Road Trip From Hell

Road Trip From Hell

A group of us from Minnesota headed out to Utah for the Ashbury demo. We spent a few days lounging around Salt Lake, riding brighton and hanging out then riding the demo. Our hosts at Club Boya video chatting on the big screen with some of the peep show girls. jake was hoping for an actual peep show. The day after the demo we headed out on the road for Mt. High and Bear for a late season shoot and for just a bit of vacation. We had quite a crew of people who were just really looking for an adventure without much of a plan. The crew was myself, Sam Fenton, Jake Olson-Elm, Gabi Maiden, Jonas Michilot, Marie Hucal, Cody Beiersdorf, and Danimals. We got a later start than we had planned so we started behind schedule. Before we even hit the freeway Gabi got in a bit of a fender bender. Sam and Marie were driving the two other cars and we already had a head start on them so we decided we'd just meet up down the road. None of us had ever been to the Grand Canyon so we decided we'd take a slight detour on our way to SoCal and do some sight seeing. About 4 hours later we were on a small highway in a small town and we stopped for gas. We saw 2 fire trucks and an ambulance speeding down the road in the direction we had just come from. Marie got a frantic phone call from Gabi and all we could really gather from the call was that they were in an accident and the firetrucks and ambulance were for them. Having no idea how bad the accident was or if everyone was ok or even how far back down the road they were, we sped off with high hopes that everyone was OK. This was the scene we rolled up on. A car had tried to pass them on the left as they were turning left to make a U turn to take a photo. It ripped Gabi's wheel right off the Axle. This was the other car involved in the accident. It flipped 3 times and rolled up the embankment. Luckily everyone involved was OK. they took the driver of the truck out in an ambulance but he was alright. After about an hour of talking to state troopers and filling out paperwork, we packed 8 people and all of our gear into the remaining 2 cars. The wreckage being hauled away. After we got our nerves settled and we were all ready to hit the road, we realized we still had time to make it to the Grand Canyon in time for sunset so we decided to point it the rest of the way. We were gonna make it no matter what. About 2 hours later we crossed the state line into Arizona. We were immediately pulled over by a cop for speeding. Not only did he give $157 speeding tickets to me and Marie, but he then told us that the road to the Grand Canyon was closed for the winter. All of our travels were for nothing. We then had to backtrack about 40 miles just to get back on 15 to make it the rest of the way. Group photo. We decided to cut our losses for the day and spend the night in Vegas. Try and turn our luck around. We spent the night wandering around vegas, gambling and recovering from the day. The next morning we woke up rested, got breakfast and decided to hit the road. Just as we were about to get on the freeway Sam's car died. The alternator was out. dead car. Jake trying to arrange the rest of the trip. Jonas found a bird in the grill that we hit earlier in the drive. We jumpstarted the car and tried to make it to a mechanic to get it looked at. We drove all over suburban vegas trying to find a mechanic only to have the car die 4 more times. Eventually we just decided to call AAA and have them tow us to the subaru dealership. We hung out in a business park for about 2 hours waiting for the tow truck. Danimals killing time. Lunch time. AAA to the rescue. Now that we were down to 1 car for 8 people we had to shuttle people everywhere we went. After some shuttle time we ended up at the Subaru dealership only to make it there in time for the service department to be closed. This meant we'd be spending another night in Vegas since they wouldn't be able to get to the car until the next day. This was a setback since I had to catch a flight in southern california the next morning at 10 AM. We decided to book another hotel for another night. Obligatory In n' Out photo. Danimals really liked Vegas. We decided to send Marie's car full of people on to Mt. High to get me to the airport and the other 4 people would stay behind and wait for the car to get fixed. Cody and i went to sleep while everyone else went out for the night so when they got back from gambling/partying we could just drive to the airport. Our 2nd night was much more eventful. Jake and Jonas both won a pretty substantial amount of money playing some crazy poker table game. Marie and Danimals came back around 3:45 AM to wake me and Cody up so we could drive to the airport. The seating situation for the entire 2nd half of the drive. We made it to the airport just in time to have some breakfast and me to make my plane.  We talked to Sam and he had gotten his car fixed and they were on their way. Marie, Cody, and Danimals were going to head straight to Bear to do some boarding and Jake, Jonas, Sam and Gabi were going to meet them there. Everyone had finally made it. We figured we had finally changed our luck around, that is until everyone was riding bear and Cody broke one of his ribs. needless to say it was 72 hours none of us will ever forget. Here's to roadtrips!