Random Drive to Wyoming
Why we ended up driving 3 hours to Green River.
Back in 2017, I had a random urge to just drive up into the mountains to the east. Interstate 80 east leads into Wyoming which is only an hour and a half from Salt Lake City. The town at the state line is called Evanston.
The drive started as just wanting to stop off at Park City and turn back around. Park City is a half-hour from Salt Lake. After arriving at the exit for Park City, I had an urge to just keep driving up to Wyoming.
Entering Evanston at around lunchtime, I still had an urge to just keep driving. I still didn’t know what was causing this feeling since I never had felt anything like this before. The plan after lunch was to just keep driving into Wyoming along I-80.
About half an hour after leaving Evanston is Fort Bridger. The site tells the history of how many historic trails passed through the area. The Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Pioneer Trail, Pony Express Trail, Overland Trail, Cherokee Trail, and Lincoln Highway are some of the major trails that passed through.
So, I told my dad who had been driving through all this that I wanted to see what Fort Bridger was all about. I’ll be completely honest and say that I don’t remember anything about the site. We did tour the site and I have one picture to prove it.
Not long after we entered Fort Bridger, we headed to one of the structures. On the walk there, I got a call from my grandparents which was a little random. The only family holiday that was going on was one of my cousins’ birthdays. That couldn’t be the reason they were called, was it?
When they call, I always answer the phone because you never know who could be sick or dying. Well, they had some not-so-pleasant news. They said my cousin had died. The cousin whose birthday was on that day. He would’ve been 31 years old.
After that phone call, the rest of Fort Bridger was a blur, even to this day it is. The feelings I had felt ranged from angry to sad. This was the cousin I was closest to and had the most in common with.
Deep inside, I knew why he died. He had been struggling with an off and on again drug addiction his whole adult life. I always had a feeling in the back of my mind that something like this would happen. Just didn’t expect it to happen on his birthday.
I told my dad after we left Fort Bridger that I just wanted to keep riding. That’s how we ended up in Green River, which is about three hours from Salt Lake. We decided to turn around there because we had a three-hour drive back home.
Something was calming about being out of the city and hearing the news about my cousin. After leaving Evanston, I had never been to Fort Bridger or Green River. Seeing a new area is calming in its own way. It’s hard to explain.
After that day, I’ve learned to listen to certain feelings I may get. You never know what they may mean until the moment they happen. I have had a few of those since that day in May 2017. They usually don’t end well.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please know that you are not alone. Help is available by calling 1–800–273–8255.