Dream Trip

Erin McNulty

The paid-off creaky black 2002 Yukon was filled to the roof with food, tents, clothes and 5 teenagers. Nick, Noah, JJ, Brynna and I were piled into the car ready to roadtrip to Moab to camp. I was very excited yet very nervous for this trip, although I drive and enjoy it, I have a healthy fear of driving, of crashing. Nick was the first to drive and I was hoping the only one to drive, I always felt safest with him. Noah is supposed to be the other person to drive but man, don’t get me wrong, he would be a good race car driver but he's too intense of a driver to be hauling a load plus 4 other teenagers. We were only about an hour out when Noah yells, “BRO PULL OVER, I HAVE TO PISS,” as he shook Nick’s seat fiercely.

 I gazed back at Brynna who has decided to englouf herself in her large hoodie and tighten the strings around her face to try and ignore Noah and his spontaneously loud outburst. As Nick pulled over and Noah got out of the car, Brynna looked at me and said, “This is going to be a very long drive.”

Noah climbed back into the Yukon, he got the worst seat in the back of the car because he’s the shortest, Brynna and JJ sat by each other in the middle row, Nick and I were upfront. Being in shotgun, I got to aux a lot of the drive which was really nice, I like my music a lot, but Brynna grew tired of me playing the same 20 songs on repeat.

“ I WANT TO AUX!” Brynna shouted as she almost jumped from her seat, we traded seats and she played her go to song, “I Love You” by Billie Elish. Brynna sang softly with the song, gazing out the window, her face lit up and she soaked all of the beauty in.

I started to fall asleep in the back on the car, I mean I must have been sleeping hard because when I woke up I was in a parking lot and everyone was gone. Where the hell am I? Are we in Utah? Where are my friends? I grabbed my phone to try and call someone but it read:

no service. Fuck! What the hell am I going to do?

I tried to relax but my chest got tight, it felt like bees were buzzing around in my body. My breath grew quicker and quicker by the second, I wasn’t familiar with anything around me, I opened the door to the Yukon and decided to just scope out my area; trees, rocks, desert, the yukon, a river.

I walked down to the river, it was calm but still in a hurry. There were large red rocks surrounding the water, eroding away buy protecting all of the plants near them. I found the largest rock near the river and scaled it; I gazed around and took in all the beauty, all there was around me was this river, some rocks, some trees, the Yukon, and 3 figures in the distance, my friends.

I started jumping and waving my arms for them to head my way so I could show them this little spot, Brynna ran full sprint to me, then the boys all decided to race, Brynna met me up on the rock, JJ soon followed, his lengthy frame made racing a bit easier. Noah started to throw rocks at all of us until Nick threatened to throw him in the river. We all played and adventured around the river until we got bored. We all piled back into the Yukon, we were only two hours out from our destination, and we were all excited, the last 2 hours of the drive were silent except for the sound of Queen playing in the back.

We arrived at our destination and everyone was ready to not be crammed in a car. Especially Nick. He was sick of driving, because Noah never drove. The whole campsite was up in under an hour, we were exhausted, but felt the need to adventure, we all started to wonder around the area. We split up to find different things. Nick and I went together to go find some cool spots to hammock or hang out. We came across a cliff diving area that him and I both agreed to bring the group there tomorrow. I was excited to cliff jump, I am scared of heights but it didn’t look too high. “Hey, I love you, don’t forget that.” Nick said as he smiled at me.

We all made our way back to camp, we cooked some ‘burgies’ as Noah would say, he was the grill master, of course. We all devoured our food and discussed what we saw, Nick and I found the best spot. We all retreated to our tent, Brynna, Nick and I all had one tent and JJ and Noah had their own, we were all out like lights.

  The blaring heat of the sun woke us up. We threw on swimsuits and got dressed. “Who’s cooking breakfast?” Nick rang out.

“I will!” Brynna shouted in an excited reply.

