【Hitch-hiking from Salt Lake to Denver】PART 3 搭车去丹佛-第三章

（Continues from the previous blog post--Hitch-hiking from Salt Lake to Denver Part 2)

This was 2:30pm in Roosevelt, Utah. Three cars took me here from Salt Lake City in 6 hours. My destination was Denver, still hundreds of miles away. However, I was assured that I was getting closer and closer. Sayer, John, and Amanda/Greg were all great "car hosts" along the way. Our brief encounters were pleasant and memorable. 

I realized that I was somewhat off-course. I needed to get on an interstate highway (I-80, I-70 or I-15) in order to get to Denver in an efficient manner. Roosevelt is sort-of mid-of-nowhere. If I had to stop for the day here in Roosevelt, I thought to myself, I would be quite satisfied with my Day 1 progress already. One thing about hitch-hiking is that you cannot be greedy. CELEBRATE WITH EACH STEP ALONG THE WAY. 

（续）六个小时之内，3辆车已经把我从盐湖城送到了北犹他的小镇--罗斯福。丹佛依然在几百公里之外，但我对目前的进展已经非常满意了。可惜，罗斯福前不着村后不着店，我必须尽量朝州际高速公路方向前进。搭车是个要且行且庆祝的活动；目前3辆车几百英里的战绩非常可观，哪怕当天要在罗斯福住一晚我觉得也值得。

(Will the Blaster driving towards Green River, UT)

Amanda and Greg dropped me off at the biggest gas station in town. It took me only 10min of waiting before I met Will--an explosives worker, aka blaster, that took me to I-70 near Green River, Utah.

Will didn't look like someone that I would get into a car with. If you have read my first blog about hitch-hiking, you would know that talking to people at gas stations is a good way to "test them out". I didn't think Will would pass this test. And yet he proved to be one of the most helpful drivers I met so far!

Why couldn't Will pass "the test"? Simply put, he looked too eager to take me. When I approached him at the gas station, he wasn't going to the direction I wanted to go-- I was heading to I-15, yet he was heading back home to Cedar City, a town in south-east Utah. After some exchanges of information, Will said he was willing to take me to a gas station nearby in town that had a better chance of people picking me up. Yet somehow he asked me to wait for a minute, and checked his map. "How about I take you to Green River, a town near I-70?" He showed me the map. I could tell that he really wanted to help, so I agreed. 

头一辆车的主人Amanda夫妇把我放在了罗斯福镇子上最大的一个加油站。“也许你在这里能交上好运。” 十分钟之后，好运出现了。他就是一个我差点错过的大好人Will.  Will把我一车拉到了犹他中部的城市--绿河镇。这个镇子恰好在70号州际高速旁边。

刚遇到Will的时候，我非常犹豫要不要上他的车。因为他看上去过于迫切地想要载我，而搭车时遇到这种情况往往要当心。起初，我发现Will要去的地方跟我的目的地不是一个方向，便有退意。Will当时同意把我送到附近的加油站。可是他又查了下地图，问我愿意去不去绿河镇。这的确是一个折中的方案。一方面绿河离他要去的方向很近，另一方面绿河也在70号州际公路旁边。看着他非常迫切地想帮忙的样子，我答应了。

Will and me, with his work car.

The 3-hour drive south down to Green River was filled with interesting conversation topics. I first learned that Will had just quit his blaster job that day --he was quite pissed off with his company's unfilled promise of a $1/hour raise. What did Will do for living? He was a blaster, basically. Carried loads of explosives on his shoulders and around his waist each day, and basically, blew things off. His construction company needed skilled and courageous people like him; unfortunately it didn't treat him right. Thus he left with quite a bad mood. Will even showed me videos of explosions that he had worked on. The previous day he had to carry tons of explosives up and down hill, and this made his body sore. I told Will that I was glad he quit his job. 

The next thing we talked about was the great outdoors of Utah. Will grew up in mountains. He hiked them, climbed them, and basically, lived in them. As a hardcore mountain kid born and brought up in Utah, Will had very deep affections with the nature. We talked about things to do in the face of a bear; backpacking gear we took into the wild; waterless situations; national parks (Will never paid a buck to enter the Parks; he would just "hike in"); and guns. Yes, guns. Will said he would carry a 10-pound raffle into the mountains. It was a necessary piece of equipment for his survival. Once, as he told me, he stayed in the mountains for months with his shelter and a gun. He reminded me a lot of the survival show characters such as Bear Grylls.

