It started with a seemingly innocent thought, little did I know it possible that this thought would lead me on a 15 hour journey filled with snowstorms, shocked resistance members, amazing cheeseburgers, blocking links, extreme use of Jarvis viruses, green dinosaurs, fake bison, and really big penguin in Wyoming.
Before I digress into explaining the moments above I feel the need to elaborate on the beginnings of the operation. I had left work early and being low on gear decided to reach out to an area just north of Salt Lake City where there is generally a standing 7 farm. After confirming the farms location with +Dallas Smith (agent bigb0lud0) I began what should have been a 10-15 minute drive to the farm. On the way I heard that, +Rob Christensen (agent DooshRaab) was working out near an anchor point, and able to link into delicate arch if one blocking link was taken down, taking advantage of allowing us to take advantage of an existing link between rock springs and the arch.
Joy! Locally we had been jumping at the bit to do a field (as a few of us are known to say, "I get AP 1500 and 700,000 MU at a time" credit +Michael Anderson agent mohughes5150) and with this knowledge we jumped in action, some by immediately checking blocking links and others, like myself putting anything else we might do in the next few hours aside to go take them out.
So I found myself changing plans from the original quick trip to snag gear to a 2 hour drive into Willard bay to Jarvis a back road portal on the shores of The Great Salt Lake (sorry about that +Chad Painter agent chromeangel i really hope you weren't going for guardian on that) then two more in the town of willard itself (again sorry Chad. 1000 pardons) then on to a post office 1 hour east of in the mountain town of Huntsville to take out an Enlightened link.
After that I decided to hit up the Shooting Star Saloon in Huntsville for one of their delicious burgers. Meanwhile, +John Tilton (agent sworcery) volunteered to go down to Saratoga Springs and take out the blocking links there. So burger consumed and feeling like a job well done in northern Utah, I began to head back home and get in touch with agents in wyoming to ask if they could clear a few links on their end.
Getting in contact with the few agents in Evanston, Wyoming was easy enough but none of them would be able to get to the blocking links in time for DooshRaab to make the northern link. Silence from the one agent we knew in Rock Springs. Needless to say we were worrying this field would never happen, and being the only agent in contact with Rock Springs meant that soon, someone asked the question I had been trying to think about.
"So Phill, any word from Rock Springs?" I scrambled for an answer but all that I could type was "No. If we don't hear from them soon I'm half tempted to go up there myself." Immediately (much to their credit) +John Tilton and +Grant Barney (agent Gmonee) both volunteered. SInce Grant lived closer to my location on I-15 and also owns a car that could make it to Rock Springs and back on $50 I headed to his place to trade cars and head out after a quick key exchange while DooshRaab fired his to the arch.
Skipping ahead (2 hours and much hangout, and Zello chatter) Grant and I arrived at Little America, where Jarvised (if you are keeping count those are #4 and #5 respectively) Dino and Buffalo portals, snapped a couple photos and were back on the road to Rock Springs. To state we came quietly into Rock Springs would be a gross understatement. Within 5 minutes of our arrival we used yet another Jarvis (#6) at Long Wall Shearer Cutter Drum then another (#7) at White Mountain Library and one more (#8) at Rock Springs recreation Area.
Finally we were ready to drive to Palisadea Park and lay down our field. On the way to the Field the Salt Lake Enlightened Agents +Nick Brooks (evilpeno) and +Martin Bradford (meanchevs) began to mobilize, blocking links began to pop up going into southern Idaho the call once again went out and once again Sworcery answered the call, driving in to ada the portal while +Guillermo Pitbladdo (agent Arg3nt0) could fire a fence line west across the lake while +Steve Ball (agent sct23) took out two links on the east.
As the first blockers dropped the tension in Rock Springs rose, at this point there was nothing we could do but sit and wait for sct23 to arrive at the next portal, tension rose as he arrived and used an ADA. I furiously began attempting to link as soon as we got the go ahead and finally after a few attempts the link was established and we could relax as we drove to flip two more portals in town (Jarvis #9 and 10) before heading to Veterans Memorial Park to throw two more layers over the work we had established (which of course required use of Jarvis #11).
All in all it was a fantastic evening which gained me some new records (over 2.5 million MU combined from all three fields) and a notch in my belt as far as I'm concerned. Sadly the field only lasted a few hours before it was taken down by [information chosen not to be shared] (agent cheeseturd) from the northern colorado area.
Agents Involved Field Teams +Phill Faber (ReverendLegend) +Grant Barney (Gmonee) +Rob Christensen (DooshRaab)
Link Destroyers +Guillermo Pitbladdo (Arg3nt0) +Steve Ball (sct23) +John Tilton (sworcery)
The People Who Owned the Portals We Jarvised (sorry) +Chad Painter (chromeangel) +Kelly Richards (Amser) +Daniel Fields (Docstermania) +Island Richards (Allocution)