Becoming one with the Earth

Fuel is over priced. We all know this, we all deal with it every day. Gas prices shooting up sometimes two or three times a day, it's ridiculous. I'd like to say that the following story occured as a personal revolt against the oil companies, but sadly it was nothing so noble.

Kyle and I went up American Fork Canyon on Saturday and as it cost $6, and the pass was good until the following Tuesday, we decided to take another trip up on Monday night and shoot some pictures. Before we even entered the canyon Kyle asked if we'd have enough gas. I laughed, swiped my hand at the air and said, "Oh yeah, we'll be fine." It was only when we were halfway through the canyon that both of us looked at the gas gage and got a wee bit nervous. Nothing much to be nervous about, we told ourselves...until we started going up hill, and up hill, and up some more. And suddenly we were below empty. We took solace in the thought that our gas gage would certainly even out once we hit the down hill portion of the canyon. Wrong again, so we used the philosophy I've been so fond of in the past: just ignore it and it'll go away.

Kyle then related a story to me of some Europeans his parents had met that had been shocked (while visiting Yellowstone) to see tourists leaving their cars on just to hop out and take pictures.
Why didn't they turn them off? They asked, Didn't they care about pollution? And then brilliance struck us both. Why were we polluting the earth when we could just coast down the hill in nuetral? We'd kill two birds with one stone:

1. Conserve on gas

and

2. Become one with the Earth and find joy in her beauty without leaving any pollution behind

We felt as free as birds, as burdenless as the leaves on the aspens flying by. Mother Nature loved us and we loved her! As we rounded the first corner in our natural state I recall Kyle very calmly saying, "Well...the power steering doesn't work, but that's okay I kind of like having full control over the car." We were embracing the old ways and welcoming physical labor and brute strength!

It wasn't long after this that we realized the power breaks didn't work either; and then the craziness began.


Big hill up ahead, picking up speed, faster and faster, me in the background gradually getting louder and louder with, "Kyle....Kyle....KYLE! For the freaking love Kyle, brake!! BRAKE!!" In my mind I envisioned the brakes giving way and our poor little hippie bodies careening off the treacherous mountain pass. His only reply (not so calmly this time) being, "We've gotta make it up the hill, we've gotta make it up the hill!" It must have been a really great show for all the squirrels. Here I was nearly strangling Kyle, my hand gripping his shirt collar in terror, both of us yelling at the top of our lungs. I caught the vision of what he'd been yelling as we got towards the top of the hill and we began losing steam. We both started rocking in our seats trying to help Stella make it the last ten or fifteen feet. No bueno. Kyle quickly turned the car on and we continued through the canyon shaking off the adrenaline that seemed to be thick in the air.

Laughing seems to be the best way of doing that, and did we ever laugh about it! Were we crazy or something? What's next, chaining ourselves to giant redwoods? We decided that we loved the Earth, but not that much. We'll become one with the Earth by picking up trash and recycling in the future. But for now, it makes for a real good story, don't ya think? =)