Brynna cooked some easy pancakes with strawberries and made some french press coffee. I made some tea for JJ and I because we both despised coffee. “Are you guys ready?!” I shouted with excitement.

“Are you ready?” Noah questioned.

“You bet.”

The hoard of teenagers made their way to the spot, we saw Mari and her family, Mari was JJ’s girlfriend, it was actually ironic because we now have the whole group together and we weren’t even expecting to. Mari’s family was on their way out but let Mari stay with us for the day. Mari was the tallest girl in our group, she’s almost Nick’s height, standing at 5’11, her boyfriend, JJ stood at a hefty 6’2 frame.

“Let’s go boys!” Noah yelled as he disappeared down the cliff and into the water. We all rushed to the edge and waited for his head to appear. The moment his head shot from the water he yells, “It is so deep on my god.”

The nervousness started to sink in when I looked over the edge, yesterday it didn’t seem this far, this scary. JJ and Mari jumped together next, I couldn’t even stand by the edge, my knees were shaking from the thought of jumping. I can’t do it, I can’t do it. My turn was next with Brynna and I was petrified, I couldn’t, wouldn’t move to the edge. “Come on Erin, just close your eyes!” Brynna said comfortingly. I couldn’t shake the fear, I can’t, I can’t, it’s too high. What if I break something? When I snapped back into reality, I realized I was near the edge.

“I can’t do it” I said gazing over to Nick.

“Well, this was our idea so you have to,” he quickly replied.

“It’s so high. Look!” I gazed down, the moment I gazed I felt Brynna jump and I felt a hard push. I was plummeting down into the water, I straightened my body and held onto Brynna’s hand for dear life. I felt the water hit my body, as I was engulfed by water, my whole body calmed down, I just enjoyed the water.

“What do you think?” Brynna questioned me.

“SO FUN” I yelled back, right as I yelled my reply I heard everyone up top cheering for me. I really am lucky to have such great friends. They’ve helped me overcome so much.

As Brynna and I made our way back up we watched Nick fly past us into the water, then Noah, then JJ followed. They all started yelling “BRO” once they came back up for air. We all were up at the edge again when JJ picked up Mari and tossed her into the cavern that was filled with water, without a second delay Nick threw me in, again, and Noah pushed Brynna in, then all of the boys followed, all holding hands into the water. All of us surfaced at once, and could not stop laughing. This was our first trip together and we were all so excited about it, it didn’t seem real.

This is great, I’m so glad I’m here, was all I could think, I love travelling, I love my friends. Today was our last night before we head back home, we were all dreading leaving, all of the adventure we’ve experienced was too good to give up. After all of us climbed out of the cliff we headed back to camp to make some lunch. I crafted up some masterful sandwiches, ham, turkey, cheese, mustard, mayo, and lettuce, everyone devoured them in a heartbeat.

We all decided to find a hammock spot where we could enjoy the sunset, we found a group of trees that faced East.. Once we strung all of our hammocks up, I gazed up at the trees above me that seemed to go on forever, I started to get lost in the sway of the hammock and the beauty above me. I have faced all of my fears. I have faced all of my fears! I HAVE FACED ALL OF MY FEARS! I road tripped on a highway and trusted Nick fully, I was petrified of crashing but I got over it once we got there.. I got over my fear of heights and found the value in adrenaline and the value of my friendship with all of the people I’m surrounded by.

The sunset was riddled with various oranges and bright pinks, soon to be taken over by a lavender, then soon a dark blue covered the sky and the stars were shining. As we all packed up our hammocks, I took one last look above me, I took a deep breath and felt all of my troubles melt away, something about the sky always comforted me, the constant change and mysteries it holds captivated me.

Once we were back at the campsite, Mari went back to her family and all five of us crashed the moment we were in our tents. We were all woken by the warmth of the sun and the smell of rain, we took so long to wake up because none of us wanted to leave.

We all filled the Yukon to the top with all of our camping equipment, Nick slammed the trunk shut, climbed in then started the car, we were on our way home. Life is good.