Ill fated new hobby

Driving out to the desert to search for rocks to bring home and crowd up the basement never sounded very alluring to me. That was before cousin Emily told us about Topaz.
"They're everywhere, and when the sun hits them just right, they sparkle and shine all over the place!"
Gathering semi-precious gems suddenly sounded like fun.
So, the whole family, including Mom and my step dad Steve, cousins Em and Mark, Matt's sister Becca, Amelia, Matt, Ellie and I head out to the West Desert! YAY!
IT WAS SO FUN. We cooked on an open fire with minimally scorched food, camped out under the stars, (okay, Ellie and I were in the car, but hey- she was only 4 1/2 months old at the time) and gathered precious gems the next morning! It was so much fun!
We were hooked. Our family headed out again a few weeks later, and this time we were invited to a leased out mine to collect! Ooh it was fun. We actually got some very good (for amatures) specimens this time.
So then we decide to go to the Dugway Geode Beds.
...
We invited some of our best friends, Jessica and Ron, to come. We invited Mom and the gang, and she and Tim's cronies decided to meet us there.
It didn't look very far on the map, and we had a later start than anticipated, but by lunch time we were in the budding metropolis of Vernon, Utah. (Population 700. I asked.) From there we took the Pony Express and were soon slowed down by a cattle drive. Cowboys and girls were moving their herd right down the road. "Hey, this is exciting," I thought, "real cowboys!"
The Pony Express is much longer than I expected getting to the Geode Beds. 50 miles of bumpy dirt road. Really bumpy.
"We'll be nice and relaxed by the time we get there," says Matt, "from this nice massage."
Then, about 15 miles in, Matt sees strange black rocks flying up in the air.
"STOP KATHRYN, THE TIRE'S FLAT!" yells Ron.
Our tire slumped sadly. Shredded. Completely.
The English instructions for how to get the spare out were ruined. Luckily, Ron speaks French.
Every time a car full of hunters sped by, the girls all jumped back into the car to avoid the dust. I look around, trying to see if Mom is in the distance. Nope.

Ron 'cursed' the tire in French.

Eventually we were back on the road, thanks to our heroic men. Not without trepidation, however.
I notice someone else's shredded tire thrown out to the side of the road.
Heh, heh.
Hmm, there's another one.
No one around but us. And this crummy road!
I slow down to about 15 miles an hour.
There's another shredded tire.
"People have died out here," I begin to think. "I wonder how."
I start making mental note of where the shredded tires are, just in case we lose another one and I have to improvise with blown tires.
Did I mention we're 50 miles from nowhere in the middle of Skull Valley?
Where's mom in case we need rescuing?!
3 hours later at about 5:00 we finally make it to the turn off for the Beds. It's only 2 miles now. I glance in the rear view mirror, and there's MOM! YAY! She can rescue us when our next tire pops.
We pulled onto the road leading to our hidden treasure.
It took some guess work, but we pulled right up to where the big dig sites are.
There's an entire boy scout tent city up and running.
I jump out of the car, and at my feet are hundreds of smashed geodes! I start scooping up some of the cool ones.
We grab our tools and run to the tailing pile. Tim and the boys are digging around, Mom is laughing and picking up tossed out geodes, and Amelia is squeeling with delight. I have Ellie in the snugli.
Matt and Ron dig and pick and labor while Jessica and I pick around at the ground.
In the end, I found about 20 geodes just by walking around. Matt dug to no avail. None. Galant man.
Pretty soon I can actually see us coming back out to the desert to collect hidden treasures.
Until, that is, we try and get home on that crummy road.