November 3, 2013

           Day 11.
           This was the day I hit snowy weather late in the day. I started out from Green River, Utah and it was a nice start. But I took a nothing road up a valley toward Provo and began to encounter spotty rain and cold. By time I got to Provo, I had to pull over and wait the thing out. That is why you’ll get a long and unrelated addendum today. I was in a coffee shop and the television was on.

           Dawn was sparkling clear and I made 270 miles. I stopped in a town called Price and removed the solar panel covers, the wire mesh. The days have been cloudy so I determined I needed the best possible exposure and even that turned out to be not quite enough. I’m saying there is not enough direct sun to recharge the battery (unless there is something wrong with the battery). I’m looking into it but can’t do much on the road.
           The valley I just mentioned is a desert basin north to a mountain pass twelve miles south of Provo. It was that pass where the snow came. It was not safe to stop, so I slowed and began the descent into Provo following tire paths between around three inches of snow. I was okay until some axxhole splashed me. The snow was melted on the tire paths but he ran across the slush driving like a moron. A chunk jolted my speedometer wire and it cannot be fixed until it starts on its own.

           That’s how I found AM City, a coffee shop. The server and I looked up the weather on her smart phone and sure enough. The only storm in the entire Pacific Northwest is right here on this spot. It let up and I continued to Salt Lake City. Utah is another moonscape. This is the first time south of Salt Lake City in my life.
           Proceeding west, the temperature on the salt flats fell to 40 degrees. That’s chilly. I had to stop for the day in West Wendover. This was the coldest test of the pod yet. Such cold is uncharacteristic here and I’m still six hours out of Winnemucca. Check back tomorrow to see how I made out.
           I actually made good time for the hours I was on the road, roughly six hours. There is nothing much to do out west except put in that road time. The route isn’t peppered with small towns every twenty miles. When a town dies out west, it is gone. I’m also saying there is very little to do out here except stop and spend money. There is no other basis for the economy and the land provides nothing.

           My only stop was to see the salt flats. The famous “measured mile” is at the far western end. Most of the flats are a muddy grey sand/salt mixture, but the shallow western shore is pure salt, but it only looks like salt the final fifteen miles. That’s me and that is not snow; that is salt. Cold or not, I walked out there. What an eerie experience. It is soft, like walking on rough talc. It is solid but who knows how deep? It is flat because of evaporation, a feature you could duplicate on your kitchen table. But it is flat with ridges.
           If it has ridges, how can they run the fast cars? The surface is rippled with ridges. Ah, I got it. As I walked along, the ridges were soft and gave way. The car tires just roll over them, squashing them down perfectly smooth.
           This is where the tonneau cover really gave out. It became junk in the cold when the material froze stiff and tore to shreds in the wind. I saved it as best I could so I can duplicate the pattern, but that is poor quality, so poor I don’t think it really came from Russia.
           Ten days in the camper, out of eleven days out, and the camper has earned a nickname. "The Pod", though don't expect me to remember to capitalize the word every time. If you've seen what's happened to motel prices in the past year, the pod just paid for itself. At Ganger Mountain [winter gear store in Aurora, CO] I saw some ice-fishing tents that got me thinking, gave me new ideas. This entire experience has given me plenty of ideas.
           One thing I want is a higher speed trailer. I must look into how those parameters are measured. My unit is rated at 45, but I want something at least 55. I've accidentally sped up to 62 mph without a problem. I realized I have to do something about that and a 55 mph unit is better.

ADDENDUM
           Here’s controversy. An Ohio company has challenged Obamacare on religious grounds. The owners are Catholic. Ah, I hear my readers holler, this is not a political blog. Yes, but this is not a political issue. Allow me to explain.
           The Americans have distorted political correctness into disaster. The company owners claim the provision for mandatory birth control is against their beliefs. How should this be handled?
           It is a question of involvement. The company should pay and let the individual employees make their own decision regarding birth control. Health benefits are like wages—once paid it is up to the recipient to choose how it is spent, not the company. Besides, the company itself cannot very well take birth control pills, can it?
           Furthermore, this “religious” company is likely already aware [some of] its wages are spent on booze, gambling, drugs, and who knows what else. It is a little too convenient that they chose the health care issue to suddenly protest. There is also the ugly question of the company dictating to employees how they should behave on their own time. And the even uglier issue of why some employees are revealing their sex habits to the boss, or anyone other than their partner, for that matter.
           Politics? I think the entire medical system overcharges people. Excuse the bad joke, but Obamacare is just a band-aid. I believe if Medicare payments were slashed by 2/3, around 95% of the screamers would be back on the job in a few weeks. As for the religious company? Let them pay and pray.