Riding Into the Clouds

Our driving mission today was 160 miles, Worland to Gillette. Wyoming Route 14 is one of the most beautiful motorcycle roads I've ever seen. At every one of the hundreds of turns a new picture postcard scene appears. As we drove through the 72 degree prairie and up the mountainside to the Powder River Pass, 9,666 feet in altitude, the temperature dropped to 45 degrees and we froze our butts off! Luckily, we avoided rain, but did have the interesting and humid experience of driving through a cloud. It felt and looked like a normal fog with a hundred feet of visability. We came out on the top side at about 8,500 feet into a partly sunny sky. The rest of the ride to Gillette was beautiful but still cold.

Tonight we are settled into a Motel 6 with a hot tub. I gave my sore leg a good soaking, then we treated ourselves to a great prime rib at the local chop house. Our daily budget is wounded, but we really enjoyed the meal. I guess the beef was of local origin and they claim to age it at the restaurant. Whatever they did, it had the best flavour of any beef I've had this year.

About yesterday's post; it seems not everyone believes there are jackalopes. As a city boy, I've never seen a live one in person, although I have seen many stuffed examples in roadside shops from Georgia to Montana. It's also easy to find photographs on the web. I ate in a Wyoming chop house tonight and there was no jackalope on the menu, but they didn't serve rabbit or snipe either. The birdwatchers among us know there are plenty of snipe around but they are hard to catch, See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe .

Some people don't believe there are attack cows either, but I've seen the signs, warning of their presence, begging the unwary to not let them, in their stealthy quadruped way, creep up behind you and bite off your head. Heed the warning signs!

Tomorrow we visit Devils Tower on the way to Sturgis. I bet I'll get questions like, How did the devil gain ownership of a tower in a national park? Isn't that tower on federally owned land? Is there really a devil or devils? Should devils have an apostrophe before the s to make it a possessive noun or pronoun? All of these question beg an answer and tomorrow I will investigate.

Big Empty Country

The remarkable thing about the photo to the right was the traffic. There are three vehicles in the distance making this the most traffic we saw on Route 14 East of Cody. The open space is amazing. I suspect that if a big jet airplane flew overhead, the temporary county population might double. Horses seem to outnumber people by a large margin. So do sheep and antelopes, and for all I know maybe moose, wolves, coyotes, and bear; none of which were spotted today.

This must be county fair month. We saw dozens of horses and fewer people going into a fair ground near Burlington, Wyoming. I pulled in to ask what was going on and it was a competition of horsemen. Sort of a pre-rodeo event that included kids riding their mounts. I saw a girl of maybe 12 prancing around a yard with a number on her back. She was being judged for her riding skill. I'd have judged her about 20 times better than me. She looked like she was born on the horse and made her maneuvers look about twice as difficult as breathing. We were particularly impressed by the littlest cowboy there. He was three and aspires to be a rodeo rider like his grand dad. This buckaroo wisely substituted a pacifier for the more common Red Man Chew. I predict he will someday own a trophy belt buckle as big as your face.

We passed through the small town and once again into the magnificent desolation of the plains. For many miles our only companion was a solitary antelope who showed only passing interest in our motorcycle. Antelope are relatively plentiful in this neighborhood. Probably more of them than people around here. Far more elusive is the jackalope; a sort of a cross between a large hare and antelope. Rabbits have a reputation, but I'd have loved to see the mating that caused this breed to come into existence. As a city boy I've only seen pictures like the one below but they tell me they taste great with a Snipe as a side dish. The prairie equivalent of our Surf'n'Turf.

We stopped driving early today, hoping to see the Washakie County Fair. Imagine our disappointment when the advent of rain synchronized with our arrival at the fairgrounds. Now I will have nothing but the dreams of actually seeing the county's woolliest sheep or maybe a sample of Aunt Petunia's award winning rhubarb pie. I've seen county fairs on TV and always wanted to visit the real thing. I'd like to see a 4-H kid win a ribbon for the largest carrot or fattest pig. Alas, we opted to remain dry and headed back to town before we even checked to see if they were serving jackalope. Sadness.

The town of Worland is representative of many small bergs of the West. I don't know if the wide main streets are the result of over ambitious city planners of if there is a military subsidy to create streets so wide they can perform emergency landings of aircraft. The attached rush hour photo of downtown, attests to my lack of exaggeration. Perhaps everyone had driven in their pickup trucks to the county fair. We did see evidence of dozens of people there.

