14 journalists, 12 hours, one midnight adventure

 

At midnight I was pushing a 55 passenger van up the side of a hill. This adventure is just one of many I’ve experienced this week as an IJNR fellow. The Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources selects a handful of journalists each year to spend a week in the field exploring unique challenges facing the natural environment.

Our amiable group is looking at energy issues in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. En route to Colorado last night we got caught in a snow storm and after the chains on our tires broke, all 14 journalists tried in vain to push the van up the hill.

Though we managed to nudge the bus a few inches, it was ultimately our heroic bus driver, Dick Sandlin, who got us all the way to Ignacio, CO. A bus ride that started at 2:15pm ended at 2:30am and I’m certain it was the gummy bears and my boisterous colleagues that kept me going!

The best part about being on the-longest-bus-ride-ever with a group of journalists is that it was well documented! Our fiasco was mentioned in the Durango Herald and photojournalist Michael Kodas published a great post about our entire trip thus far.

The last photo on his post is exactly how I felt when I realized we’d be trapped on the bus for 10+ hours without Internet! But I have to say, this week has been phenomenal and it’s only Tuesday.