Prep 8/31 HB

My high school friends and I had talked about taking a trip to see a concrete arrow for months. The group of us bonded over our love for our AP US History class, and we knew that if we made it to a concrete arrow (used for aviation purposes after WWI, before GPS), our teacher would put the picture in his PowerPoint presentation and we would be immortalized forever in high school history lore! Eventually, we decided to go to an arrow that was two hours north of us. We found a clear Saturday and packed into my friend’s car, building the perfect playlist as we went. But when we arrived at the spot, we found that the arrow was in the middle of a military base, and there was no way for us to access it. So we drove home, continuing our playlist-building, and vowed to plan a trip to southern Utah, where we knew there was an arrow open to the public. But a month into the summer, we hadn’t actually done anything to accomplish our goal. Then, out of the blue, one person started taking control of things and started asking questions about the logistics of the trip – when everyone was available, who had a car that could fit us all, etc. We followed his lead, and started actively planning the trip. It required a sacrifice from all of us; Tyler had to settle for only one day of hiking, Mauree and Emily had to deal with cramped sleeping conditions, Sam had the job of keeping me occupied on the road, Alli missed an event back home, and I drove eleven hours in two days to get there and back. We each gave up something good – convenience, good beds, etc. – in order to have an even better total experience, one we had dreamed of for so long. And if somehow we grow apart now that we’re all scattered across the world, at least we’ll always be together in the picture our teacher will show his APUSH classes every year, and beyond that, we’ll always have the memories that we made with each other in southern Utah.