We drove to the empty coin operated car wash and rewarded the Honda for another thousand miles of faithful service.

Tomorrow we will travel the scenic Highway 16, AKA, Cloud Peak Skyway, through the Bighorn National Forest and over the Powder River Pass, over 9,000 feet high, to the town of Buffalo. Even the names excite me. I looked at the map and the road looks like a confused string of spaghetti, nearly knotting itself like a pretzel through the mountains. A motorcycle road par excelance. I can't wait!

Can't Rollerskate Here

There was a popular song, a couple of decades ago that said, "you can't roller skate in a buffalo herd". We checked today and nobody was rollerskating. There were about 100 in this herd and they were crossing the street to get to the mud volcano. My brother, Bob, his wife and our friends the Hamiltons were stuck between two parts of the herd and could not move for about 25 minutes while a couple of bull bison decided to battle. After watching the two bulls snort and head butt each other for a while, they eventually made their way back to the RVs and escaped.

Tonight we are all in Cody, Wyoming at a Super Walmart parking lot. Walmart has an RV friendly parking policy and it is much appreciated by travelers. Our parking lot probably has 20 RVs of every sort parked for the night near the outer edges. We repay Walmart by buying food, ice, clothes and medicine. Fair trade says I.

When Theresa and I arrived my leg began to hurt badly from a small injury I had packing up the camper this morning. Not having visited a hospital all week, I thought it was time for an x-ray and so did the ER doc. Properly irradiated and diagnosed to have a bad bruise I was directed to use Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation, (remember RICE). I feel good tonight with an ice pack on my elevated leg. I expect to be fine by Wednesday. Another small bump in the road.

I think we will hang around Cody for a day or two before we head to the real wild life at Sturgis.

Cleaning Up

When camping in a tent, in a primitive campground, (read: no showers), you really appreciate the facility we found today in Gardner, Montana. It was a super clean, modern coin laundry with deluxe coin operated showers! For a large fist full of quarters we cleaned all our clothes and while they washed, Theresa and I jumped into the handicapped shower, which was big enough for two. ;-)

Fresh as daises, we loaded the dryers and went out for a beer and pizza. On the corner we found the K-BAR, a saloon right in character with it's wild west location. My favorite feature of the bar was the local beverage, Moose Drool Brown Ale. The pizza was good too, just like you'd expect in the wild west.

We took our clean selves and our clean clothes back to the primitive campground to find a thunder storm had turned it to a muddy pit. We retired to Bob's RV to surf the web and watch TV for the rest of the evening. I hope it dries out by morning when we go to Cody, Wyoming.

This morning when we got out of our tent we found three elk eating grass and leaves from the lower branches. I saw one of the campers holding a handful of grass for a large elk to eat. I grabbed my camera expecting the elk to toss this guy onto the roof of an RV or maybe into a tree only to find these were lady elk and acted so. I was happy there was no carnage but the blog might have been more interesting if they were male elk.

Animals Everywhere

Today we went to Lamar Valley on the way to Bear Tooth Pass. We saw bears, black and brown, brown are the grizzly type, antelope, elk, deer, herds of bison, and at least three chipmunks. Whenever an interesting animal appeared, a traffic jam pointed to its location. One brown bear probably had an audience of a hundred humans and it wasn’t even close to the road. Bison however are easy to see so they only draw small crowds. At the park headquarters they show movies of elk ramming cars. They like to make the point that these animals are wild and unpredictable. There was a news story last week about a bison goring and tossing a spectator into the air. It’s not Pamplona but maybe a new sport, the running of the buffalo will be born at Yellowstone. We are smarter than those who run the bulls in Spain because we wear crash helmets when photographing the wildlife. That way if we get tossed by elk or bison, our heads are protected. We are safety conscious, responsible wildlife photographers.

We drove to Bear Tooth Pass and got to 10,500 feet when it started to rain. It just wasn't worth a soaking to go over the top, so we turned around and headed back to Yellowstone. Back at our home base, Mammoth hot Springs Campground, we saw we had ridden about 160 miles. I'm beat. Time for a steak dinner and about 10 hours of sleep. I know this won't happen.

