63 Days

I heard it before I saw it. It kind of sounded like something was being dragged through the sand next to my head. I blinked a few times, the early morning light peering over the red cliffs just outside my little sleeping spot. When I focused my eyes, I could see it.

Wow, it feels great to be back!!! Last time I made a “real” entry, I was very very pregnant and very very tired, newly married and taking care of 4 kids and a new house. Now, I’m new mommy’ing again and everything seems to be at a point where I have time to [...]

Helllooooooo! Anybody out there?
Just thought I’d pop in and let you know whats up. After some intense looking around, searching and studying, we found a new place to live here in Vegas. So we’re moving, my 4 kids/husband/and I. Its a beautiful home and I’m really excited to get in [...]

*Notice: some of the names that have been used here were too close to the real ones. I’ve been asked to change some details about them as well as the names, as they have apparently led to some issues in some of their personal lives. I apologize for this and hope that no [...]

Have you ever smelled rain in the desert? Its like nothing you’ve ever inhaled, the wet, cool fragrance tickling the back of your throat as it fills your lungs with moist musk. Perfume from trees like junipers and yuccas wafts into every breeze scenting the air. I love that smell.

Hole-In-The-Rock road went on for miles. The Kaiparowitz mountains were to the west of us, the cliffs appearing black and steep while to the east of us, the desert went on for miles until it dropped down into Lake Powell. Slick rock and desert were in between.
Cody and I had decided to [...]

We woke up on the morning of April 21st to a beautiful sunrise. We gathered our things, and I thought nothing of it. We stuffed a spoonful of dry oats into our mouths and started out for the daily route. In a few hours it began to get hot out on the road, the [...]

“So, you’re Alli the car stealer?” Cody asked me, inquisitively yet not quite judgementally. I took no offense and answered with a nod to the affirmative.
“Wow yeah, I heard all about you. My dad was called into his office when you were missing. You’ve got balls” she said.
“Well,” I answered “I didn’t [...]

Handcarts are heavy. The weight adds up when you’re dragging 1500 lbs. on two rickety wheels up and down horribly rocky and steep dirt roads. Six of us on each cart, two at a time would take turns pulling up in front or pushing in back and one person on each side [...]

Handcarts. Handcarts are wooden boxes, I’d say they’re about 6′ x 6′ in the actual “cart” with about a 2′ depth. The wheels are about 4′ high and they’re wood with wooden spokes that have a bent and hammered on strip of metal that wraps around the entire outside of the wheel. [...]

The dusty rays of the morning sun filtered down through the little shack we were sleeping in. A rusty bed frame, springs orange from oxidation and age, was propped against the wall facing the door. A tiny window let light in through the boards that were nailed up over its filmy yellowed glass [...]

April was upon us and the tiniest little yellow flowers covered every square inch of what would soon be dry desert brush. Purple and blue blooms dotted the golden fields around us as we hiked up out of the canyon and toward what we were told were called the “slick rock plains”. The [...]

Waking to the sound of water is probably one of the most wonderful things a person can wake to. Tiny pips and drops that sound like bubbles popping pique your imagination, making you wonder if the sound is being made by tiny fish, jumping in the golden morning light or frogs hopping in shallow [...]

The night crept coolly up the sandy beach that we had made camp on. After the falls, we hiked down the river a ways until we reached a soft and open spot. We all picked our areas out to lay our pack in and started to prepare our beds. The crickets and [...]

We could hear the water before we could see it. We’d all become so accustomed to the sound of the river that it was barely audible, but as we trodded forward, we could hear falling water and it sounded almost too good to be true.
The red canyon walls were glowing from the [...]

The Burr Trail can be incredibly beautiful. As the sun rose this morning, I looked around me. I could hear the sharp whir of the cicadas humming in the tree that sat central on our little sandy river island. Sunrays poured over the top of the steep canyon that was in front [...]

I woke up to the sound of running water. The river was still next to us, its icy water rolling over rocks and logs as it headed toward Lake Powell. Birds chirped in the single cottonwood tree that stood guard in our little sandy island, and it was glowing at the top from [...]

Don’t forget to vote. You know you’re appreciated.
Love you guys,
Alli

The next few days were relatively uneventful as fas as Challenger excitement goes. We walked, we slept, we ate rice and oats. We cried silent tears as we hiked endless miles in the desert. I noticed that the boys who came in acting all rambunctious were now beginning to mellow out. [...]

The day after the deer feast, I woke up to silence. Not a crackle of fire, not the snap of feet moving over fallen leaves and brush, not a sound out of a human mouth was to be heard. I sat up and looked around and everything was quiet. It was almost [...]

Four kids sat on a log in the dark, away from the rest of us. Their eyes little black glittering holes that held sadness and hunger in their gaze. I didn’t want the deer. I didn’t want to eat in front of them.
“Hahaha, look at those kids. HEY KIDS! Ya [...]

I woke up with the flavor of peach wine coolers on my tongue. It took me a minute to realize that I was still in this hell, not at home with Jana. It was all a dream.
The other students were beginning to wake, their arms stretching above their dirty heads. The counselors were over by [...]

