The Big Day

Here's a blow-by-blow account of what the Big Day was like:

Friday, June 10

• 5:15am: Woke up. Ugh. I usually wake up around 7:30-8. I'm on flextime, so I have to get in by 6 so I can leave by 2:30.
• 6:00am: Went to work. Did work things.
• 2:50pm: Left work.
• 4:30pm: Arrived at the sign. Took a few pictures:
  • Across the road. Perspective shot to give some sense of scale.
  • Closer. Illustrates the crud I had to crawl across, and the fence I had to climb. No, it's not big, but I'm not what you'd call athletic.
  • Close up.
• 5:30pm: Met Debb at Park City Mall.
• 7:30pm: Bought the flashlight and the hat.
• 7:45pm: Finally got up the nerve to tell her what I was planning on doing. Didn't want to tell her because I thought she'd be mad, because she wouldn't want me to get in trouble. Turns out she hit me for thinking she didn't have a sense of humor.

Saturday, June 11

• 12:00am: Took a 20-minute nap.
• 1:20am: Started getting ready. Got a picture of myself, for what I looked like "before".
• 1:35am: Ready. Somehow, I thought I'd look cooler. Turns out I just looked like a big dumb geek. Oh well. Hopefully, nobody's see anything more than a face and a pair of gloved hands, anyway. There's a pair of binoculars on my right side, but you can't see them. They're black. Blended in really well, but it stunk for the picture, which I thought was going to be cool, which wasn't anyway.
• 2:05am: Parked across the road from the sign.
• 2:07am: Got up the resolve to get out of the car. Things fly together pretty quick here.
  • Ran across the road when no cars were coming. I was in the grassy area in the middle of the road when some cars came close, and I dropped in the grass. Yes, I really "dropped to the grass" like I was in a Mission Impossible episode. Sheesh.
  • Got to the other side. Had to drop in crud several times. Didn't want to risk the flashlight if not entirely necessary, so I couldn't really see where I was going. There was enough ambient light to see about ten feet.
  • Got to the fence, and--I couldn't see the damn sign! Argh! I basically flew into a panic. Do they wheel in the sign at night? I asked myself. What the hell am I gonna do about this? Should I actually go look for it, if they do? Tossed that idea, though--if they bring it in for the night, they'd see the rearranged letters in the morning, and just fix it. A few seconds later I came to my senses, and decided to risk the flashlight. I missed the @#$@#$!! sign by about 100 feet. I said, "well, duh," under my breath, and went towards the sign.
  • Scrambled over the fence, ungracefully. Good thing nobody could see me. I was pathetic.
  • The sign still had the same saying. Would've been just my luck that they changed it that night after I took the pictures.
  • Took off the SWALLOW, and started taking letters to make COYOTE. Got to the second O before I realized I wasn't wearing my gloves. Thought about it for a second. I put them on, and--yes--I wiped down the letters I touched. Amused myself on that one.
  • Finished the rest of the sign without incident. Took a while, because every time a car drove by, I dropped in the grass.
  • Back to the car.
• 2:20am: In the car. Realized I forgot the camera, so I was going to go back and take a picture. Debb tells me I have to turn the car around anyway, which makes sense. Drove down the road to the next exit, and worked my way around to the nearest entrance in the other direction.
• 2:25am: At the sign. Took a night picture, just in case they get up and fix the sign before I get a chance to take a picture by daylight.
• 2:45am: Got to Taco Bell and have a couple chicken soft tacos.
• 3:10am: At Debb's apartment. Sleep.
• 9:40am: Got woken up by Moon, clawing my face. Sure, she looks cute there, but she's usually doing things like trying to rip my sneakers to shreds.
• 9:42am: Back to sleep. (Nothing will stop me.)
• 1:05pm: Woke up. Bum.
• 2:10pm: Drove by the sign again. It was still the same as I had left it. Cool.

Sunday, June 12

• 2:30pm: Bummer! Big thunderstorm came through the area and screwed up some letters on the sign. I was driving by too quickly to see what changed.
• 10:35pm: Showed up at the sign again, dressed in black, to assess and repair. I fixed the sign, sorta. There's full details on another page.

Tuesday, June 14

• Surprised to see it still says the same thing. Don't they ever look at it?