Last night we had a near new moon meaning a perfectly dark sky, no clouds and the beginning of a meteor shower. I can't sleep under these circumstances. I parked my head in the window of our tent and watched the milky way for a good hour counting a dozen meteors and about 8 satellites. Geek fun.

Spectacular Beauty!

The bike is fixed and we cleared the shop around 5:30PM Wednesday. I picked up Theresa at the Verizon shop where she secured a new BlackBerry Storm to replace the one I slid on when I rolled off the bike. Everything was running smoothly so we headed for Jackson.

I didn't get a picture of our Motel 6 that night but what a nice place! It is one of 11 in the chain that use a new contemporary design. It was beautiful. We ate at Bubbas, a great Bar-B-Que place. It was so good we came back for breakfast. Then we headed for The Tetons. Here is what we saw right after entering the park.

Not a bad sight. The Tetons are about the most beautiful mountains you will ever see. It was hot and July 23rd and the peaks are still snow capped. We took a few pictures, visited some places we saw in 1991, and headed for Yellowstone.

On the way we passed Jackson Lake Dam and the Snake River. This was one of the most memorable places of my life. In 1991, I had just retired from the police department and Theresa and I did a celebratory lap around the country in an RV. We were having a great time but when we got to the Tetons I had a rare, perfect moment. Theresa was sitting on the bank reading her book, I was knee deep in the water with a hand laid, Gulf of Tonkin Bamboo, Orvis Battenkill Fly Rod in my hand, literally, a piece of art built to catch fish, it was a retirement gift from recently departed friend Jim Pettit. There was a baby moose and her mother sitting on the bank, big white pelicans with 6 to 7 foot wingspans were water skiing to a landing in front of me, deer were visible on the other bank, and cutthroat trout were virtually swimming between my legs. I was 44 and retired. I was catching fish, the weather was perfect, everything was perfect. As I took inventory of how lucky I was to be in this situation a wave of emotion overwhelmed me and I felt tears of joy run down my cheeks. You can count those perfect moments on one hand. The most amazing thing was when I realized that I might do the same thin the next day in Yellowstone, and there would me other similar days in other places to come. Life was good. No, live was spectacular! I still get choked up when I think about it. I really enjoyed the flashback.

In Yellowstone we met up with my brother Bob, his wife Marcia, and friends Carol and Bill Hamilton, motorcycle riders all. After breakfast we mounted up and rode to 86 miles worth of spectacular scenery. We are camping in our tent trailer in the Mammoth Hot Springs Campground across from Bob's Motorhome. We will be here till Monday, then we make up the next chapter. I have no idea what we will do between Monday and August 1st, when we go to Sturges, but I'm sure it will involve hundreds of beautiful places and be interesting every moment.

I am about to run out of power, they make you turn off the generator at 8 PM in this campground, so I'll continue after we recharge the batteries. The last picture is the six of us checking out a hot spring. Bob is a techie like me so we had some fun with his infrared thermometer. We went to a couple of dozen hot springs and took measurements of the surface temperatures. this is what we geeks do for fun.

Gettin' Itchy to Roll

Afton is a great place to visit for a day. but after 4 or 5 days we are ready to move on. The bike should be ready sometime tomorrow. All the parts came in and Rusty, the mechanic is grinding away on it. I've commissioned a local metal fabricator to build an accessory tray for the front of the camper to carry a two gallon gas can and a six pack of sodas. My damaged BlackBerry Storm should be replaced around 3:30 PM. I invoked the insurance I carry on it to have a replacement sent to me. The Storm is one of the most necessary tools of the trip. With it I can talk on the phone, get directions, maps, surf the web, buy and sell stock, get the news, shop for a motel, and tether it to my notebook for Internet access. Right now, something must be shorted inside as it gets hot and runs the battery dead in 3 or 4 hours. I'll be very glad to have a new one.

Tonight we had a nice Mexican dinner and visited Dennis, of one man band fame in last Saturdays blog entry. He was running the movie theater next to the car/motorcycle dealership. I think he was alone. He sold admission tickets to 70 or so people, then dispensed popcorn, candy and sodas, then started the projector. I wanted to see the projector, techie that I am, so Theresa manned the popcorn concession for a few minutes while Dennis showed me the projection room. The theater dates back to 1928 and is much larger inside than it appears from the street. The seats have been worn out and replaced three times in the past. The films come to him on 5 reels about 12" in diameter, and he has to edit the sections together on a large flat spool table. The top table pays out the film and the bottom table collects it. The tables can hold the entire feature, so there are no pauses to change reels as in the old days. There is even a third table in the mechanism so a double feature can be played. The equipment is not new, but still fascinating.

