Walk #219: Highway 50 Across Nevada...

A driving day. With walks to stretch my legs. Started out in Green Valley, Utah. There are two ways across Nevada: Interstate 80 (boring corporate yuckiness!) and Highway 50.

Most travelers take I-80. That is fine with me. Taking Highway 50 (the loneliest road in the US) is one of the most wild and glorious routes a person can travel. I prefer to keep it to myself. Okay, go ahead---travel it some day.

An example of the water wars in the west:

There are exactly four towns across the 400 mile route: Ely, Eureka, Austin and Fallon. This is Eureka.

And this is what the views are like. There is a place along the route where you can admire 10,000 year old pictographs!!

Walk #218: Ed Abbey's House and Delicate Arch...

Friday morning. I finish up the work at the courthouse, make a few telephone calls and then drive to Moab, Utah. While there I met a knowledgeable man who told me where Ed Abbey lived in the 1970's (of course, he also lived at Arches National Park and near Ken Sleight's ranch). The house below is where he lived in the mid 70's:

It is a simple house. From here he wrote many fine books, including "The Monkey Wrench Gang". By the way, the house is for sale. Joni gave me permission to investigate how much they want for it. Joni said she would love for me to own Ed Abbey's house...

Off to Arches National Park. A petroglyph panel near the Delicate Arch Trail:

Climbing the trail to Delicate Arch should be on everyone's "life list". Climbing the slickrock to the top is sure joy. Yes, it is crowded. It should be. This is one of the best sacred sites nature has ever made.

It is around 4 pm on a hot August day. A person really should hike this trail with sunscreen, snacks, a sun hat and lots of water. Doing it on the hottest part of an August day with inadequate physical training is not recommended.

Oh well. I coaxed my Michael Mooreish body up the trail. Hot sun blazing. On the way, I made sure I had my health insurance card with me.

I did bring water. And two Snickers bars (the best energy bar ever made).

And here I am at Delicate Arch...

Walk #217: Grand Junction...

I drove from Wendover, Nevada to Grand Junction. Got there in time to get half the documentation I needed. Exhausted, I got a hotel room.

I had plans to go hike along the Colorado River. Instead I walked down the street to an Applebees.

Walk #216: Wendover, Nevada

Wednesday. I took an early morning walk with my dog. We were to hear from the court when the trial would be for our Guardianship. Bad news. The trial was to occur on August 12.

At 2:00 pm our lawyer called and said that we had to get some vital information in Colorado. I hopped into the car and started the drive. That night I stayed on the Nevada/Utah border.

In the morning I took a photo of the monument to the "Enola Gay". Wendover is where the crew for the Enola Gay trained to drop the first atomic bomb.

While enroute, the information I was going to get certified copies of was so damning that the motion to end the guardianship was dismissed.

Back in Concow...

After quite the adventure, I am back in Concow. Will be here for around 14 hours and then off to Napa for work and more lawyering. I am too exhausted and burned out to write anything.

Yes, I have been walking. I shall catch up when I have the time and energy to process it all.

Green River...

I shall catch up on these walks later. Just a note to state I am in Green River, Utah. I stopped off at Arches National Park and hiked the "Delicate Arch Trail". I also found Ed Abbey's house when he lived in Moab in the 1970's (it is for sale, if anyone is interested).

Tomorrow I'm gonna drive the loneliest highway in the world (highway 50) and attempt to make it back to Napa. Or maybe just Lake Tahoe...

Reports on the walks to follow...complete with photos of my travels across the west. God I love the west!! Hundreds of miles of empty space....

Important News...

I write this from a hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado. I drove here (unexpectedly) overnight. The news is that the girls will continue to live with us. The case was dismissed. They will continue to live with us for quite some time.

I had to drive out here to gather some crucial evidence. I can't go into the details, but I can say that our lawyer is a genius. She totally believed in what we are doing. Sometimes David does beat Goliath.

I am off for a walk in the Monument along the Colorado River...

Blessings to all!!

Walk #215: Alone...

A nurse told me this joke the other day: "How does a Buddhist order a hot dog?"

The answer: "Make me one with everything".

Every few years a friend or relative sends a last minute e-mail that goes something like this: "I'm gonna be in Los Angeles next week. Is that near you? We could get together." Of course, Los Angeles is a good eight hour drive away from me.

Midwesterners tend to think that California is about the size of Rhode Island. Step foot in the State and you must be close to me.

Tonight I got an e-mail from a cousin. They said they were visiting and they were free tonight if I wanted to come over. They are four hours away in San Francisco (attending a convention). After trying to put some schedules together, it turns out there won't be time for a visit.

Too bad.

That is what I thought about on my walk tonight. What it is like to be an emigrant, far away from family and your space of origin. A self imposed California exile. Why? Cause I like it here.

But sometimes I miss seeing my quirky, weird, stoic Norwegian relatives with their lefsa, funny accents, leutefisk and stubbornly pietistic ways.

Walk #214: What Makes Us Human?

Funny how the change of seasons can sneak up on you. We are in that time now. Hard to put your finger on. The temperature is less. The Stellar Jays are back. But it is more a feeling in the air.

Since I've been working so blasted much lately, a simple walk with my dog is amongst the more pleasurable things I've experienced lately. Very simple. Elegant in its simplicity.

Walking is simple elegance. It is the thing that we most celebrate about a baby around 12 months of age. First step. "One small step for a man", Neil Armstrong said. Walking upright makes us human; led to larger brains.In an age of eating fast food in the car, texting our friends and having our eyes glued to a screen--walking brings us back to the creatures that we really are.

I'd go so far as to say that if we ever want to move towards a Green Ecotopia--walking will be amongst the ways this will be done. It is the most under-rated transportation form we have.And it made us human.

Walks #211,212, 213: Grindstone...

I am, by nature, a lazy person. Ambition doesn't come naturally to me. So working 88 hours in one week was quite a departure from my normal slothful state.

Walks, you say? Just back up to the Monastic Dorm after 16 1/2 hours on the locked unit. They count. So does the casino walk.

Drove back home last night and stopped to walk around the Colusa Casino. Stretching my legs after working a double back, single day shift. Casinos are the last place in California where indoor smoking is allowed. The place was packed. Second hand smoke stinking up the joint. I must admit, as a person who has wrestled with a nicotine addiction in the past, I enjoyed taking deep drafts of the second hand smokey air. It is the next best thing to actually taking a drag.

I dropped some cash into a one armed bandit: lost six bucks.

Onward to Oroville to buy a special bottle of wine, some french brie and fancy crackers. Shared the bottle (a 2006 Cab) with Joni when I got home--as we watched the stars come out on our three acre ranch. Bliss.