Moab - Day 4 (part 2)

So we're stranded in the Utah desert and the local Sherriff has arrived to help. The Sherriff decides that he should take two of us back in his truck, and we'll drive the truck back to the cave and get the other guys and the bikes. Andrew and I volunteer to head back with the Sherriff. We quickly discern two things: 1) the Sherriff doesn't pay for his own vehicle, and 2) he knows these back roads very well. As we speed back to the parking area at 45 mph on very rough roads, I notice that Andrew still has his helmet on and is making no moves to take it off. Smart move.

We finally make it back to the truck and the Sherriff starts to guide us back to the cave. He takes a "shortcut" and we promptly get our (much larger) truck stuck in the sand. The Sherriff decides to go around us and pull us out the way we came in. In doing so, he gets his truck stuck. So there we are - two panicking North Carolina boys stuck in the sand around 10:00 at night in the Utah desert next to the local Sherriff, who is also stuck. The Sherriff is very calm about all of this, grabs a shovel out of his truck and starts to dig himself out. We take turns digging, but before long, we hear another truck in the distance. As it gets closer, the Sherriff recognizes the sound of the truck as a local high school kid.

The kid, driving his huge F350, finds us, and he and the Sherriff exchange some friendly jabs about the Sherriff getting stuck. The kid and his truckload of friends pile out of their F350 and help the Sherriff dig out of the sand. It is at this moment that I become very aware that I'm standing their in full biking spandex.

After some discussion, they decide that the best measure is to have the F350 pull out the Sherriff's truck. Then they'll worry about our truck. At this time, the Sherriff is stuck in front of our truck, and the F350 is behind us. As the F350 backs up to attempt to pull around us, they too get stuck. Surprisingly, Andrew and I aren't too worried about this. By this time, we've come to understand that this is a normal Friday night out for these guys.

While they wrestle getting the F350 out of the sand, Andrew and I work on our truck. We manage to get our truck out and park it out of the way. After getting the F350 freed, stuck again and freed again; they finally got the Sherriff out, too.

Now we're all on our merry way back to the cave (the F350 is headed to their original destination, which I'm sure includes drinking and getting stuck in the sand). We make it to the cave, pick up the other guys and our bikes and head out. Thankfully, the Sherriff takes it much slower on the way out this time. We make it to the highway, bid our thanks to the Sherriff and head back to Moab in search of dinner. Of course, it's after 11:00pm and everything is closed except a gas station.

After a dinner of ho-ho's and honey buns we finally find our beds and crash for the night.