Day 23: Mutiny!

Day Twenty-Three: Mutiny!

7/2/11:

Yelena, Noah, and I looked at Travis and saw a friend.

Travis looked at Yelena, Noah, and I and saw cheap labor.

Not that I can blame him. An over-worked grad student on a budget just couldn't resist the allure of three easily bought workers.

And oh, were we cheap.

For free D.Q., the three of us helped Travis finish surveying the Cureton Ranch (on a Saturday, may it be noted). Despite our early seven o’clock start, everything initially seemed to be going well. We were walking the scrubby flats after all, and I’d mastered the skill of both watching the ground and daydreaming. A couple hours passed. We ate lunch under the shade of two intertwined junipers. A few more hours passed. Chatting loudly across our transect, spirits were reasonable.

And then the last acres were upon us.

Travis, in his infinite wisdom, had left the worst for last. An incredible incline spotted with yucca and prickly bushes, the last hill taunted our weary souls. We ran transects up the “hill” until walking straight up it became nearly impossible. Switching over to a more angled-across approach, we quickly lost sight of each other, Yelena and I staggering high up onto the death hill while Noah and Travis veered downward.

A moment of minor redemption came in the form of an antler shed which I nearly fell over. In a state of semi-delirium, I used the shed to whack my way through shin spears and the like as below me, Yelena’s patience thinned and her volume increased.

Sensing imminent mutiny, Travis deemed our efforts satisfactory and signaled us on back to his truck. Skirting wild shrubs and stunted trees on the way down, I weighed the pros and cons of rolling the rest of the way to the bottom.

Hot, sweaty, a bit irritable, and oh so cheap, we waited in silence for our hard won D.Q. Once at our destination, I made the best of my situation, ordering, of course, the largest and most chocolate-y thing on the menu. Sitting out front and watching the tiny town of Williams pass by, I savored my ice cream down to the last fudge chunk.

So, a day of hard work to help out a friend AND the bonus of free D.Q. at the end? 

I’m not going to lie: totally worth it.

Photos: 1. Travis and me in the KNF 2. Travis surveying