开往绿河镇的那段路上，我俩聊了很多有趣的话题。从威尔的工作，聊到户外，再聊到犹他州的大山和女人。令我惊讶的是，威尔竟然在当天早些时候辞职了，而且他原先的工作竟是爆破师！“我每天干的事儿就是炸东西。” 威尔毫不介意地给我看了它工作时爆破大山的视频。他的工作就是每天背炸药，放炸药，点燃炸药。其实这种高危行业工人的需求量很高，可惜公司无法兑现对他的涨工资的承诺。威尔觉得忍不下去了，就炒了老板的鱿鱼。我倒是很替他高兴，不用再冒着生命危险做这份没有钱途的行当了。他说他当天很牛气地当着老板的面给朋友打电话，朋友当场同意录用他，让老板的面子掉了一地。我心里想，这孩子还挺有种的。

我们聊的另一个话题就是犹他的大户外。威尔山里生山里长，和我一样对荒野有着痴迷的热爱。我们聊如何对付熊，聊缺水了怎么办，聊户外装备，聊国家公园（威尔觉得不应该缴费进入任何自然景观，于是他每次都徒步从旁边进去）。我们也聊到了枪支。威尔说他每次进山都会带枪，“只要是任何能帮助我生存的东西，我都会带。” 虽然他的包比别人的都沉，但他徒步的速度比别人都快。“朋友叫我别抽烟了，但他们走路的速度都赶不上我。” 他最长的纪录是在山里待了3个月不出来(不过我对此深表怀疑）。不论如何，他都让我想起了生存秀的那些人物，比如大名鼎鼎的贝爷。

 Driving in deep Utah，

looking through the dirty windows of Will's company car

I had to say that Will was a quite flirty guy, which made me a bit uncomfortable at times. But somehow I did trust him, and in turn he did prove to be a reliable character.When we drove through the deep deserts of southern Utah, vast sand lands opened up like an endless sea. I was swallowed up by the immense beauty of nature, while enjoying my sole company of this guy that I barely knew. It was a very intense feeling--a mixture of anxiety, fear, joy, and hopefulness. In the last hour of our drive, Will and I even sang songs in the car! Now, when I think of Utah , I think of the long stretches of US-6, the beautiful deserts, and rock formations, and the songs we sang together in the car. Utah was all around me. Utah was in me. 

I believe Will represented a typical wild personality of the American West. In our short and limited encounter, I could almost imagine his personal past. His jobs, joblessness at times, women, laughs, tears, and dreams. Hitch-hiking could definitely make you get to know a person at a deep level, even just in hours. All my cells were on alert because I was in such an unpredictable situation. And, because of the same reason, I had to open up my eyes, my ears, my blood vessels, and all of my senses. I could hear and see better. And thus, I could get to know this 'stranger' better. This held true for all my drivers, not only Will. I wouldn't have known them better if we met in cities or on the streets. Hitch-hiking was a quick and intense way for us to get to know each other. 

威尔有时候谈到些敏感调情的话题会让我有点小不舒服，不过总体上他是个靠谱的人，我们的信任是互相的。当汽车在广袤的犹他沙漠上奔驰，周围的群山乱石和平原在我身旁像海洋般延展开来。我被这无垠的宽广天地所吞没。在此时寂静的宇宙里，在这美景面前，我身旁竟然坐着一个相识不过几小时的陌生人。这是一种奇异的感觉，是不安，恐惧，喜悦和希望的混合体。我们最后甚至在车里放声高歌。每当我现在想起犹他，心中浮现的总是沙漠中的公路，奇异的石头，和那天车里的歌声。

我相信，威尔是一个典型的美国西部男人的代表。在我们有限的交流里，我几乎可以想象到他的过往--他的工作，女人，欢乐，泪水，和梦想。搭车让我在最短的时间内，打开我最深的感官，我的每个血管每个细胞都提高警惕，同时我看到得更多，听到得更清楚，也就更了解身旁的这个人。正式这种不确定的气氛，这种有点小慌乱的环境，这种陌生人的一举一动，让我们的交集分外深刻彻底。如果我和我的车主们在城市的大街上相遇，一定不会有类似的互动产生。

At the end of day one, Will dropped me off near Green River. He warned me to be careful with truck drivers "in case they mistook me for truck whores". I looked around--Green River was not green. It was a desert town near Moab, the gateway for Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. But, I-70 was right next to the town! I was thrilled to see interstate highways. I said good-bye to Will and marched in town. Had a large dinner at Arby's. Then booked a room at a motel. It was only $40 bucks for a night, and somehow I realized it was my first time living in a motel room alone!

Stay tuned to read about my Day 2 of this hitch-hike. One car, and yes only ONE DRIVER drove me all the way to Denver!!!

在搭车第一天快要结束的时候，威尔把我在绿河镇放下了。他警告我跟卡车司机搭车要小心，“不然他们会觉得你是卡车妓女。” 我环顾四周，绿河镇根本不绿。这是一个接近拱门国家公园和峡谷地国家公园的小镇。但是，我已经来到了70号州际公路旁边！这无疑是一个好消息。我和威尔告别后饱餐一顿，走路进镇。镇子上只有一条街，区区几家旅馆。我找了个便宜的汽车旅馆入住。进门后突然意识到这是我第一次一个人住旅馆。

下一篇博文将会是关于我第二天搭车的情况。一辆车，一个人，就把我送到了千里之外的丹佛，不得不说是神迹！