Today was the 8-hour drive back to Salt Lake City. Everyone is geared up; I bought water and snacks at the nearby Walmart the afternoon before, as did everybody else on the bus. The arduous journey began at 10 AM. Different activities were accomplished by different riders -- read newspapers, read books, watched DVDs on laptops, slept, chit-chatted, played cribbage, and got to know one another. German boy balanced himself like a Cirque du Soleil act between two seats and slept. The advantages of youth.

David B was the life of the bus once again; making witty quips and one-liners until we got to West Yellowstone, a town where we had our first rest stop. It was amazing how many bear-related items they had in this town. There was an IMAX movie theater showing a movie about bears. There was a shop that had “Bear Spray” stenciled onto its window. There was even a shop that sold bear-related souvenirs such as toilet paper holders that had the text “Bear Bottoms Welcome Here.” If they only knew the innuendo.

In getting to know chorus members a little more, I found out that Shawn H was a Mormon, and his great, great, great, great, great grandfather had accidentally shot Brigham Young’s horse thinking that it was a deer. Coincidentally, Brigham Young was Sid’s great, great, great, great, great grandfather. David B joked that because of the mistake, Shawn’s family is forever indebted to Brigham Young to carry their equipment in their trek to Utah. And as such, Shawn should be carrying Sid’s luggage on this trip.

We stopped at Idaho Falls for lunch. This town had an amazing waterfall in the middle of town, albeit man-made. The women’s bus arrived into town about half an hour after we did. Jeffrey wanted to switch to the women’s bus instead, but since we were not sure if there were any seats available and we had our luggage on the men’s bus, we decided against it.

That was a mistake.

When we got back on the bus, there was an awful stench that filled the entire bus. I could not bear the smell so I took out my cologne and sprayed some on myself. It was as if I had maced the members on the bus, the riders hollered and shouted. How on earth can they stand the odour on the bus? The aroma apparently came from the broken bus toilet. It was awful. Every time anyone needed to use the facilities and opened the door, an explosion of funky odour wharfed the entire bus, from the back all the way to the front. When someone did so, David B would spray the back of the bus with his air freshener. He used up almost his entire bottle. It was so bad that towards the end of the trip, we had barred people from using the onboard toilet.

One astonishing fact I found while getting to know chorus members was that Shawn H did his missionary work in Hong Kong, and that he spoke Cantonese. He spoke comprehensibly and we had short conversations in Cantonese. Speaking to him in the dialect was surreal and a major delight.

We arrived into Salt Lake City around 7 PM. Rad, Kevin, Theo, Matthew, Jeffrey, JD, David B, Chris M and I decided to have dinner at Market Street Grill. The choice of destination was largely due to the fact that they sponsored the food at last week’s SLCMC reception. We walked into the restaurant and realized we went to the wrong restaurant. It turned out we had gone into the Market Street Grill Oyster Bar. Because it was a bar, it required a $5 membership. The actual restaurant was adjacent to the bar and we needed to go through the next set of doors. As we left, we saw Mark E and John G dining at the Oyster Bar.

We were seated in a private room and our waiter, Nick, had the most piercing eyes. We were trying to figure out if he was gay – about half of us guessed that he was. Or was that wishful thinking? We asked him questions like where would he recommend us to go out on the town, hoping that the destinations would give us a clue to his sexuality. No luck. Of course, David was bold as usual and offered the information that we were gay. As if we needed to announce our sexuality with David around. J

The night rolled on and we discovered that he was straight. Sorry David. He was really cool about it and was completely joking and playing along with us. His girlfriend actually worked in the same restaurant and we asked her to pop by when she was available. When Rachel came by, we joked with her about Nick. She bantered and patronized with us. For some reason, she thought that straight men should not use the word “product” when referring to hair care products. Straight people can be so strange at times. Nick also sent in a gay waiter to tell us where to “party” and also sent in the manager so that Theo can tell him why we ate there. The food at this restaurant was magnificent. However, the price tag on the meal was quite exorbitant. Good food, good wine, good company and good entertainment. It was well worth it.

After dinner, we all adjourned to Jeffrey’s and my hotel room. There, German boy starting giving David a foot massage. Next thing we knew, we were all giving each other foot massages. JD and David provided the beverages, and by the middle of the night, there were a total of 11 people in our room. David’s aunt “Nina” joined us for a bit. She was a lovely lady and was full of energy and laughter. I could definitely see the family resemblance. After she left, some of us stayed on a little longer, and we started talking about things in general. The philosophical debate of race and genetics ensued. It was really refreshing to see the side of David that was not “on.” David may be loud and intimidating at times, but he is a total sweetheart deep inside. We shared secrets and had what felt like a slumber party. Before long, they all went back to their rooms. In hind sight, I was really exhausted. But while I was up, the day flew by quickly without me even feeling the least bit tired. Another great day had come and gone.