If the bike is ready, the cell phone replaced and the new Accessory tray are all ready we will spend tomorrow night in Jackson Hole's Motel 6. We meet up with my brother Bob and friends in Yellowstone the next day. I will try to dodge the bears, deer, and bison.

The Repairs Begin

Like some old nudists, the Gold Wing looks better when dressed. We spent some time in the shop today trying to figure out which parts merited replacement from the accident. It is impossible to assess the damage with all the plastic covers, AKA Tupperware hiding the mechanicals of the bike. After stripping it nude, Russ, the mechanic was able to make a list of the damaged parts. Coming tomorrow by Fed Ex are fork tubes, seals, headstock bearings, crash bars, clutch hydraulic line and a few other miscellaneous parts. If all goes well we should be Teton bound by noon Thursday. My brother Bob, his wife Marcia and friends, the Hamiltons, should be able to meet up with us by Friday in Yellowstone. Then Sturgis for some rowdy relaxation.

Being grounded in Afton gives us a chance to see what small town life is like. The people are very nice, everyone either knows you, knows of you, or is your cousin. We live in Longshore Lake, a gated community of 560 homes, or about 1500 people in Naples, Florida. Longshore would fit neatly into anyone's farm here with room to spare. This town, Afton, counts 1818 residents for an area about the size of Naples, which last I heard, was nearing 500,000! My new friend Rocky Moore says Wyoming is too crowded already!

Afton has great tasting and very cold water right out of the tap. In fact the tap water is so cold it hurts to wash your hands unless you blend in some hot water. The water supply is from the lovely periodic spring from yesterday's post. They are proud of their water and someone said it was judged to be the third best tasting in the world. The 1st and 2nd are in Japan, she said. My friend Gary says the water in Eufala, Alabama is the best tasting, and I guess it is the best I've had. To test their claims I went to Berkeley Springs, http://www.berkeleysprings.com/water/awards2.htm where the International Water Tasting Competition is held. It looks like both lost out to Clearbrook, Waterworks District, British Columbia. Sorry.

The air here is very dry, 26% today, as low as 2% in winter. It will dry your skin and make your boogers as dry as sawdust. It's hard to blow your nose.

Most people here seem to have all terrain vehicles, (ATV), or snowmobiles as winter transportation. The weather here today is beautiful but winters can be very harsh. Although the terrain is lovely, I suspect the weather is the main reason for the small population, just over 500,000 for the whole state. I'll judge it a nice place to visit but for pleasant year round weather I'll take Naples.

When You Have Lemons, Make Lemonade

This might have been a better week. We expected to be camping in the Tetons rather than sleeping in a hospital and waiting for a motorcycle repair but I'd rather focus on the good things like meeting Rocky and Lenita Moore. Rocky, a 5th grade teacher, and fireman of 35 years service, is as kind and jovial as Santa Clause, he and his sweet daughter Lenita were first on the scene of our accident and rallied help via 911. When I was a mess, trying to figure out if Theresa was hurt and if my neck was broken, Rocky took charge of our motorcycle, parking it safely in his yard and promising to pick us up at the hospital, never mind that it was 33 miles away! "Just call, I'll come and get ya", were his words to Theresa as we left by ambulance. You can't imagine what a relief it was to me knowing I didn't have to worry about the bike and trailer.

In the Emergency Room at Bear Creek Memorial Hospital, after being treated and released we had no place to go. It was late and our bike was 33 miles from the hospital. Without us asking, the hospital staff offered us a room, clothes and shower supplies. They even got us dinner at a local restaurant! When we awakened in the morning, there were trays of hot breakfast alongside our beds! We had been treated as well as real patients, even though we were officially not there. I even got a personal class on how to dress a road rash wound. We ate breakfast, called Rocky Moore back in Cokeville, and left the hospital feeling like we had a fleet of guardian angles. We will never forget their kindness.

