Now, that is one day, which is crystal clear in my memory.. Its like a movie running in my head.. Sound effects included.. You will realize why by the time this ends.. Stay Tuned!!
Now that I said it resembles a movie, let me use Movie style narration..
Actors
Myself - Navigator - used GPS and Compass App (Yes, we used it. don't trust me? Read through the post!)
Friend 1 - Driver
Friend 2 - Accompanying us - took the backseat
That night.. we were returning from Grand Canyon after watching the sunset.. It was a tiring day, considering that we covered Antelope Canyon (Both Upper and Lower), Horse shoe Canyon and Grand Canyon too.. Yes.. it is possible.. Call me if you wanna know how.. :)
I turned on the GPS and after a number of turns (Thanks to the route optimization by the GPS).. We reached a point... Now, here, we could only turn left or right.. The GPS indicated left turn.. On the right.. the road was blocked anyway. We turned left.. We didn't see any cars before or behind.. It was 4 miles to the highway.. trusting the GPS, we went ahead..
Now, we had some extremely noisy songs on the stereo that evening.. Bollywood Desi style.. and I was trying hard to concentrate and look at the GPS to ensure we don't go out of route, considering its a new place.. It was all fine until the next 2 mins after which, we saw a board, which said something to the effect that the "Road will narrow down". We thought that's fine and drove ahead..
3 miles.. the GPS was showing.. I thought may be its some sort of a shortcut.. considering there was no one on the road apart from us.. Shortly the concrete road, turned into some sort of a dusty road with small stones scattered all over it.. Now we all got a little concerned.. But satisfied ourselves by joking.. Even US has roads like our villages in India.. After a while, my friend the driver asked "Are we on the right track?" I checked the GPS, wherever there was a bend shown in the GPS, the road bent.. hence, I said confidently "YES" .. trusting my money "150 odd bucks spent on the GPS"
After a while, we saw some sort of a fork and the road split into two..Now, we stopped there for a sec to check which direction to go.. Here comes the shocker.. THE GPS DIDNT SHOW THAT FORK! I stopped the noisy music we had on.. But still heard some beat.. It was so close and then I realized it was our hearts thumping fast!! Everyone fell silent.. My friend, who was driving the car broke the silence and said, "lets go straight.."
To our relief, we saw a board which showed horse crossing sign after the fork which made us believe that we are on the right track.. after a while, we came across a railway crossing.. a very narrow one.. I couldn't help but wonder what sort of trains go through there.. Now, it was extremely dark and silent around us.. with the exception of the insects making all sorts of weird, scary noises that we hear in the movies.. We crossed the crossing and drove along the road.. the silence still prevailed.. both inside and outside the car..
Now, the GPS, when it shows green around the road, it means there is greenery and if it shows blue, that means, we have some water body around.. It was all green until that point of time.. and suddenly it turned blue, I looked out of the window fearing the worst and there it was.. We had stream of water running on both sides of the road!!. the road being at a higher elevation.. It was Ok, but what concerned us was at that point, the road has gotten so narrow to the point where, we didn't have enough space to turn around.. 2 miles showed the GPS and I told my friend, "lets go, we are close"..
Now 2 miles isn't a big distance, but, we were driving slowly, since the road was bad and the last thing we wanted was a punctured tire.. At. this point.. you wouldn't believe, we saw a sort of a crossing, it was like a few metal poles laid below connecting this part of road to the next part. Now my driver friend was saying "We should have turned back... I should've known.. etc".. Here, we didn't anyway have a chance to turn back, since the space was less, I told him drive ahead. I was afraid that those poles might bend or something, but, carefully, my friend crossed them.. It reminded me of the Evil Dead Movie here, where they cross a bridge..
We were on the other side of the road.. Less than a mile showed the GPS.. I got some confidence and told them, "once we cross this, we will be on the highway and we can make up for the delay".. little did I know what was in store for us ahead.. Now my friend who was driving said twice during the journey.. "What if the road is blocked?".. I was hoping it wouldn't come true, considering we were already around 4 miles along the road and we had no space to turn around... Things don't always go as planned and indeed 0.7 miles to the destination, we saw it.. A board which said "ROAD BLOCKED".. My heart almost leaped out of place.. I thought what I heard sounded like some Hanuman prayer from the back of the car.. :)
To our Luck, We had enough space there to make a 3 point turn with our car.. we turned our car onto a elevated path, which seemed to be fenced and had a gate to it.. we then reversed the car and turned back.. Now, we had around 4 miles to travel back along with same path.. We were all praying inside hoping nothing stops us.. and carefully passed through everything we crossed.. again.. extra careful this time..
Now we made our way back, but the GPS was still showing us the same path back.. We shut it... Now I believe internet was not working on any of our phones.. we went to some complex and checked with an old couple there.. they said.. "You gotto head North, that's where the highway is..". You might have seen the Compass app on the iPhone, but never would've used it. I used it.. that night for the first time.. I was checking it and told my friend to turn in the direction where it showed north and after a while, there it was!! The ramp to the highway...
