Callao

Ever heard of Callao? Well, me neither until yesterday. Callao (like the name Callie with an O on the end) is a little town in Juab county way out by the Nevada border. Yesterday Jeff had to go do a soil analysis there for work and invited the kids and I to ride along. We drove west about as far as we could go. I knew we had reached the edge of civilization when the road signs were nothing more than a hand-painted scrap of wood staked into the ground. We drove an hour on dirt roads. After driving and driving and more driving into nothing but sagebrush and the occassional antelope, I decided this might be where Osama bin Laden is hiding. I also decided if I ever commit and terrible crime and need to run from the law, this is where I would go. We finally spotted a faded, hand-painted sign indicating that Callao was 12 miles ahead. After 10 miles we still couldn't see anything. And then we spotted it. Two trees. As we got closer we could see several log cabins. When I say log cabin, I don't mean log home. I mean log cabin. Like Abe Lincoln style. No kidding. There was a small white building the size of a shed labeled "Callao School" ...and you thought 'one-room school house' was a thing of the past. Nope. The more modern folk lived in modular homes. Both of them. I started to get scared. I realized these people could do anything to us and no one would ever know. Ever. We could be forced into polygamy against our will and you would never hear from us again. It turns out that as Jeff began to talk to the people there, they were very nice (and normal) and I started to wonder what life was like there. Did they have mail or did they still use the Pony Express? Had they ever used the internet? Do they pay taxes (because I'm sure the government doesn't even know they exist)? Do all the women (all 6 of them) have all their babies naturally at home? Do they harbor terrorists? (just kidding) I thought I had been to some remote places in this state, places far away from everything. Like Castledale. Little did I know. Castledale is a raging metropolis compared to Callao. The trip took FOREVER! We truly could have driven to St. George and back in the time it took us to get there and back. No kidding. The kids actually did great. When we got to civilization again (Delta) we let them play in the McDonald's PlayPlace (pretty much my least favorite place on earth, well besides Callao) for about an hour before roping them back in the car to make the last leg of the trip home. At least by then we were on paved roads. Jeff and I decided we might go back for a romantic getaway soon. Hehe