Rocky and Lenita picked us up as promised and the conversation I had with this eclectic, brilliant man was the highlight of my day. We talked about his work as a 5th grade school teacher, about a crazy bomber who died trying to blow up his school in 1986, (see Wikipedia for the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis ) . We talked for a couple of hours, I wish it could have been days, then they made us lunch. When the conversation drifted to paleontology, he gifted us with a couple of fossils he had found! I hated to leave but we needed to find a dealer to check out the bike before going too far and it was noon Saturday. We prepared to go and said our goodbyes; that's when I discovered the bike was disabled with a dead hydraulic clutch. As a member of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, I called to invoke the roadside assistance benefit of membership, and Dennis Horsley came to pick us up with a flatbed.

I thought Rocky was a rare find and certainly of exalted rank in the Legion of Guardian Angles, but Dennis, our flatbed rescuer, had some angelic surprises up his sleeve too. Dennis, he of the Honda Division of Courtesy Ford of Afton, Wyoming was cordial and interesting like Rocky. Now this is another really eclectic guy. He modestly explained that you have to do what you can to make a living these days as we discovered he is a principal in the Honda and Ford dealerships in Afton, runs the local movie theater, has a stake in the tire shop across the street, and built and manages a rental house, all while he's not cutting hay. He could probably be a pretty good circus juggler too, judging by his work ethic and resume. When we finished loading the bike and trailer into his shop, which was already closed for the weekend, he realized our plight being without transportation or lodging. He tossed Theresa the keys to a nearby Ford Taurus, saying "I guess I ought to borrow you that car", never asking for ID, or money. I get the impression that you can trust people around here. I'll bet most deals are sealed with a handshake and that's enough for people like these.

This morning we met a pair of fellow bikers, also stranded with us at the Lazy B Motel. It seams that a mere 600 miles of twisty Yellowstone driving had erased all memory of tread from his rear tire. An ensuing blowout at 65 mph nearly introduced them to the guard rail which they fortunately missed. After he tire ironed new rubber onto his wheel I drove him around looking to inflate the tire for his 1995 BMW with sidecar. Tubeless tires need a massive blow of compressed air to seat the bead on the rim. All the facilities we found had wimpy 25 cent air compressors that simply were not strong enough to seal the bead and inflate the BMW's tire. It was Sunday morning and nothing was open, what to do? Call Dennis! He answered with a quick, "no problem, I'll meet you at the shop in 5 minutes". He opened the big garage door and fetched an air hose connected to a mega compressor. It ended our inflation problem in about 10 seconds! Then he gave the BMW rider a new valve stem for the tire. No charge. Good deed for the day. I like this guy.

Sunday in Afton, Wyoming, population 1818, Altitude 6134, and almost everything is closed. We did find a nice breakfast, ate, so now what? We've already checked out the world's largest elk horn arch, built in 1958 of 3,000 elk horns, for the amazingly low cost of $2,500! This, by the way, compares very favorably to lesser tourist attractions like the world's largest ball of string or the multitude of Wax Museums scattered around the country. I know, lets go see the periodic spring!

Just up the hill from town there is a strange spring that starts and stops with a period of about 15 minutes! They say it's a cold water geyser. We drove into the Bridger National Forest, up, up, up, the dirt road alongside Swift Creek, and parked at the trail head to take the 3/4 mile hike to the famous periodic spring. We got out of the car, now at about 7,000 feet altitude, wheezed for a few seconds, took inventory of our aches and pains, and got back into the car, figuring the spring was about 47/64ths of a mile too far. To learn how the spring works, click on the picture to enlarge the explanation printed near the top. We later appreciated photographs of the spring at http://www.americansouthwest.net/wyoming/periodic-spring/photographs.html , without wheezing once or aggravating arthritic joints. Ain't the Internet grand?

I do have to say that the ride to the trail head was beautiful. A picturesque bubbling brook appeared to have a trout behind every rock. I would have loved to have had a fly rod in my hand, felt soled wading boots and a hot frying pan with a bit of lemon and butter for the saute. Mmmm, few things taste better than a freshly caught brook trout.

The other thing we noticed on the dirt road was the abundance of small wild flowers. I made a collage of a few to give you an idea of what you see roadside here.

