My Road Trips - Provo, Utah Attempt #2
Utah Attempt #2
After encountering unexpected failure the previous weekend (see Utah Attempt #1), I decided that I was going to try once again to make it to Utah. The weather forecast looked much better, and hopefully the car wouldn't break down again. This weekend I left on time, right at 4:00, immediately after my last class. I drove hard into the night, finally becoming very tired in western Nebraska around 11:00pm. I pulled over and slept for about 10 minutes, before taking off again. I had difficulty staying awake that night, pulling off the road a total of 4 times to sleep, in Nebraska and Wyoming. It was very windy in the mountains, and I went through several wind and snow storms. I almost ran out of gas high in the mountains. There were no big towns coming up, and the time was close to 3:00am. I turned off at several small towns, in search of gas, only to find no open gas stations. Finally I just barely made it to a truck stop with extremely sub-standard gasoline. I was just happy, and lucky, that I didn't get stranded in a snow storm. But finally I made it to Utah, just as the sun was coming up. I made a final stop for gas and got some coffee to keep awake before descending into Salt Lake City. I cruised through Salt Lake in style, with the windows down and my shades on, amazed at the wonderful change of weather. The temperature was completely perfect throughout my stay in Utah, hovering in the mid seventies during the days. I continued past Salt Lake City, made it to Provo, and eventually found Katherine's apartment.
We went out to breakfast at Village Inn with her best friend Jessica. I really enjoyed Katherine and Jessica's playful silliness at breakfast, as I was feeling very messed up from the driving experience and lack of sleep. After that Katherine and I dropped off Jessica and went back to her apartment, where we watched the movie "Toys." Next we drove to a hotel where Katherine had generously rented a room for me because BYU's rules prohibited me from staying at her University-owned apartment. We stayed at the hotel, talking and napping for most of the afternoon. In the evening Katherine and I had dinner at a fantastic restaurant which her sister had recommended. After eating, we went back to the hotel and talked for a few more hours before I drove Katherine back to her apartment. We parted and I drove back to the hotel. I got to sleep (finally) around 1:00am, completely exhausted from not having any real sleep in 43 hours.
The next morning, I met Katherine at her apartment and we walked to her church service. She belongs to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the experience was a new one for me. I enjoyed it, and afterwards we went out to eat at Chili's. After that we went back once again to the hotel, to take naps. We ended up reading poetry to each other for a few hours, from books which she had brought along. Later that night we went drove around Provo before stopping at a big, modern, comfortable, movie theater and watching Titanic. Both of us enjoyed this emotional movie very much; we cried and held hands throughout pretty much all of this powerful movie's ending.
The next morning I once again met Katherine at her apartment, and together we walked to a central building on campus. We ate breakfast/lunch there, then walked to her first class. I nonchalantly took a seat in the classroom, and listened to the professor's lecture which I have subsequently fogotten. Katherine had another class immediately following, and she was worried about getting a good seat, so we left quickly and began walking to her second class. This class was called "Love and Morality," and was taught by a much-loved professor who was retiring the following semester. So the school board had decided to let anybody sign up for the course, with no size limit. After scheduling was done, 1500 students had signed up and they were forced to hold the class in a big auditorium. Katherine and I walked in and took seats. The professor told emotional stories and talked about loving children. It was quite a powerful lecture, and I was very impressed.
After classes we drove to Katherine's sister's apartment. Jennifer is married and has two daughters, and Katherine and I took her oldest daughter, who was 2 years old, to a nearby pet store to look at the fish, birds, and dogs. Katherine's niece Kyla loved watching the dogs. We left the pet store and drove back to Jennifer's apartment, where we blew bubbles and played kids games on the computer for a few hours. That evening we went to a local buffet and ate dinner together, along with Jessica. Monday night Katherine and I drove into the mountains for a while, and talked late into the night.
Tuesday morning I was going to leave, but had some car trouble. I didn't leave Provo until noon, but I did get to spend the morning with Katherine. We went to a deli downtown, and ate some excellent sandwiches. We said our goodbyes when I brought Katherine back to her apartment, and reluctantly I left this woman with whom I had fallen in love so strongly. I drove hard and fast back to Ames, only stopping for gas. I arrived in Ames at 5:00 CST on Wednesday morning.
