The Adventures of Sleep-Deprivation Woman!

So... the real question. Who is Sleep-Deprivation Woman's mild-mannered alter-ego? Me, of course. I shall explain. After getting to bed around two in the morning the previous night, I was looking forward to a good night's sleep. Which didn't happen.

The day started out ordinary enough, but when I found out that I wouldn't actually be working, I called Jared and Greg, because we'd had an idea that it would be fun to go swimming at Sand Hollow. Jared said he could probably get off work a little early, and Greg doesn't have a job to worry about. Anyway, Jared called me when he got off at three, and we all met up at Wal-Mart. I provided Mountain Dews for the trip.

We drove down to Sand Hollow, making a quick stop at a dollar store in Hurricane to purchase flip-flops, a pair of goggles, and some swim-trunks for Greg. Anywho, there's a big red-rock island in the middle of the lake. (Well, in the middle of the swimmers' portion, anyway.) So we swam out to it. It was so awesome! It was made of all these awesome red sandstone formations, and there were very, very deep pools of water everywhere. Jared went cliff-jumping no few times. I would have, but the wind and the water in my ears was giving me a horrible earache. But the water was so blue and clear and beautiful, and deep. It was gorgeous. So we hiked/rock climbed around the island and swam back.

Being pleasantly tired, we were all kind of hungry, too. So Jared, being ever generous, bought us all dinner at Jack-in-the-Box. Chicken. Mmmm... Jared said he'd been looking for some sports store he'd found there a while ago (in St. George, that is) but couldn't remember it or where to find it. After stopping at a gas station and asking for directions, we realized that it was the Sportsman's Warehouse, and Jared picked up a new saw and extra blade just as the store closed.

So we headed back to Cedar and they dropped me off at Wal-Mart so I could grab my pickup and go feed my dog. Which I did. They got lost on the way to my place (it was quite dark by then) so I stood out by the road until they could find it. I hopped in my truck and followed them to Jared's place. We were going to watch 10,000 BC. None of us had ever seen it before, and it looked interesting. We were probably about a half-hour into the movie, and Greg got a phone call about midnight.

One of his friends had been coming down from the scout camp up on Brian Head. It's on the top of a very steep mountain, and the road down is horribly bumpy, dirt, and very twisty-turny. In the dark, his pickup missed one of the turns and he went off the side of the mountain. His truck was stuck on some old dead logs and some of the trees on the mountain. He was okay, though, and the truck seemed fine. He was stuck, though. He couldn't reverse back up the mountain because it was too steep, and he couldn't drive the pickup down the embankment because of all the deadfall in the way.

So once again, we all piled in Jared's pickup, packed up the chainsaw, an axe or two, flashlights, and lots of caffeine, and took off for Brian Head. Brian Head is approximately a half-hour drive from Cedar, but we made it in about forty-five because we didn't take the freeway. Jared's truck doesn't do well over 65 mph. So we headed up this winding, rocky, narrow dirt road and caught up with Dustin walking down the road. He didn't stay with the truck because he said he could hear a bear nearby.

So we picked him up and he showed us where the truck was. I am still amazed that Dustin is alive, much less that he sustained no injuries to him, or the truck. The truck was stuck fast against two humongous rotten logs about three feet from smashing into a rather large, solid tree face-on. We grabbed the chainsaw and cleared the deadfall out of the way, We cut down the tree (which was so hard, the chainsaw threw sparks against it...) and moved the rotten logs. Once the truck was free, we eased it down the embankment (which was rather a little more like a cliff) and onto the road below. Mission accomplished.

Dustin drove home, and we drove back to Jared's house. We got back at about three, went back down to the theatre, and fell asleep to the background of 10,000 BC.

I got up quarter to ten this morning and went home. Good times. Now, I shall partake of a nap.
--Anna Grace