Occupation of Independence

When was the last time you read a clay tablet?  How about a papyrus scroll?  It is getting to be that way with paper-and-ink books.  eBooks represent genuine progress.  But something more fundamental is at stake. Regardless of the physical medium of a book, the real problem is that a book is a gigantic pile of information that is mostly useless and therefore tedious to shovel through.   Books are one-directional.  They are not conversational and lively. Maybe Twitter (X) has the right idea: the written word still has value, but say what you want to say in a paragraph or two, and then shut up.  Let somebody else respond.    I am being too hard to please, because on You Tube I start thinking of new complaints: why so many talking heads?  Who needs video?  A radio or podcast would work just as well.  And why so many non-rhotic English accents? It is ironic to be writing about this because yesterday I had the best conversation...

Southern Idaho.    What goes through a traveler's mind when going through a new town?  Perhaps they want to quickly put the town into some well-known category.  It was fun the other day to be confused about a town I was seeing for the first time.  I was even having trouble thinking of the right adjectives.  Finally, "solid" and "underwhelming" seemed best. Everything did its best to be unflashy, untouristy, and unpicturesque.   Most people think that the American cowboy, where he actually still exists, is picturesque and romantic.  But this is what the town gave me, instead: It is easy to see why an ATV (quad) is more practical than a horse, especially with all the downstream-of-Yellowstone lava around.  The vaquero did not even glance at me, despite how rare it is to see a camper in this area.  The vacas paid us little attention, as well.  But when El Toro came by my camp and registered some complaints, I decided to change ...

Like most people in the USA I do not have a good feel for public sentiment in Asia, Africa, and South America.  But I guess that the publics in these non-NATO countries admire the Houthis in Yemen for standing up for the Palestinians and for having the courage to defy American military strength. I wouldn't even be surprised to learn that many people in NATO countries feel the same way.  They probably don't advertise their feelings.  For one thing, they have to fear the police in Trump's, neocon, kiss-Israel's-ass regime. But quite apart from the politics and geopolitics, there is something more fundamental at stake.  I rewatched Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" the other day.  There is a recurring theme there that sits in the background a bit.  Recall the conversation between Robert the Bruce (a Scottish hero of the future) and his cynical father: Father (more or less): "So you admire this William Wallace?" Robert the Bruce:  Nods yes. Father: (He laugh...

  It just isn't obvious to a traveler how important it is to get "north" early in spring.  But that depends on what you call north.  It need not mean snow, ice, and mud. I underestimated how pleasant it is to camp in sagebrush and grass at this time of year.  The weather is chilly, but dry.  The roads are completely dry.  It is windy of course but it is everywhere, in spring.  If it is really chilly and windy my dog and I take great walks, without worrying about rattlesnakes and ticks.  Hungry coyotes are her main danger.   The chilliness ensures the best sleeping of the year.  It is warm enough to resist using propane heating.  Most days it is warm enough to mountain bike.   Off in the distance, the higher peaks are still snow-covered and beautiful.  Tourism is off-season this time of year. And I underestimated how civilized Idaho is.  There is a home-grown version of Tractor Supply called D & B Supply...

What a relief it was to leave the overcrowded camping in the Southwest, and head through Nevada and Idaho.  For proximity to town I stooped to camp at a place likely to be listed on one of those vile free-campsites apps.  For a couple days, my luck held and my little dog and I had a great time walking single track trails, while some bad weather blew over. Then a 'van nomad' showed up.  I became furious and left a couple hours later.  And yet I was laughing at my own rage.  The other camper wasn't doing anything wrong.  It was what he represented that offended me -- let's just leave it like that, rather than go into my standard stump speech. There was a promising gravel road a couple miles away that I had always meant to check out.  There are patterns that one can "smell" off a good atlas.  There is only Hope -- there are no guarantees.  The geography had not really changed from the last location, but mentally and emotionally it was a who...

Southern Idaho.  Many times I have wished to run into more horses and horsepersons in the so-called Western states.  I suppose there is just so much overhead and inconvenience involved that an ATV makes more sense to most people. But I got lucky yesterday.  Something immediately grabbed me about the guy.  He was retirement age and gnarly, weathered, and laconic.  He had an impressive grey handlebar mustache.  His horse was half-draft horse, with huge hooves.  The ol' cowboy had three dogs along. I liked how home-made or at least home-repaired his horse's tack looked, as did the cowboy's clothing.  I have seen people riding horses in the Colorado mountains, but they looked like McMansioners or trust-funders.  And their clothing looked new, clean, and fake.   This guy seemed authentic.  He was not a tourist or recreationalist.  He had a job to do: he was working for the Stockman's Association, and needed to check on the wate...

A traveler can pass many historical markers along the highway.  How many do they stop in to visit?  Probably not that many. When going through Nevada I crossed the old "Californee"   Trail, Pony Express route, and first transcontinental telegraph route.  I did stop in and read the historical sign.  Did the government hire a new prose stylist?  It was interesting to read about.  What grabbed me was their emphasis on the sheer physicality and athleticism of the Pony Express riders. I thought about a friend who did all 800 miles of the Arizona Trail last year and is doing the Pacific Crest Trail this year.  I then drove into the foothills of the nearest mountain range to look for a place to camp overnight.  A hundred feet off the road was a herd of ten antelopes.  Didn't I once read on Wikipedia that they were the second fastest land mammal? Something about that juxtaposition of images made me smile, and it isn't that often that animals ma...

 I've made quite a bit of progress, moving north between the meridian lines of 110 degrees West and 114.  How does the land change, so that you know you are making progress?   There is more snow on the mountain tops, certainly.  But altitude-changes confuse your latitude-changes.   Despite going northish most of the time, time zone changes confuse the heck out of me and my little dog.  So far we have whiplashed between Arizona Time, to Mountain Daylight time, to Pacific Daylight, and now back to Mountain Daylight.  Finally, northern ID will become Pacific Daylight.  Does she eat dinner at 3:00 local time or Tummy Time?   Last year I made the mistake of going through Nevada on the western (CA) side of the state.  The grocery store and gas station prices were shocking.  This year I used the eastern side of the state.   The north/south ranges, with sagebrush/grass basins in between, are very attractive in sprin...