Lastly, it's fun to look close, very close at some of nature's marvels. When I was a kid we'd pick the puffball seed pod of the dandy lion out of the ground to try an blow the seeds into the wind, thereby propagating crabgrass to our neighbour's yards. Here they have a similar flower/weed but it's bigger and much prettier than the small ones of my youth. I took a couple of photos. Remember to click on them to enlarge, and please refrain from blowing, you will only get spit on your monitor.

When these blooms disintegrate, each seed flies away on its own tiny gossamer parachute. I later saw some, landed in a puddle on the street. the tiny bell shaped bowl was on the water holding the little seed pointed skyward. It looked like a tiny rocket about to launch. I think the surface tension of the water rights the little seedling to bring forth a new generation of weed or flower, whichever you perceive it to be.

Another Bump In the Road on the Highway to Happiness

This was a beautiful day of riding, right up to the accident. Nothing fatal and I hope no permanent injuries but we sure took some painful lumps today. We were on a country road, so desolate we only saw one car every couple of miles. When we approached the intersection a slow moving farm truck pulled directly in my path and because of the gravel covered road surface I could not avoid him. I think my front wheel hit the truck's back wheel and we tumbled onto the ground. We were able to stand up under our own power but when I had a sharp pain turning my head to the right I allowed that medical attention was needed. Theresa suffered some painful road rash and some bruising. I worried my neck was broken, although after an ambulance ride to Bear Lake Memorial hospital, some 30 miles away, my fears were allayed when the CT Scan showed all the parts were still there and apparently working. Tonight, after wonderful treatment by the hospital staff, we will try to sleep in donated hospital scrubs on really cool hospital electric beds. Things could have been much worse. I hope we will be able to resume our ride tomorrow, or at worst in a few days.

I feel very grateful that neighbors who were on the scene immediately took care of the motorcycle and trailer and have volunteered to pick us up from the hospital tomorrow. Police and an EMT appeared in minutes. The guy in the truck seemed like a really nice man, and he admitted passing the yield sign. He even called the hospital to see if we were OK. I suspect he's a stand up guy who simply didn't expect us at that little traveled intersection. Accidents happen.

Jack Strom asked why were were not in Zion or other parks south of Moab. the reasons are: It's very, very, very, hot, and we are so saturated with beautiful scenery we allowed ourselves an alternate choice. That probably the way Hugh Hefner feels when he takes a day off from the Playboy mansion. Additionally, my brother Bob, his wife Marcia, and our friends the Hamiltons have just finished their trip to the Calgary Stampede and hoped we could meet with them in Yellowstone. With the thermometer topping 100, this plan had appeal. Bob, if you are reading this we will call you from the Tetons in a day or three.

In other news, we met a guy building a dragster snowmobile today. This thing has wheels for runners and a special tread, made for an asphalt drag strip. It can go 60 feet in 1.1 seconds and does the 1/8th mile in 6 seconds at 100 mph! The small turbocharged 600 cc engine puts out 200 hp. the ones they race on ice with spiked, no slip treads are even quicker!

I suspect we will be hoteling more that riding for a few days. I'll have time to update this post then.

Mystery Solved, It's a Marmot!

Theresa's mystery critter from yesterday is a Marmot.

These things roam all around the mountains, and apparently cities too. Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmot

I guess we have to visit Salt Lake City being so close. the road to it looks very scenic. Will report later.

Nothin' But Drivin'

Nothing to report today except that Provo Utah is a lovely, clean town with nice people, sort of a desert version of Naples. Years ago, 1991 to be exact, when I retired from the police department, Theresa and I bought a 5th wheel RV and did a lap around the country. It took less than a week to realize that our lifelong home, Washington, D.C. and its Maryland suburbs, was not the best place to live. We did like working there, but now we had other options. On our trip around the country we made it our mission to create a short list of alternative places to live and we became rather philosophical about the reasoning. We learned that above all, it's the quality of the people that should define where you live, if you have the choice. Thomas Sowell, the economist, introduced me to the concept of human capitol. If we all started off the same, and I know we don't, some would rise to the top of society and some would become junkie layabouts. Human Capitol describes a person's personal worth, not financial, although those with high human capitol usually do very well; Mother Theresa had no money but high human capitol. Rather, this personal worth is gained by doing the correct, responsible thing, all your life. Do your homework, brush your teeth, mow your lawn, stay fit, work hard, remain honest, and one day you will have amassed great human capitol. We learned in that 1991 trip, that we could assess the level of human capitol quickly when we entered a town by counting the tattoo parlors and pawn shops, the number of beer cans on the side of the road and if you could get an order at McDonalds from a smiling friendly waitress in 30 seconds, with correct change. If you get that, you will also find good city governance, a reliable hospital, and honest auto mechanic, a thriving Habitat for Humanity program, a low crime rate, etc. This feature of a town, human capitol, trumps all other considerations, weather, economy, cost of living, etc. Provo, Utah now enters my short list of nice places to live. I'll tip you off if I find others.

