A (wet) trip to New Mexico, and no bad luck
By Doug
Maybe dad can comment on this story with some of the details about our road trip one year to Los Alamos, New Mexico. I don't remember very many particulars of the trip except that I was about 16 and had my driver's license, and that Jona was not yet 16. I remember this, because I was allowed to drive the van while dad was in some meetings or conferences for the day. He and a bunch of other chemists were probably talking all about electrons and gluons or maybe about how many pencils they can fit into their shirt pockets even with a pair of sunglasses.
I don't remember why only Jona and I went along with dad, I assume it was during the summer? I honestly don't remember much about the time-frame. I assume that Todd and Karl were working and couldn't get the time off, and Karen and Rob were too young for this kind of trip? I don't remember.
We hit a few sight-seeing places along the way, and one of them included the petrified forest. I remember getting there in the late morning some time, and it had been raining quite a bit lately. It wasn't raining any more, but the trees were just full of water. By this, I mean that a pine tree would be very wet, and all of the needles were wet, etc. The petrified forest has many areas with the dead and petrified trees, but there are other areas with live trees as well. Being the mean brother that I was (sorry Jona) I discovered that if I kicked a smaller pine tree that I could cause all of the water to drop off of the needles at once, effectively soaking anyone standing under it. My theory was that if I kicked it quickly enough and darted away, I would not get soaked. I showed Jona an area of the bark of the tree that looked interesting, and he had to look at it closely. Then, I kick the tree -- dart away, and Jona is soaked. It worked beautifully!
But, Jona was nearly as smart as me. I don't remember how he did it, but he waited long enough, and showed me something else interesting under a different pine tree. Then, he pulled the same trick and now I was soaked. Deserved.
As a side note, we went to the visitor's center before visiting the actual petrified forest. There were signs saying that you were not allowed to remove any of the petrified wood from the forest, and I'm willing to obey rules. However, then they had a complete display case perpetuating the myth that if you DO remove some petrified wood that you will immediately experience bad luck and that this bad luck will continue to dog you until you return the piece that you have taken. There was letter after letter describing how much bad luck all these people had (lost their job, lost their dog, etc) and it was all because they had removed a small piece of petrified wood. They mailed the piece back, and much to their relief -- their good fortune returned! They got an even better job, and a better dog, and everyone was happy again.
It was too much for me. I wasn't planning on stealing a piece of petrified wood, but now I had to do it for science. In the forest there were these piles of what looked exactly like wood chips. It was really amazing, honestly. It looked like a tree had fallen (many of the trees were lying on the ground -- completely petrified) and parts of those trees had broken into many smaller pieces of wood. They were all stones, but looked exactly like wood chips. It was uncanny. Well, I selected a nice one and slipped it into my pocket. I never had any bad luck. After about 10 years (and yes, I was married by then). I found it and considered mailing it back with a note that said I never had any bad luck and to put THAT in their display case. Instead, I think I just threw it out. Silly superstitious people. Science wins.
Maybe dad can comment on this story with some of the details about our road trip one year to Los Alamos, New Mexico. I don't remember very many particulars of the trip except that I was about 16 and had my driver's license, and that Jona was not yet 16. I remember this, because I was allowed to drive the van while dad was in some meetings or conferences for the day. He and a bunch of other chemists were probably talking all about electrons and gluons or maybe about how many pencils they can fit into their shirt pockets even with a pair of sunglasses.
I don't remember why only Jona and I went along with dad, I assume it was during the summer? I honestly don't remember much about the time-frame. I assume that Todd and Karl were working and couldn't get the time off, and Karen and Rob were too young for this kind of trip? I don't remember.
We hit a few sight-seeing places along the way, and one of them included the petrified forest. I remember getting there in the late morning some time, and it had been raining quite a bit lately. It wasn't raining any more, but the trees were just full of water. By this, I mean that a pine tree would be very wet, and all of the needles were wet, etc. The petrified forest has many areas with the dead and petrified trees, but there are other areas with live trees as well. Being the mean brother that I was (sorry Jona) I discovered that if I kicked a smaller pine tree that I could cause all of the water to drop off of the needles at once, effectively soaking anyone standing under it. My theory was that if I kicked it quickly enough and darted away, I would not get soaked. I showed Jona an area of the bark of the tree that looked interesting, and he had to look at it closely. Then, I kick the tree -- dart away, and Jona is soaked. It worked beautifully!
But, Jona was nearly as smart as me. I don't remember how he did it, but he waited long enough, and showed me something else interesting under a different pine tree. Then, he pulled the same trick and now I was soaked. Deserved.
As a side note, we went to the visitor's center before visiting the actual petrified forest. There were signs saying that you were not allowed to remove any of the petrified wood from the forest, and I'm willing to obey rules. However, then they had a complete display case perpetuating the myth that if you DO remove some petrified wood that you will immediately experience bad luck and that this bad luck will continue to dog you until you return the piece that you have taken. There was letter after letter describing how much bad luck all these people had (lost their job, lost their dog, etc) and it was all because they had removed a small piece of petrified wood. They mailed the piece back, and much to their relief -- their good fortune returned! They got an even better job, and a better dog, and everyone was happy again.
It was too much for me. I wasn't planning on stealing a piece of petrified wood, but now I had to do it for science. In the forest there were these piles of what looked exactly like wood chips. It was really amazing, honestly. It looked like a tree had fallen (many of the trees were lying on the ground -- completely petrified) and parts of those trees had broken into many smaller pieces of wood. They were all stones, but looked exactly like wood chips. It was uncanny. Well, I selected a nice one and slipped it into my pocket. I never had any bad luck. After about 10 years (and yes, I was married by then). I found it and considered mailing it back with a note that said I never had any bad luck and to put THAT in their display case. Instead, I think I just threw it out. Silly superstitious people. Science wins.
Literal LOL at "I wasn't planning on stealing a piece of petrified wood, but now I had to do it for science."
ReplyDeleteAlso, I challenge your statement that you never had any bad luck. Everyone has bad luck sometimes, which is why superstitious people fall for stuff like this. "Oh man, I lost my job. It must be because I took that piece of petrified wood and definitely not because I was late for the eleventh time this month."
Whenever something crazy happens at work, I like to check the phase of the moon and I'll say that it's because there's a full moon, or it's almost a full moon, or it's because of the full moon we just recently had.
Rob. Not only did I not have any bad luck, but I extra amounts of good luck, and all my regular good luck was even better than usual.
DeleteI know, it's all subjective, so it obviously can't be proven with real science. But, my life seemed basically the same before, during, and after the time I possessed the piece of petrified wood. It's really true that I did not plan on taking one until I saw that display of nonsense letters about bad luck. I love your thoughts about the full moon. I'll be that if you and I went into the Psychic reading business we could make dollars.
This was the summer if 1984. Or at least I'm pretty sure it was. I was working at a place that made fireproof insulation and couldn't get the time off. Karl would have been on his mission. Probably still in the MTC. I had forgotten but I remember now that you told me later about taking a piece of petrified wood to prove that you would not have bad luck.
ReplyDeleteI was sad to miss that trip but I was trying to make enough money to be able to live in the dorms my Freshman year at BYU. Since that is where I met Tressa it was worth missing.
Todd that sounds right. It was probably the summer of 84. I would have been 16, and Jona would have been 15, so that fits in with what I remember.
Delete