Surviving a trip without showers, electricity, and mobile service last spring break 2017!

DerikNg
Mar 25, 2018
3 min read

It's that time of the year again when everyone finally gets a break from the hectic semester. And since i was just thinking about what to post next, i thought this would be an interesting throwback post to my last spring break, 2017 before i head to Iceland next week.

You're probably wondering, how was it possible, a trip without showers, electricity and even MOBILE SERVICES for an entire week! Well, it was pretty simple, all you have to do is embrace and immerse yourself with what matters most during the trip. However, as a photographer, it was a challenge because i needed power to charge my camera batteries during the trip. Hence, I bought an Anker Solar Panel before the trip to help me charge my powerbanks during the day so i could charge the batteries during the night.

So what happened during the trip? ............ A crew of 4 climbers who were never close to each other randomly decided to carpool and drive our way towards the west from Wisconsin to Nevada. We had traveled an insane distance of 1.7K miles per way in just 25 hours!

From left: KK, Tom, Kyle, Me. Toyota Corolla: Misty

During our journey, we laughed to all kinds of jokes, talked about everything we could, and of course we looked after for each other whenever someone was on the wheel. Furthermore, during the course of the 1.7K miles journey to Nevada, one of the most exciting highlight began when the fuel lights started blinking and the next gas station was more than 30 miles away in Utah. Everyone remained silent and calm, praying that we would make it to the gas station so badly because neither of us wanted to be stranded in the middle of a dessert. Thankfully, those prayers were heard and we managed to arrive at the gas station. After Utah, our destination began to come closer towards the Misty crew and we had safely arrived in Nevada Red Rocks during the night.

Here, another interesting chapter begun as the Misty crew scaled and climbed the magnificent routes that Red Rocks had to offer. We tried our best to ensure that each day was going to be a productive day filled with all kinds of activities, regardless if it was climbing or hiking, we just wanted to do something. Not only our day was filled with exciting events, but our nights were also filled with thoughtful conversations and games. We spent every night sleeping in tents in the campsite that only costed us about 5 dollars each for a week. However, there were also nights that were too cold because KK was always trying to 'steal' my sleeping bag. Hence, for those cold nights, i spent sleeping in the car instead.

Overall, everyday was a special day filled with its own magical content that can never be replaced, and represented in words. There was obviously more to the trip such as climbing, hiking, skinny dipping and much more, but it definitely couldn't be expressed in a single blog post. It was definitely an eye opening experience for a person like me who never had experience anything similar to this. This trip made me realize that first world essentials such as mobile networks that claims to connect us virtually are not important necessities for a trip. Instead, focus on the people you are with, and truly connect with them to ensure that you have a good time.