Nathanial Garrod

Eastward Bound: Day 2

Day Two started in my car. At the end of Day One, I pulled off into a rest stop, moved some things around in my car and fell asleep in the passenger seat.

This is a look-out viewpoint thing at the Rest Stop I slept at just over the Utah border.

I rose with the sun – whatever time that is – and started driving. I crossed the Salt Flats, which are literally just salt. Instead of dirt or ground, all you see is salt. I stopped in Salt Lake City to see the Mormon Temple, but after driving around the block looking for parking I decided to move on. Any city that’s that empty at 8am (even on a Sunday morning) and has stoplights randomly for that long is not a city I want to be in.

My journey eastward took me up some mountains. J.R. (my car) struggled a bit, but I stopped for gas (this was the closest my tank has gotten to empty… it was just above the E). I made it through Utah before too long.

 

The road just keeps going!

Wyoming was long. I started calling friends, using my handsfree device. Some picked up their phones, some got really really long messages. Wyoming was part desert, part mountain, part desert mountain, and part forest-ish mountain. My main priority was making through awake. I was struggling to keep my eyes open, so I drank a lot of water and ate a lot of food. Consequently, this led to me stopping at gas stations a lot. The good side is that my gas tank hardly ever got below half a tank.

This is the view from the lookout over the highest point on I-80, at over 8,000 feet!

 

 

A bit over halfway through Wyoming, I hit a mountain hill thing that was seemed insurmountably tall. J.R. slows down at mountains a lot, but this was the first time he has slowed down to just barely 40 MPH at over 4000 RPMs. I was worried, so I pulled off at a rest stop. The rest stop informed me that I was at the highest point on I-80, which used to be known as the Lincoln Highway.

I was very sad yesterday – especially in the morning – to not be at New Vintage. I have really enjoyed the privilege of being there the past few weeks and so grateful for all the time I got to spend with my Community Group. As I was driving, I was thinking about the big idea in UpStreet this month – the theme for the summer is EPIC, and the big idea for June is EPIC Trust. I thought a lot about how being on this road trip has forced me into a position where I’ve had to place EPIC Trust in God. I literally just have to follow where he leads me and trust that I will arrive safely. I have been consumed a lot – especially in the morning time – by my doubts and fears. Yet both days I’ve been driving everything has gone smoothly, and there have not been any significant issues. I’ve realized this around sunset and felt a complete peace about everything around me. It has been absolutely incredible. This trip has really forced me into a position where I’ve had to turn my radio down or off and pray out loud – sometimes whispering, sometimes screaming with everything I have – for my journey, my friends, and the things to come.

Last night I was hoping to make it to Kearney, NE and get a hotel room, but I ended up stopping at a Rest Stop just outside of Kearney and sleeping in my car again. It was a better nights sleep than last night. So that’s good.

My plan today (Day 3) is to make it to Chicago – though we will see how it goes. I’m also hoping to stop by Boys Town, near Omaha, but that plan might change. Word is, they have the world’s largest ball of stamps.

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This entry was posted on June 18, 2012 by in Adventures!, Events.

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