Occupation of Independence

I love geography, especially if I can "live" it. That is why I praise camping near South Pass WY, where all the wagon trains, Pony Express, etc., went through. But it was too touristy and motorheadish there, so I left the area.  Obviously I don't use Rand McNally or AAA maps or free camping websites to find my locations. (It is probably comical to see my face when a newbie gets out his Rand McNally atlas when talking to a snob like me.) So how do I find locations? I was looking for a non-tourist-trap. Such places can and usually do have interesting scenery nearby, although it might not be quite picturesque enough to titillate the standard scenery tourist on vacation. There are other negative filters: national parks, lakes, towns that sound "cool" and are full of retirement McMansions or wealthy Lefties. The positive filters are BLM/National Forest boundaries, high altitudes, ridge-lines, and dead-end roads. Avoid any road system that would make for a popular lo

I am getting some things done around here. I had hoped to enroll it as a member of my archipelago of base camps, but I was wrong. Lander WY is too touristy. It is after all on the way to Yellowstone for people coming from the south and east. There is one particular loop road through the forest that I checked out the other day. There must be hundreds of dispersed campers out there, with a certain amount of uniformity: giant fifth wheel trailers with 6-8 kilowatt, open frame generators. It must take at least a couple stout guys to lift those generators off the pickup truck. They usually have several motorsports machines loaded off a flat bed trailer.  They certainly have gone to a lot of trouble and expense to have "fun" this holiday weekend. But are they having fun? A few of them are rock climbing, hiking, or fly fishing. I can see why people get interested in these activities in beautiful locations.  But such people are rare around here. For the most part their "fun&qu

The finest things can be appreciated best when they are contrasted with the overall context or milieu. Take the news media. I am convinced it is unhealthy to make a daily habit of consuming their trashy product. Even politicians don't lie as much as the news media. In contrast there are people like Glenn Greenwald. His recent article on Biden's bombing strikes in Syria and Iraq was frank and hard-hitting, but not in an overly emotional way. It was full of integrity and professionalism.  When you encounter something like this you feel optimistic about the future. I am glad to have donated to him. The timing of his article was fortunate. After all, it will be time for another Pentagon-worship national holiday soon, with all the lies and cliches that go along with that.  'Protecting our Freedoms..."  Blah, blah, blah.  

  What a relief it is to be out of the tourist belt! It rejuvenated my appreciation for being alone and only hearing the sounds of nature, instead of relentless noise pollution. I was visiting a place I hadn't seen in years. It hadn't changed much -- is that not the ultimate compliment? I rode along, hoping for semi-smooth dirt road surfaces. Ponderosas hung onto the edge of the mesa and immediately transitioned to sagebrush and grass, without the usual buffer zone of pinyon/juniper trees. Nobody was here, no cars blasting by with thumpah-thumpah sounds coming out, no Razrs screaming by. The ultimate luxury.  What is this coming up? Why are there horses here? It was a mobile shepherd's hut. I believe there is a small company in Utah that manufactures them. They come with a broom attached to the outside of the hut. Two herding dogs noticed me and became agitated. The red heeler was not friendly but I wasn't too disappointed -- you aren't supposed to treat workin'

  What is most people's favorite time of summer? It might be a few weeks from now, when so many vegetables and fruits ripen. But I know what finishes second: taking navy showers in mid-summer. In winter I take a navy shower in the late afternoon when it is warmest inside the trailer. But you always feel a little bit chilly. The navy shower is just OK. But in mid-summer a navy shower is sheer pleasure. When you are wet and the spray is turned off, you feel cool and refreshed, but not chilly. It is quite a reward for making it through another hot day. I said this was going to be the summer when I learned to like summer. And the navy shower can be a big part of that effort. Working things like this out is one reason I like living on a more basic level, such as camping. In a normal, middle-class, stick-and-brick house, you would just crank up the air conditioner, and pay a couple hundred dollars per month to cool 15,000 cubic feet of air.