Notes from Nowhere

Mid-October Catch-Up

Torrey, UT Sunset

Torrey, UT Sunset

 

Yes, it’s been a while. I hope you’ve all been well and happy. I’ve been up, down and inside out, but mostly just steady.

I’ve been out of the woods for two months, spending a month in each of two RV parks. Durango first, then Torrey, Utah, Why Torrey, Utah? A couple of months prior to leaving on this adventure, my buddy Paul introduced me by email to a newish friend of his (long story, actually, but you’ll have to ask him) who’d recently moved to the tiny town of Boulder, Utah. Paul thought both the friend and the town were right up my alley, and Paul knows my alley.

I knew by then that reservations at better RV parks required lotsa lead time, so I made a month-long reservation at the nearest, better RV park to Boulder I could.  That reservation, in Torrey, was secured over a year ago. A year ago! Whatever. I finally checked into that park on September 10th and checked out this past Saturday.

I liked the park, I liked Torrey OK and, as I believe I’ve made clear in the past, everywhere/anywhere in Utah rocks ass. (Except the town of Moab. Shessh.) I’m sure I’ll be back.

A view from the RV park…

There were three highlights of my stay. The first was my 3-hour (ouch!) horseback ride into and out of Bryce Canyon. The second was a quick visit from brother Scott, who flew into a nearby airport-lette and was kind enough to haul along the fabulous Charlotte and the delightful – and Googly – Corey. They stayed at an appropriately cozy motel called the Chuckwagon. We had dinner together at a BBQ joint right on the grounds of my RV park which everyone enjoyed. (They play excellent recorded jazz in there. So cool and entirely unexpected – and no doubt listened to with not a little scorn by the majority of their clientele.) Next morning we had a wonderful breakfast at a proper, old style western diner located a few little towns down the road in Loa.  then they were off to Vegas for a few days.

The third highlight was my visit to Boulder where both the aforementioned town and friend far exceeded their reputed reputations. We’d emailed some, but actually meeting and getting to know JL at long last, was well worth the wait. She toured me around greater Boulder which, if you don’t have a first-class tour guidec like JL, you’d miss most of the best parts. In fact, Boulder’s population of 150 souls nearly all live off the beaten track, and the town of Boulder isn’t so much a town as it is a preternaturally wonderous speck within the wonder that is Utah.

(Don’t worry JL, hardly anyone will ever read this. Besides, I hear the water’s drowning in arsenic, crime is on the rise and there isn’t a decent caterer for at least a hundred miles.)

We had dinner at a marvel of a restaurant called Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm where the food was superb, the service was fantastic and the company couldn’t be beat. (Although I hear the place generally sucks. Don’t go there.)

Some of the tour…

I think I want to live in Boulder. Seriously.

I’m now a slow ride (one month or more) to Seattle where I’ll visit a bit with Scotty, finally get my solar system charging correctly, then catch a flight to NY for a week in order to attend a wedding and see some folks. Then back to Seattle for what promises to be a slam bang Thanksgiving – including all three Lipsky brothers! – before heading south for the balance of the winter.

Speaking of winter, I’m currently at 6,500 feet up in the Uinta National Forest, not far from Spanish Fork, Utah where it’s going to be in the 20s overnight most of this week. Arrived Saturday, leaving Sunday.  The below happened while I was in Spanish Fork today for an oil change, a tire rotation and some foraging at Costco for foodstuffs and other supplies…(the look on that one cow’s face outdoes Meryl Streep in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’)

4 Responses to “Mid-October Catch-Up”

  1. Jason

    Are there cows in the wild or are you parked on a farm?

    • Mark Lipsky

      Most of my travel in Utah – maybe all of Utah – is through ‘open range’. (There’s a ton of open range all throughout the west, not just Utah.) Which is cute for a minute, but then you’re watching out for fucking cows everywhere you drive, plus all the deer. It’s my understanding that all of the ranching out west accounts for as little as 3% of the beef Americans eat. Don’t get me started. There’s a great book, though, that covers this, including the whole Cliven Bundy thing, in alarming but incredibly articulate, well-researched and intensely readable fashion. I highly recommend it: This Land by Christopher Ketcham.

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