by Henry Haft
After constantly playing an online game called GeoGuessr, my classmate, Daniel Bethke, and I were inspired to go on a journey similar to GeoGuessr in real life. The plan was simple, Daniel and I would be blindfolded in the LHS parking lot and then we would be driven to a remote location. Once we were dropped off, we would be forced to figure out where we are and find our way back to the school. We contracted a driver and a videographer: Genna Sheriff and Abbie DeKramer. After a series of unfortunate events, Genna was stuck at work, so Abbie was our driver and we had to record ourselves. There I was, sitting in the open trunk of my car with Daniel at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Our group planned to meet there at that time but our driver was nowhere to be found. Abbie came flying into the parking lot 15 minutes late and said, “get in.” Daniel and I put on our blindfolds and got into her car. We tried to feel every turn so that we could figure out where we were going, but with Abbie opening the windows and blaring mumble rap, it was hard to follow. After about a 25 minute drive, the car came to a screeching halt. The doors were flung open and we were pulled out of the car; it felt like I was being abducted.
I took off the blindfold and everything was completely white for the first five seconds. Once my eyes adjusted, I looked around and knew we were far from the school that we needed to eventually return to. I kicked around the dirt on the road we were standing on and breathed in the toxic fumes rising from the Big Sioux River and Smithfield foods, formally John Morrells. I looked into the distance and saw downtown Sioux Falls along with the Cathedral. I knew exactly where we were. This was a mediocre job in choosing a spot. It wasn’t a challenge to find my way back, it was just a very long walk. Daniel and I stood on top of a hill looking over the city thinking about the journey ahead of us. Abbie flew off leaving a cloud of dust and us in the middle of nowhere, stranded and afraid. Daniel and I figured out that we needed to head south to get back to the school, so we started heading down a long winding road that went southwest down the hill we started on. We passed a huge industrial district and the state penitentiary. Did we make it back? Did we get abducted by aliens? Did we get hit by a car? Go to lhsstatesman.com and search for “GeoGussr IRL” to find out what happens during our miraculous adventure of a lifetime.
