Riding Impressions

I've been working at Dugway Proving Grounds in the middle of nowhere, Utah, for the last week. It's actually only about seventy miles from Salt Lake City but it feels like it's seven hundred. I'm staying in the town of Tooele. A clean little place set up like all little towns these days. The old main street lined with antique shops and thrift stores, which look a lot like the antique stores. You would think that would be depressing but to me it's hopeful. People are still trying to achieve their dreams. I'd like to think most make it even though I imagine it doesn't happen more often than it does.

At the north end of town is the prerequisite over developed part of town. You know, the one with a Walmart as the hub, with an Appleby's, Gamestop, TGI Friday's, and even a Pier One Imports growing out from it. It's as charmless as an industrial park, but functional. I'm not some old hippy railing against progress. We are constantly living in the middle of progress, and you can't stop it. I just wish progress looked a little different from town to town.

My ride from Tooele to Dugway is a great way to calm down before work and unwind after. There's a nine mile stretch over a pass that is twisty enough to be fun but not so bad as to wear me out. The only drawback is it's the only road into Dugway and all the employees (it's mostly civilians) are going to work at the same time as me. They all haul ass and are overly aggresive. They pass on the long strait-a-ways but I always catch them in the hills. I don't understand the hurry. We all get to the gate at the same time.