When I finally got to sleep last night at 1am, I had been awake for 42 hours, except for short cat-naps in the car. I awoke at 7:30 am Saturday morning. I had meant to sleep in as long as possible, but I'm so used to getting up early that I couldn't sleep any later. I loaded waaay to much stuff into my car. My Line 6 Flextone III amp, my Roland GR-33 guitar synth, my Fender Stratocaster with Roland pick-up, my Yamaha 6 string acoustic, my PC, a little over a week's worth of clothing, my backpack with various electronic gizmos in it, etc. I removed the larger of the 2 back seats from my car to reduce weight and increase cargo space. This time around, I decided to post an ad on Craig's list for a ride-share, so I could find someone who needed a ride to Colorado who'd be willing to pay for half the gas, keep me company, and spell me at driving if I got sleepy or just tired of driving. I wound up with a pair of passengers. Alexa responded to my ad, and said she'd planned on traveling with her acquaintance, Au sh. I was doubtful that I could fit more than one additional person and their stuff in my car, but they offered to cover ALL of the gas, and were both willing and able to share in the driving as well.

After some technical difficulties and delays, I finally acquired both of my passengers and hit the road around 5pm. I covered all the driving for the first 650 or so miles, which included a spectacular sunset that I kind of wish I'd stopped to get pictures of. I finally started to get sleepy around 4:30 to 5 am. Somewhere in the middle of Utah, I let Aush take over driving. I tried to sleep for a bit, but woke up to see the early signs of an impending amazing sunrise. This time, I recommended stopping, and we parked at an existing overlook stop called Ghost Rock that I had also stopped at last year. We got out of the car, cameras in hand, and walked quickly to an nearby overlook that faced east, just in time to see the sun begin to peek out from behind some beautiful buttes in the distance. The photo at the beginning of this post is one of the first I took.

Here's Aush (left) and Alexa (right) at dawn.




We drove on through the night, and the morning, and the early afternoon. Around 2pm, we arrived in Steamboat Springs, CO, which is where Alexa was dropped off. Then, Aush and I took turns driving the remaining 3 hours to Fort Collins. I dropped off Aush, a Fort Collins native, at her brother's place, and proceeded to Mike's house. After 1218 miles of driving, over almost 24 hours, and having not eaten since 4am in Utah, I was looking forward to a meal, a shower, and perhaps a nap. When I arrived at Mike's, however, other plans had been made for me.

Mike's friends and roommates were gathered for their weekly D&D game, and I was informed that I was expected to make a character and participate. No sleeping. Everyone else had already eaten. I managed to talk Mike into running to the grocery store for an oven pizza while I prepared a character, and I then joined in a 6 hour gaming session until after midnight. I was enjoying myself, so only on a couple of occasions did I nearly pass out from exhaustion. I also kept myself pretty pumped full of soda.

My head finally hit a pillow around 1am, and the world ceased to exist for the next 9 hours or so, until I rejoined the living this morning and decided to make this blog post. But, this is a view of what is to come in the next 2 weeks or so. Lots of driving, gaming, and sleep deprivation. Oh, and throw in recording another Bob Spelled Backwards album, while we're at it. BOB 8 IS GO.