I wake up to the sound of my alarm ringing, only this time I'm not in my comfortable bed. My eyes are encrusted shut. I guide them open with my fingers, only to have the bright burning sensation from the sun shining in my eyes. Normally a very irritating feeling, but quickly forgotten when I remember we are on the adventure of all adventures. So we thought. It all started when my father came home from work. He threw the door open letting it slam exclaiming “Guys, tomorrow we are going on the adventure of a lifetime!” Now, my brother and I aren't new to the whole adventure scene. As far back as I can remember, we were always on adventures. Whether in the dark New York woods, North Carolina's stinking swamps, or mountains towering in Arizona, we've been there. Only this time it was going to be different. My father's friend Jim, invited us to join his expedition through Sedona AZ on four wheelers. That night we packed up all of our equipment, 4 gallons of water, and 20 gallons of gas. The next day we set out to Sedona. As most days in Arizona, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a dry and hot 97 degrees out. The heat felt like you were in an oven, but it didn't discourage us. Four hours later we arrived in Sedona and met up with Jim. Jim was an older gentlemen with a long beard like a wizards from a children's story book. Having grown up his whole life in Arizona, Jim knew the land pretty well. None the less we had packed our GPS systems as well as a satellite phone for safeties sake. Jim gave out a grunting laugh when he saw we had brought them. “You won't be needing them, there fancy equipment you brought. I know this place like the back of my hand” he said while smoking two cigarettes at the same time. After unloading and ... ... middle of paper ... ... onto his four wheeler and made for civilization. Thankful, I brought my GPS and searched for the nearest hospital. We were over four hours from the closest town. Fearing for my brothers life, we blasted a crossed the sand dunes and through the desert. Arriving in town, my throat was so dry from all the dust, it felt like someone had stuffed a dozen cotton balls down my through. When we got to the hospital, they took Corey straight into the ER to get stitched up. We were very fortunate to have had Jim there with the necessary medical training to help my brother when we were hours from civilization. Sadly, we ended up cutting our trip a day short. Though the adventure was very demanding, and despite my brother's injury, we all had a great time. Reflecting on what my father had said when he got home the night before the trip, it truly was the adventure of a lifetime.
It was our fifth day in the Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico, the halfway point of the trek. I as the Crew Leader was responsible for the other 11 members of the crew, including 4 adults. I was in charge, and amazingly the adults rarely tried to take over, although they would strongly advise me what to do in some situations. Phil, with the exception of me, the oldest scout and the Chaplain for the trip, was my second. Together we dealt with problems of making sure everyone carried the right amount of stuff in their pack to who had to cook and cleanup each day. The trip had gone well so far, no injuries, and the worst problem had been a faulty backpack. As I walked I thought about the upcoming campsite. Supposedly this one had running water from a solar powered pump—so had the last night’s site but the tank was too low to use for anything but cooking because the of how cloudy it had been of late. But today was bright and shinny, and hot, so I didn’t think there would be a problem.
You might feel like it sucked to have the car run out of gas but it was actually a pleasure we found what we have been looking for, trees. Normally where trees are there is some water. We have been out of water for a few hours now but the heat is so extreme we feel like we’ve been out of water for a week. It has reached 119 degrees here and is steadily rising every minute. The heat is so severe you can practically smell it. The worst part is, is that we haven’t even reached the hottest part of the day yet. It’s so hot here we can feel the heat through our shoes. Now we see why people call it Death Valley. Death Valley is one of the hottest places on earth and to be stranded here is miserable. We have no cell service to call
One day when I was five years old I recall my grandfather asking "Steve, why don't, you go with us to Minnesota next week?" My grandfather was a very important person to me, until he died in 1986. I spent every possible moment of my life either with him or thinking about him. Everything he loved, I loved, and vice-versa. Being bored with my present lifestyle in Peoria and excited about traveling with my grandfather, I took up his offer. After a day long car ride with my father, uncle, and grandparents, I arrived at the location that would forever influence and inspire my life: Lost Lake, Minnesota.
Thanks to my knowledge of winter backcountry, and my brother, I made it back alive. Now I realize more possibilities and consequences before I am doing dangerous things. Even with all the knowledge and experience, nature can still prevail. Luckily, this was not the case this time. I am extremely thankful for my brother, and he is thankful to still have a brother. I am continually learning new knowledge and skills and am still humbled by this experience. I hoped that this would be a memorable trip, but it turned out to be life changing.
The trip began when I took a small green pencil and signed by name on the release forms needed to hike in Yosemite National Park. I and nine of my friends left the ranger station that night with a neatly folded map and a felling of excitement to what lay ahead. The long drive to the park left us tired and in need of a good night’s sleep. We decided to stay in tent city like most hikers do before they set out for their trek. Tent city was a large subdivision of tents that resembled a community of houses. Each tent was perfectly uniformed in its appearance and made up a total of fifty tents. Before we went to bead, we studied our maps and made an itinerary to the amount of hiking we would do.
