than put out dry batter?!  Easy enough, right?!

Stats:

Miles traveled: 800 flat.

Hours in the car: 13

National Monuments visited: 1