July 4th, 2010

I still love this town, it is never boring. I finally have a cool place to read books, watch a bit of cable, surf the net. When that gets old, I jump on the bike and site see. This part of the state is called the High Desert, and is extremely hilly covered with sagebrush and some pretty cool rock formations.... plus a big giant river, which most of the desert clearly doesn't get to drink from. Green River was the Kick off point that the great explorer "John Wesley Powell", started and eventually made it through the Grand Canyon, many miles south of here. A nice statue of Mr. Powell stands in the front of the Green river museum, which I need to visit soon.

Put my bike up for trade on the same site I bought her from "KSL" classifieds. KSL is the main Salt Lake City newspaper, but does cater to South Western Wyoming as well. I am not happy with the way the bike behaves in high variable cross winds and doesn't feel stable on it at speeds past 70, when its windy. Part of the reason is my heavy weight combined with my heavy camping gear. During high wind episodes you have to constantly push against the winds to avoid being pushed into the oncoming traffic. One slip and your done for. The bike also feels unstable during these conditions at 70 plus speeds. Although, its a good bike and a thrill to ride under normal conditions. I want to trade her for a Cruising bike of 1100 cc or larger. No windshields, unless its very small. I will try to trade her ASAP, and continue my trip, or I will head back to Logan in another week and fly to Dallas. Trading on KSL is quite popular, so I am hoping for the best.

Meanwhile, I am having fun here, the people are friendly, I have no schedule to adhere to, the weather is cool and nice, the daily storms are fun to watch, and food is cheap and plentiful, as long as it can be cooked in my microwave. Tomorrow, I'm going to go for some laps at the Rec Center which I just now learned about. At some point I plan to stay at the "Fire Hole" camp ground on the big lake below, and see what the High Desert is really like! I also have plans to hit the three bars down the track facing the Railyard, known as "The Brewery", "The Ambassador", and the "Green Gander", which I believe I've mentioned. The rail worker next door came stumbling home tonight and he said he'd introduce me to the locals there. I do want to go for the historic value of these three antiques, but not to be a bar-fly, an hour at each place should satisfy my curiosity. That will leave about 10 other bars I have not been, and I don't plan to. Bar people are the same miserable bastards everywhere, bars serve mainly as places to escape your loneliness. Most frequent patrons, should practice a little "alone" time. I would rather read a book in a cheap hotel parking lot and listen to the traffic, than pay to listen to bar talk. I have learned this from years of bar experience. But these old places by the rail yard do need some exploring and I'm just the man to do it.

I stocked up on a few cheap microwavable dishes this evening, including an Indian dish consisting of some dahl, and pea curry with tofu and rice. The pungent smell wafted to the out side as I left the door open, and the motel owner, an Indian gave me a huge smile as he was working on the light fixtures outside. I might spend a month in India instead of China next summer. The cheap costs of living in either place would pay for the plane ticket and cost the same overall as staying in Logan would be. Tomorrow morning I plan to microwave some bacon and eggs with some instant coffee. I haven't used a microwave oven in 5 years, but I am rapidly gaining a new appreciation for the microwave craft. Hummmm, I wonder if I can make fresh eggs in the micro?

Around dark (about 10 oclock up here), the fireworks displays came from the other side of the rail yard and river, I found a perfect spot a couple blocks down main street from my room, and a half a block down an old deserted side street, where I sat on a bench, and watched the event alone, the side street was dark and near the edge of a dusty old town. Between the fireworks display and me, was a tremendous sea of ancient, dark, giant, oily, gravel parking lots as long as the town which it sprawls next to, the massive rail yards, huge and poorly lit, a 1000 yards wide and two miles long, with old iron scaffolding, and eroding ancient buildings, many closed for all time. But the yard is alive! With old trains and engines, with various amounts of rust and graffiti, the sounds are constant and eerie. No humans can be seen anywhere, this is a land of tar, rust, and steel. This is a place where human life is cheap, this is in the realm of the old ghosts of metal and broken bricks, this is the black iron nether-world, where all your dreams stop, because this yard wants you to acknowledge its supremacy and bow down before its majestic greatness.... The explosive night pulsating through that strange land is emanating from a large unseen river, where the fireworks were based. The lights from the firebombs, producing shimmering sparks of hell, passing through a burnt forest of iron desolation, combined with the thunder of the explosives and the groans of the massive snarling hellish yard between, was a scene out of Milton or Dante.

It was the most beautiful firework display I've ever seen.