Running with the birds.

Made it out to the west desert today.  Found an arch and got to run with the birds.

As I was driving up a road lined with sunflowers on both sides I annoyed a few birds.  They came out of the flowers and would fly up the road, right in front of me, like a bat outta hell. 

The pictures don’t do it justice, at some times it seemed like I was in a Hitchcock movie, there were at least a dozen flying in front of me, which had me swerving left to right to avoid them.

Up past the swarms of birds, I found this arch.  And it wasn’t even Arches National Park.

Out to Knolls

The last time I visited Knolls, some 20 years ago, there were still buildings there.  Empty and decaying, but there.  Now it’s all gone, except for some rubble, foundations and sidewalks.

Before the late 50’s or early 60’s, when I-80 was completed out there, it probably was a busy place.  Literally right off the Victory Highway, it was the last stop before dropping down onto the Slat Flats along the main east-west highway to San Francisco. 

When they built I-80, they left Knolls about 2 miles from the exit.  Delle, on the other hand, just 25 miles east of there is immediately off the exit and still exists.

Anyway, now there is a State ATV/Off Road Recreation Area there and I decided to check it out this weekend.  It cost $6.00 to get in, but has 36,000 acres of rocky hills, sand dunes and old river beds to explore.  I had a lot of fun and hope to coax the brothers to join me out there sometime soon.

Knolls, Utah.  Or at least where it used to be.

the sidewalk that was outside the gas station is still there.

From the backside.

What’s left of the islands for the gas pumps.

Not sure what this thing does, but it passed while I was hanging out at Knolls.

Up on the hill in the Knolls Recreation Area.

Trying to hide in the rocks.

The view from atop the hill.

Muddy lake bed that I crossed.  It was pretty easy to cross, although I knew I had to keep moving at all costs.  Stop and I would have been stuck.

View from the other side of the lake bed.

Sand dunes in the Knolls Recreation Area.

Climbing a sand dune.

And... I made it over the dune.

Dirty Jeep.

I found a big puddle to go through.

Wild Fires

Yesterday I drove 60 miles out into the west desert in order to get within 8 miles of a mountain that is on fire.

This morning I woke up to find out that 19 firefighters were killed fighting a wildfire in Arizona.

Wildfires are a part of life out here in the arid west, we even have a fifth season, known as “Wildfire Season”.  It’s so routine that I, for one, take for granted the hard work and danger these firefighters put themselves into getting them under control.  So, before I go babbling on about my excursion along the old Pony Express trail, I just want to thank them all for the work they do, and give my condolences to the family, friends and neighbors of those 19 firefighters.

There are a lot of people complaining that they are grinding up the pavement along the Pony Express trail and replacing it with a gravel road.  After driving along it yesterday, I’m glad they are. 

Along the gravel road, the new one and the part that has been gravel for years, I was able to go about 50mph, without beating up my Jeep.  On the paved road I had to slow down to about 30mph in order to swerve to the left and to the right to miss all the potholes.

I went up over Lookout Point and down into the valley west of the Tooele valley, around the mountain and got to a point within 8 miles of the fire.  I took out my telephoto lens and got these pictures.

The plane, heading back to get more of whatever it was dumping on the fire.

A ranger, presumably headed out to the fire, that stopped to make sure that I wasn’t broken down out there in the middle of nowhere.

I decided to take the slower, more rustic route from where I was back to the Pony Express Trail.

This sign made me think of Stephen King, and although I looked for it, I couldn’t find the pet cemetery.

50 miles from a city of any size, 7 miles west of Vernon, Utah, I found what looked like the beginnings of a gated community.  Yeah, definitely a need for high security way out here.

And this house along Highway 36 doesn’t have quite the same security measures, but I bet you could get it pretty cheap.

Iosepa to near-death experience.

Ok, so one of the nice things about the wet weather is this rainbow over my garage.

I decided to get out of the house today, 3 days of going nowhere other than the Home Depot gets a little old.  So, I gassed up the BattleCruiser and headed out west.  First thought was Stansbury Island.  Been there, done that, wanted something different.  So drove past it, all the way to Delle (one gas station and closed motel).  Nothing there to see so I headed back towards SLC and when I came upon the Dugway* exit decided to see what was up that road.  The first town on the sign was Iosepa, so I decided that was where I'd go and then head on back.

There I am on the old I-80 headed out towards the Great Salt Lake.  It runs parallel to the new I-80, but is a hell of a lot more fun to drive in these big old cars.  Makes me feel like I'm in an episode of "Route 66"

The back side of the Iosepa sign.  Very, very Native American, which begs to ask......

Why "Aloha"?  Whatever, Iosepa was was even smaller than Delle.  Clump of trees, house and a barn.

The picture says it all.  that's the fire station on the right hand side.

Ok, so I did get a little dirt-roadin' in on this trip.  Went to what is called "Lone Rock", because it's, well, a lone rock out in the middle of the valley. 

Utah, famous for a whole lot of nuttin'.  This is what surrounds Lone Rock.

BattleCruiser on the hill in front of Lone Rock.  It looks a lot steeper when you're in the driver seat trying to get the thing down the hill.

Lone Rock, all alone.

And, of course, there were mud puddles left over from the recent rains, and I had to have a little bit of fun with them.  Car got a bit dirty, but it's not like it's the first time I've run a '72 Country Squire through huge mud puddles, right Gearheads?

And finally - the near death experience. 

Q - You're driving along a section of the freeway that is under construction.  You get to an exit that is closed, without any previous warning.  You:

.......... a) continue on your way to the next exit.

.......... b) ram the barriers and exit anyways, or

......... c) come to a complete stop in the middle of the freeway while you figure out what to do.

A - if you are a taxi cab in Salt Lake City, you choose "c".  Which means the car behind you has to side swipe the barriers to keep from being slammed into from the back end by a huge '72 Ford wagon, and said wagon, as the driver's (me) bladder is letting go**, swerves half way into the middle lane, praying no one is there, to avoid slamming either of the previously mentioned vehicles into next week.  Thank God, no one was there and an accident (vehicular, that is) was avoided. 

*as in the Dugway proving grounds, where they test bombs and the latest bombers.  Not as exciting as Area 51, but a laugh nonetheless.

** of course the wagon is the only LTD I have with cloth seats.  It couldn't have been the convertible, which has naugahyde seats - they're impervious to everything, even baby vomit.