The trip from Moab to Provo was uneventful and the countryside is beautiful but all we did today was drive. There was one moment's worth of excitement, when Theresa spotted a mystery animal crossing the road. It looked like a big hamster with a pointed nose. I did not get a close enough look to identify it but when the traffic came, it retreated to the safety of a parked car and sat underneath for a while. Theresa had to investigate so she crossed the street to try to spook the mystery varmint out into the open but it would not budge. It ran away after she left with the kind of gait an overweight hamster might have but it was too far away for me to identify. I hope we see another so we can solve this mystery.

Lastly, for those who travel, there is a wonderful web site, http://www.factorytoursusa.com/Index.asp where you can identify some interesting things to see in each state. Tomorrow, we may explore the Kenecot Copper Mine and the MotoSat Antenna factory. Both discovered using this web site.

Starry Starry Night

We started the day with one of the best omelets ever at the Pancake Haus in Moab. Theresa opened the door to leave the restaurant and was surprised by a deer walking past her about 10 feet away, on Main Street in Moab! By the time I got out and photographed the animal it was a half block away. The poor thing didn't like downtown much and jumped the fence into a neighboring yard for a rest.

We went shopping for a white water raft trip but they don't have much water in the Colorado this year and the best available was a rather wimpy Class I and almost Class II rapids trip. Classes of rapids range from I, boring; to Class VI, usually fatal. A great description of the classes can be found here: http://www.ehow.com/how_4800695_class-white-water-rapids.html . I don't want to get hurt, but I'm not paying $57 a person to fall asleep in a rubber boat. We will look for something more exciting later in the trip.

We spent the mid-day cruising around Arches National Park. This place has scenery that can kill! One of the giant arches fell last year, fortunately at night when nobody was enjoying it's shade. This was only a couple of miles from where a rock the size of a house landed on a policeman directing traffic at a bridge intersection. At least he didn't suffer. For the slight mortal risk of touring the Arches Park you get to see some amazing things.

Nature has a way of turning a mountain on its side, then eroding away everything that is not an arch. The result is spectacular!

My recommendations: 1. go see the arches. 2. Don't eat lunch under them, especially if an earthquake is expected.

After a couple of 101 degree hours of seeing these wonders we decided to trade all this beauty for a dip in the hotel pool. Good choice!

Having given up the white water trip we had thought about taking, we decided to splurge and spend the money we saved on a dinner and canyon boat ride, (how's that for Obama like fiscal logic?). This may have been the age appropriate choice as it involved no risk of death or even injury. In spite of this we managed to thoroughly ourselves. Rather than give you all the story here, I'll direct you to their web site which is very nicely done. see: http://www.canyonlandsbynight.com/ . We ate a good meal there and went for the boat ride. They chase the boat with a crew in a light truck that illuminates the canyon walls, synchronized to a recorded program of beautiful music and narration of creation stories from a scientific, Native American, and Christian perspective, Then they give you the history of the settlers, the uranium mining, and much more. My favorite part was near the end of the trip when they turned off the lights to reveal a canopy of stars in a cloudless, perfectly dark, desert dry sky. The milky way was brilliant and you could see the stars all the way to the horizon in any direction. We watched two satellites pass overhead.

We were so impressed with the beautiful dark sky we drove out of town at 11 PM, back to the Arches Park, to better appreciate the sky. After 40 minutes of watching and appreciating we were rewarded with one very nice meteorite that streaked in from the South. I became frustrated trying to photograph the sky with my pocket camera so we went to Danny's for a late night banana split. Hey, we astronomers have to eat too! If you like looking up, check out my friend Ted Wolfe's web site, www.tedwolfe.com .

Bedtime now, heading for Needles Park tomorrow, then the Four Corners area..