Relieved, we turned back the music on.. and drove ahead to our destination.. hoping we had no more adventures for that night.. after all we had our hearts full.. :)
Now that I said it resembles a movie, let me use Movie style narration..
Actors
Myself - Navigator - used GPS and Compass App (Yes, we used it. don't trust me? Read through the post!)
Friend 1 - Driver
Friend 2 - Accompanying us - took the backseat
That night.. we were returning from Grand Canyon after watching the sunset.. It was a tiring day, considering that we covered Antelope Canyon (Both Upper and Lower), Horse shoe Canyon and Grand Canyon too.. Yes.. it is possible.. Call me if you wanna know how.. :)
I turned on the GPS and after a number of turns (Thanks to the route optimization by the GPS).. We reached a point... Now, here, we could only turn left or right.. The GPS indicated left turn.. On the right.. the road was blocked anyway. We turned left.. We didn't see any cars before or behind.. It was 4 miles to the highway.. trusting the GPS, we went ahead..
Now, we had some extremely noisy songs on the stereo that evening.. Bollywood Desi style.. and I was trying hard to concentrate and look at the GPS to ensure we don't go out of route, considering its a new place.. It was all fine until the next 2 mins after which, we saw a board, which said something to the effect that the "Road will narrow down". We thought that's fine and drove ahead..
3 miles.. the GPS was showing.. I thought may be its some sort of a shortcut.. considering there was no one on the road apart from us.. Shortly the concrete road, turned into some sort of a dusty road with small stones scattered all over it.. Now we all got a little concerned.. But satisfied ourselves by joking.. Even US has roads like our villages in India.. After a while, my friend the driver asked "Are we on the right track?" I checked the GPS, wherever there was a bend shown in the GPS, the road bent.. hence, I said confidently "YES" .. trusting my money "150 odd bucks spent on the GPS"
After a while, we saw some sort of a fork and the road split into two..Now, we stopped there for a sec to check which direction to go.. Here comes the shocker.. THE GPS DIDNT SHOW THAT FORK! I stopped the noisy music we had on.. But still heard some beat.. It was so close and then I realized it was our hearts thumping fast!! Everyone fell silent.. My friend, who was driving the car broke the silence and said, "lets go straight.."
To our relief, we saw a board which showed horse crossing sign after the fork which made us believe that we are on the right track.. after a while, we came across a railway crossing.. a very narrow one.. I couldn't help but wonder what sort of trains go through there.. Now, it was extremely dark and silent around us.. with the exception of the insects making all sorts of weird, scary noises that we hear in the movies.. We crossed the crossing and drove along the road.. the silence still prevailed.. both inside and outside the car..
Now, the GPS, when it shows green around the road, it means there is greenery and if it shows blue, that means, we have some water body around.. It was all green until that point of time.. and suddenly it turned blue, I looked out of the window fearing the worst and there it was.. We had stream of water running on both sides of the road!!. the road being at a higher elevation.. It was Ok, but what concerned us was at that point, the road has gotten so narrow to the point where, we didn't have enough space to turn around.. 2 miles showed the GPS and I told my friend, "lets go, we are close"..
Now 2 miles isn't a big distance, but, we were driving slowly, since the road was bad and the last thing we wanted was a punctured tire.. At. this point.. you wouldn't believe, we saw a sort of a crossing, it was like a few metal poles laid below connecting this part of road to the next part. Now my driver friend was saying "We should have turned back... I should've known.. etc".. Here, we didn't anyway have a chance to turn back, since the space was less, I told him drive ahead. I was afraid that those poles might bend or something, but, carefully, my friend crossed them.. It reminded me of the Evil Dead Movie here, where they cross a bridge..
We were on the other side of the road.. Less than a mile showed the GPS.. I got some confidence and told them, "once we cross this, we will be on the highway and we can make up for the delay".. little did I know what was in store for us ahead.. Now my friend who was driving said twice during the journey.. "What if the road is blocked?".. I was hoping it wouldn't come true, considering we were already around 4 miles along the road and we had no space to turn around... Things don't always go as planned and indeed 0.7 miles to the destination, we saw it.. A board which said "ROAD BLOCKED".. My heart almost leaped out of place.. I thought what I heard sounded like some Hanuman prayer from the back of the car.. :)
To our Luck, We had enough space there to make a 3 point turn with our car.. we turned our car onto a elevated path, which seemed to be fenced and had a gate to it.. we then reversed the car and turned back.. Now, we had around 4 miles to travel back along with same path.. We were all praying inside hoping nothing stops us.. and carefully passed through everything we crossed.. again.. extra careful this time..
Now we made our way back, but the GPS was still showing us the same path back.. We shut it... Now I believe internet was not working on any of our phones.. we went to some complex and checked with an old couple there.. they said.. "You gotto head North, that's where the highway is..". You might have seen the Compass app on the iPhone, but never would've used it. I used it.. that night for the first time.. I was checking it and told my friend to turn in the direction where it showed north and after a while, there it was!! The ramp to the highway...
Relieved, we turned back the music on.. and drove ahead to our destination.. hoping we had no more adventures for that night.. after all we had our hearts full.. :)