That night, as we all set our bedrolls up in areas designated for girls and boys to be separate, the counselors filled us in on what was happening with our journals from now on. We were informed that all of our entries were to be read and signed off by a staff member. Even our [...]

The next morning, all eyes were on me. The other students would stare at me out of the corner of their eyes, and I wondered what they were all thinking. I gathered my things to get ready for the hike when a tiny little brunette named Daisy came over to me.
“We’re not hiking today. We [...]

I heard them before I saw them. A group of people were walking towards my camp and I could hear some shouting, a few orders being given out. I sat up quick and listened to what they were saying.
“When we get there! I’ll have her! Pack her pack! None of you move! I WANT! ALL! [...]

Solo was moving quickly. I began each morning with a stretch and a walk down to the small creek that was at the bottom of my hill. I knew people were watching me across the valley, in the hills, on the top of mountains…somewhere.
After Challenger and to this day, I will be at home or [...]

Morning slipped in quickly and the sound of the jeep shook my eyes to an awake state. I sat up fast and wondered if I’d slept in but the sun was barely creeping over the hills in the distance. The jeep rounded a corner in the distance, but not so far that I couldn’t see [...]

The sizzle of water beginning to boil on the insides of an old charred peach can sounds like a swarm of gnats. The tiny buzzing almost roars in your head until you realize that its so loud because there isn’t another sound around you. Being from Las Vegas and Southern California, I’d heard background noise [...]

The sun was warm as I opened my eyes. The clouds were leaving to the east, and this the bluest sky I’d ever seen. Birds were chirping and I sat up to see what the wind had done to my little haven.
There were tracks in the sand. Footprints. They led from the entrance of the [...]

The evening crept in and with it came the cold. The wind that was blowing the storm away tore into my inlet, bouncing off of the back walls and circling around, digging deep into my bedroll. Sand whipped itself into every crack and crease, smoothing out footprints and filling in my firepit.
I [...]

M&M’s taste like heaven when you’re looking at a bag of raw rice and oats. The candy shell peels off in tiny chips that hurt your jaw they’re so sweet. Chocolate is like heroin for a starving teenager, and I was the happiest damn junkie in the desert at that moment. I’d separated them into [...]

I saw the jeep coming toward me before I could hear it. This made it worse I think, because silence can hold your fear to you and there’s nothing to distract it. I could make out two heads inside. I was sure one was Murdock, but who would the other one be? I got down [...]

Day two of “solo” began with a start.
SNAP!
Something was in the brush around my camp. I listened carefully, but all I could hear was silence. Then it moved again. I slid down into my blanket even deeper and waited. Whatever it was, it was only about 20 feet from where I was laying and I [...]

“So, what the heck am I going to do now?” I asked myself, outloud. The camp was a pretty good sized area, perhaps the size of a basketball court, but there was a 20 foot high wall of red rock that came around 3/4 of the place, kind of in a horseshoe shape. The big [...]

The jeep slowed to a crawl as we climbed up and down canyons. Bone dry natural washes served as our road, and as we rounded each bend I could see where the last flood level had been, marked on the wall with a white calcium line. The jeep was noisy, but not as noisy as [...]

The doctor’s office was as any other small town white coat’s office would be. Stale antiseptic spray hovering in the air around the fake greenery crammed into every spare corner and crease in the place. A woman sat behind the counter, a window drawn in front of her to protect her from…um…coyotes? [...]

“What is this?” a kid asked Murdock as he tossed gallon ziplock bags at all of us. We were sitting on the ground, indian style, holding empty peach cans in our hands.
“Its rice. And here,” he said tossing another round of bags out at us, this with something else in it, “this one has oats [...]

Natalie and I sat down next to eachother on a rock, overlooking the slick rock basin. She and I had been cooking up a way out of this place, but first, we needed to figure out when.
“So, if you’re really wanting to make a big escape, we can just take out all the counselors and [...]

Morning came again, I watched the sun peek through the Ghost Bead trees that were sprouting out of the slick red rocks that surrounded our camp. Other kids were up, rolling their ponchos and blankets into neat bundles, tying them with the short rope they gave us, leaving loops for their arms, making a homemade [...]

The third night we sat around the campfire, talking, listening to everyone else tell their stories. Jeff was there because he was a gang banger in Miami. He’d shot up a convenience store trying to pick off a guy who’d touched his sister’s ass. He was sentenced to the program. Stacy [...]

I woke up the second morning outside, the first night out in the open air since the first night was in a teepee. This is what I saw. Peaceful, cold, silent. My prison was beautiful. My breath was taken away by the very thing that held me captive…it was an immediate love/hate relationship, this was. [...]

“Hi, my name’s Natalie. I’m 16, how old are you” she said to me. She was about 5′10″, pretty damn big compared to my 5′3″ and she was fairly muscular. Her blonde hair was cut like a boy, and for a quick second, I wondered if she WAS a boy.
“Uh, we’re not supposed to talk” [...]

This next section was taken from both memory, and from the journals they let us keep…green steno pads.
Dreams fade fast when there’s a stranger yelling in your face.
“GET THE HELL UP! WAKE YOUR SORRY ASSES UP RIGHT NOOOOOOOW!!!!!”
My eyes popped open before I even knew that I was awake. Its [...]