Ugly Head Reared

It only took six days but I saw an Iron Maiden concert t-shirt. There's also been an uneasy but hard to define feeling I've had since I've been here. A feeling that something just isn't right. I realized what the source of that uneasiness is. You can't walk in to a bar after a movie on a Friday afternoon and just order a beer. You have to become a member of a "private club" for a four dollar fee. Just to have a spur of the moment beer. It kills me that the state is micromanaging the well being of it's adult citizens to such a degree.

Ghost?

Ghost?,
originally uploaded by briankeithglass.

While we were in the caves we came to a large chamber and I snapped this picture. The cloud on the left wasn't there. The temperature was cool with some humidity but nothing that I would think of producing a cloud like this. I didn't notice it there anyway. I'm a bit of a sceptic but I think this is interesting. I also thought I saw a demon head in the rock just to the right of the ghost.

Where The Wild Mullet Roams

The more I travel around the U.S. the more I've started thinking about the character of a city, state or just a general place or area. San Francisco is probably one of my favorite cities if not the most favorite. I couldn't explain why. It's a friendly low keyed place mostly. Plus I stay away from the crazy liberals that run amok there. The only real asses there are the transplanted New Yorkers. Speaking of New York, it gets a little less annoying everytime I visit there. It's starting to grow on me. Every place we've been has it's own unique personality. Around Mt Arlington, New Jersey it's kind of a split personality. Heavily wooded with lakes and wildlife (even bears) it's also crowded with people and criss-crossed with high speed roads. Alabama, Tennesse, and western Georgia are a lot like Ohio. Hilly, green and humid in the summer. They don't get much snow but are cold and raining in the winter. Alaska is really part of the US in name only. You almost can't help but fall out of touch with things that go on in the lower 48. There is a suprisingly high number of houses with no indoor plumbing. Every place I've been has it's own charm and I've usually been able to find something to like. Which brings me to Utah. At least the area we're in now. This western part is bleak, dirty and more than a little creepy. Lisa and I have been talking about it a lot lately. Lisa has always been a little fearless when it comes to camping in the mountains in Colorado but she's admitted that the hills around here make her a little uneasy. We haven't really been able to put our finger on it. I think it might be a throw back to the frontier days. The people seem to be hard, and suspicious of outsiders. There's also a certain "The Hills Have Eyes" quality. It's the kind of country you could find Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate joy riding across. It's actually pretty darn close to where they did go on their infamous joy ride.

There is also a lot of Zanesville in Salt Lake City. Lot's of flannel, rusty muscle cars, and yes long hair of every style. I haven't seen any yet but I'm waiting for an Iron Maiden concert t-shirt to rear it's ugly head. The traffic is counter-intuitive. There are five lanes on the northern stretch of I-15 with every car doing the speed limit. It's very frustrating. I've been in bad traffic before but you learn to take it for what it is and deal with it on your own terms. Here you are just locked in to place.

I hate to sound down on Utah, I love Moab, and the Timpanogos Cave. I'm looking forward to seeing Bryce Canyon. I just haven't found that one thing that charms me about western Utah yet. I'll probably miss it when I leave though.

Timpanogos Cave

Timpanogos Cave,
originally uploaded by briankeithglass.

Lisa and I went to the Timpanogos Cave National Monument today. It was a great adventure. The path from the visitor's center to the Caves has a change in elevation of 1000 feet in 1 1/2 mile. It was one steep climb. It's funny the people coming down the trail were very happy. After climbing up and touring the cave I saw why. It was just a big joy to be walking down hill. The cave wasn't bad, just some stair climbing. That was a long one and a half miles up the side of the mountain. The caves were interesting as far as geological features go. I learned a few things and had fun doing it! It's all part of the our grand obsession with National Parks. Lisa got me a Passport last year and now I have to go to the National Parks just to get a stamp from each place. I mean it's more than that of course. So far this year we've been to Denali in Alaska, Yosemite, Muir Woods and the Golden Gate Park in California, and Gold Spike and Timpanogos Cave in Utah. Sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging, I guess I am though. Remember my earlier entry about the benefits of my traveling circus of a job, this is a good example. We always have a good time and it keeps us close.

Adult Swim

Lisa loves to play in the pool, which is odd because she can't swim and is scared to death to even put her head under water. If you want to see a happy girl though watch her dog paddle across the hotel pool.

Happy Day

This'll be another short one. I just want to post that today I proposed to Lisa and she accepted. We will probably be getting married next July.

Milestone

Today as I was going back to the office trailer after lunch my motorcycle turned 20,000 miles. Not bad for three years. I'm looking forward to the next 20,000.

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.