I woke up feeling exhausted and wondering what the day has in store. The giant sun rose into the sky-high above and the sea shimmered in the sunlight as the first rays of morning sun tiptoed through the sand making its way towards me. The light ran furiously and parched my closed eyelids as it poured in a white image. The sounds pounded my head like a construction site. In between this time, I prised open my eyes and saw a bottle of VB lying on the carpet and next to it was an ash tray full of cigarette buds.
“Time to go to Lake Tahoe!” I exclaimed as my parents and my grandpa announced that it was time to go. After three years of waiting, it was finally time to go to lake tahoe. We couldn’t go there the past three summers because we had to visit other family. However, now it was finally time to visit my great uncle in Tahoe! I was most excited about going on a motor boat for the first time in my life. My great uncle, whose name is Bob, promised that we could all go on a motor boat when we got there. My dad wasn’t very excited though. He said the last time he went on a motor boat with Bob they crashed and my dad fractured his arm.
One of the most commonly referred and interesting Biomes in the world is the Desert. Located all throughout the world in arid regions, they cover over 18 million square kilometers. Deserts comprise of about 30% of Earth’s attainable land surface making it one of the largest accessible Biomes in the world. Most of the great deserts are centered on latitudes between 20 and 30 degrees North and South of the Equator, but also may be accessed where large mountain ranges produce intense rain shadows. One of the most commonly referred and greatest deserts is The Sahara located in North Africa stretching over an astounding 9 million square kilometers.
The next morning I was woken up by the bright light that seemed brighter than a lantern next to my face shining through my window, it seems as though I forgot to close them before bed. This got me up early though and I was moving. Waking up to silence seemed so calming compared to all that had happened. None of us were ready for how it might play out.
I had had the time of my life those first three days, and it was only half over. But the time came to finally leave and head back to the “real world”. I was lucky enough to ride in the twenty-passenger plane with my dad.
The third maddening buzz of my alarm woke me as I groggily slid out of bed to the shower. It was the start of another routine morning, or so I thought. I took a shower, quarreled with my sister over which clothes she should wear for that day and finished getting myself ready. All of this took a little longer than usual, not a surprise, so we were running late. We hopped into the interior of my sleek, white Thunderbird and made our way to school.
A family friend, Rose Widmer, came over as my mom and dad were getting ready to leave. She would be staying with us because it looked like they would not be coming home that night. As Kelly and I were eating our supper, my mom came into the kitchen and sat down beside me. She explained to us that our dad was very sick, and that he was having trouble with his brain. She used the term "brain abscess." She said that this is what the doctors speculated was wrong with him, but they needed to go to Fort Wayne to take precautions.
It was a sunny day. The leftovers of last week’s snowstorm still blanketed most of the surrounding area. I decided, after straggling about the house for nearly two hours, lethargy slowly creeping in, that I would go for a drive. I leaped in my trusty old Maverick and roared away. The Maverick, which I bought in 1975, was dark blue, (my favorite color). It was a steal and only ten years past its prime. It was a good, trustworthy car and until today, I had not had any problems with it. This was a spontaneous kind of getaway, so nothing was planned, no basket of food prepared, nor did I make any other preparations. Living in the city can be depressing so getting away from the concrete jungle for a few hours was a welcomed escape. I have not lived in this city for very long, although I knew the names of the adjoining towns, there were a few that I did not know. However, being the adventurer that I am, I drove off in a direction that I have never been. I do not know why I did not think to look at the gas gauge before I left perhaps I was too preoccupied with the thought of fleeing that I did not care.
My father parked the car, we all bundled up, and then we climbed out of the car. There was a lovely gift shop next to the congratulator Pike’s Peak sign. My family and I separated as we searched for souvenirs. After finding a shirt, keychain, or pocket knife we started off on a scavenger hunt to piece together the family. My mother was located in the bathroom, she had an overactive bladder and this trip, thankfully, was not too long for her. My sister was examining the gemstones found in the nearby mines. It took a decent amount of time before we found my brother and my father. However, when we found them it made sense why it took so long. The elevation was not being friendly with my brother and stole the majority of his oxygen. We hurriedly purchased the overpriced souvenirs and decided to head back down. Exiting the building we caught glimpse of the breathless view. My mother noticed that it was in alignment with the Pike’s Peak sign and decided that we should huddle together quickly for a photo. We had a stranger take the picture and we headed down the mountain. After careful review, we decided that it was the best photo that we have ever taken together; I still hold pride in it.
The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest desert area. The word Sahara comes from the Arabic word sahra’, meaning desert. It extends from the Africa’s Atlantic Ocean side to the Red Sea and consists of the countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan. It is about 5,200 miles long. Overall, the Sahara Desert covers 3,500,000 square miles. The geography of the desert is varied. In the west, the Sahara is rocky with varied elevation. It does contain underground rivers, which sometime penetrate the surface, resulting in oases. The central region of the Sahara has more elevation than the other areas, with peaks such as Emi Koussi and Tahat. Even though the area lacks rainfall, these peaks are snowcapped during the winter. The Eastern part of the Sahara, the Libyan Desert, is dry with very few oases.