The Road to Spiral Jetty Gets an Upgrade (!)

".... Thanks to $18,000 from the Box Elder County Tourism Tax Advisory Board, road crews are currently reworking part of the Jetty road, especially the last two miles, which has, until now, been a solid bed of large, jagged basalt boulders. The rock-strewn road made even maintaining that stretch impossible for county equipment, according to Road Supervisor Bill Gilson. The county also hired C.A. Johnson Trenching out of Springville to bring in their quarter-million dollar rock grinder to turn the black boulders into much smaller stones. The grinder spent about three days churning up the roadway to the Jetty, leaving in its wake a softer and more manageable surface..."

Ellen Cook

Midwest SPE "Bonus Features" (again the not so serious)

We began the trip up to Kalamazoo at the Kendallville Windmill Museum (as per Natalie and Richard's suggestion). We didn't have a lot of time to wander through the 56 windmills but got the gist of it from the entry way. The sound was incredible - straight out of the movie Giant, or so I kept thinking.



The key purchase is always a t-shirt upon any road trip and here Nancy sporting the "hot ticket item" featured frequently throughout the rest of the weekend.



Bell's Brewery and the Sweetwater Donut Mill were repeated experiences.



There were moments of seriousness as spontaneous portfolio reviews and "practice sessions" were constantly occurring. Here Nancy looks at Laura's thesis work before our dinner arrived.



My students Karla, Jessie, and Damon joined us later:



Jacinda and Nancy:



Drew & Amelia:



Elise, Nancy, and Laura:



Damon, Elise, Jon (who came even later), and Laura:



Donuts! Two nights in a row!!



The general reaction upon first walking in the door:



The Cloud (AKA nuclear bomb):





Drew practicing tongue calisthenics (or getting the cream off his nose):



Laura repeating Drew's photograph (no tongue):



Laura capturing the mustache cup for Karla:



Way too many donuts in the hotel room:



The Strutt was a fantastic music venue right next door to the hotel. A highlight featured this elevated chair with owl lamps that Amelia kindly photographed for me below:





On the way out of town we stopped at Ivanhoe's in Upland, Indiana ... not my best location to get food but this flying saucer of a fish fillet was worth the photograph.



After several conversations the entire weekend regarding Taylor University, Nancy, Elise, and I decided to take a tour. We were ultimately looking for the location that most resembled a dungeon and here it is:



It was, however, located next to this neat little lake on campus which resulted in a few more photographs...



Thanks Elise for taking this one!



Next up... getting down to business... AKA the actual conference.

Roads vs. Road Trips

A asked me if I wanted anything he could bring back from Indy this weekend and my only response was "Life. Bring back life." "That's impossible," he replied because the moment one turns off I-69, it withers away. Sometimes I feel like I live off the Convicts' Road or the Exile's Road Ian Frazier writes about below. I am always searching for that "happy ending" and this weekend it remains only in the photographs I am printing from this summer. I am dreaming of another road trip as this holiday weekend nears its half way point and I am laying low waiting for what lies on the horizon next weekend... Chicago.

"In America, we love roads. To be 'on the road' is to be happy and alive and free. Whatever lonesomeness the road implies is also a blankness that soon will be filled with possibility. A road leading to the horizon almost always signifies a hopeful vista for Americans. 'Riding off into the sunset' has always been our happy ending. But I could find no happy-ending vista here, only the opposite.... Longing and melancholy seemed to have worked themselves into the very soil; the old road and the land around it seemed downcast, as if they'd had their feelings hurt by how much the people passing by did not want to be here." Ian Frazier From Part I: Travels in Siberia


Len Jenshel's Death Valley, 1990

You know it was a successful trip when there were...

STAY AWAKE!!! Car Game No.003

While enjoying the public transportation at the Grand Canyon (a bus full of tourists from around the world). We heard a lady yawn as loud as she possible could and the entire bus heard her. NOW in the privacy of our own vehicle we attempt to see who can yawn the loudest. But we still have to give this lady the gold.

Drive from Flagstaff to Gallup

Featuring Geodomes with Mohawks, Free Puppies, and Adam Luna's Dinosaurs in Holbrook, AZ

Drive to Flagstaff, Arizona

This portion of the trip brought back many memories - certainly feeling a little melancholy for the state I once called "home." We drove ever so slowly through Hoover Dam - road construction and abundant tourists halted our "can't seem to go under 90 MPH" progress (thanks to the latter we made it in record time from Kingman to Flagstaff, AZ). The most spectacular sight at Hoover Dam was how the new road was being constructed over the canyon and of course all the Art Deco designs on the dam itself are always spectacular to see. I realized early on that this was the first time I drove through here without the trip featuring a U-Haul of one kind or another.

At In-n-Out Burger in Kingman, Arizona, Nancy ordered a Cheese Burger and I asked for fries. Anna behind the counter said, "You don't want a burger?" I replied, "Only if you have a veggie burger hiding out behind the counter." "Oh we have veggie burgers. Would you like one with cheese?" It was only after Nancy took this photograph that I realized the veggie burger at In-n-Out only comes with bread, lettuce, tomato, and cheese ($1.59).

BRYCE CANYON

Tip #001: We highly recommend wearing sunglasses when visiting Bryce Canyon because they really make the colors "pop."









SAGE BRUSH MOUSTACHES (LAST SUMMER JACINDA COULDN'T PUT DOWN THE SMALL PIECE OF SAGE BRUSH SHE HAD COLLECTED, FOR THREE DAYS SHE SMELLED "HOME". THIS SUMMER I PLANNED FOR HER TO STRAP IT ON INSTEAD OF HOLDING IT UNDER HER NOSE.)







HELL-MART IN CEDAR CITY, UTAH!!! JACINDA HAD NOT BEEN IN FOR OVER SEVEN YEARS. NANCY HAD ONLY BEEN IN BY FORCE OF SOME OTHER INFLUENCES (DESTIN VACATIONS). WE MADE OUR WAY OUT AND THERE IT WAS A TRUE MIRACLE. ONLY A FEW MINUTES AFTER WE HAD FOUND OUT M.J. HAD DIED. WHAT A DAY.

GOLDEN SPIKE NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

"Oh you are one of those people," said John Ott when we told him we were touring the earthworks. He doesn't understand the draw (though people were there from Italy earlier this week) - "a waste of gas to move a bunch of rocks around" to be precise.

AVIS SAVES THE DAY!!!

Yesterday I was planning on spending $1700. on a car rental. I showed up at the AVIS counter at the Salt Lake City airport to talk over the traveling plans and see if there was any way to save some money. After several attempts to change and rearrange, there was nothing hopeful. I sat down after paying the full amount to make sure I had everything and load up. Just as I was about to talk to Jacinda I was being flagged over by the AVIS guys. They seemed very excited, they had an idea for me. They had worked very hard to save me over $500. on the car rental. AVIS is awesome!! Not only did I get the best deal on the internet, I got the best service with patience, understanding, and a discount I couldn't be more grateful for as we begin this adventure. Look no further, AVIS is the place!!

THANKS GUYS, if I get any emails inquiring about these two hot single guys - I'll pass along your info. (I told you I would try to hook you up!)