The Epic of Gilgamesh

I have a habit of naming things. Well, everything, really. One of my late iPods was named Wamba. A pair of my climbing shoes are called Enuma Elish (it means 'when on high'), and my yoga mat is named ma'at (har, har). This January, while flipping through the ads on ksl.com in an attempt to find a decent truck for myself, I noticed a dark greenish-black four door at a nearby dealership. I clicked on the picture, and immediately thought, "his name is Gilgamesh." I know that in a car-buying situation the last thing you're supposed to do is become emotionally attached to a potential car, especially to the point that you've NAMED it.

I should probably pause here, because effectively no one has heard of Gilgamesh, and thus my esoteric imagination has once again proved itself to be...esoteric. Gilgamesh was the King of Uruk (in Mesopotamia), and he and his buddy Enkidu went on all sorts of epic adventures killing the monster Humbaba and attempting to unlock the secret of immortality. Think of them as the original Kirk and Spock. Gilgamesh, in a word, is cool. And so is my truck.



About a week after I saw Gilgamesh online, I owned him. In daylight, he proved to be dark green, possess a slightly hammered back bumper, and have tires a size too large, but I nonetheless owned and rather adored him. Gilgamesh was essentially my ticket to freedom; to being autonomous. With him, I could get to and from work and school on my own, not have to worry about scheduling time to get the family van for my personal, dumb 'I fancy some chips, I should go to the store." But best of all, Gilgamesh lets me go camping. :)

Two weekends ago, I drove him down to Moab and had a fun weekend bumming around Arches and dragging my unfortunate little brother to virtually every rock art site within three miles of the I-70/Highway 128 interchange. (Really, he didn't appreciate it.) We saw lots of Fremont stuff, lots of Barrier Canyon stuff, and then there was the Darth Vader panel...



And the Eye of Horus....



Seriously, a person smart enough to know what the Eye of Horus is should NOT be dumb enough to etch it onto a rock with Fremont art.


This last weekend, to kick of Utah's annual Prehistory Week, my mum and I ventured down to the San Rafael Swell, where we went on a rock art tour. (Golly, can you tell I like rock art??) The weather was amazing, the company was fabulous, the art was incredible, and the four wheeling was intense at some moments. Namely when we drove under a (approximately) 14'x 200' tunnel under I-70 through 6" of sand. No room for fishtailing, and no room for error, especially in a caravan of 11 other cars that have no idea what a decent following distance in circumstances like that should be. It was a few seconds of white knuckle driving, but Gilgamesh came out brilliantly on the other end of the tunnel and continued to show the novices behind us just how four wheeling through sand at a 30' angle is done.

Here's to many future epic adventures with Gilgamesh. :D