Hey Kids,

I passed an open field among the uppity houses of Federal Heights of Salt Lake City. On the fence hangs a sign that reads “No Dumping.” Such an odd sign. I pass many fields in my travels and never once have I ever thought, “Hey, maybe I can dump my garbage here.” Or my yard clippings. Or my dirt tailings from the pond I’m building. Whatever. Is this really a problem? It must be because the sign also quoted the city ordinance forbidding the practice; I assume. I’ve always been of the thought that there are too many signs and people don’t need to be commanded on every thing. Maybe I’m wrong.

So we saw the movie The Martian last night. It was late when we got home and went immediately to bed so we really didn’t have a lot of discussion of the movie. Great movie by the way. Rolling down the road I wondered, given the training of an astronaut, would I survive? I’m kind of a stubborn old bird. I wonder if I’m as resourceful as I am stubborn. That would be a question interesting and scary to know. I know I strain the odds of traveling safely every time I throw my leg over the motorcycle seat, but I assume I’ll be fine no matter what happens. Arrogance or Ignorance? I don’t know, but I really don’t care either.

Not actual coyote seen, but just like.

There a short stretch of road that crosses City Creek canyon. City Creek is the creek that flows out of the mountains and right into downtown Salt Lake. Don’t look for it, it’s under the roads and buildings now. But it was the creek that the pioneers used to grow their first crops when they first arrived. City Creek Road, drops out of the residential area, descends down the east side of the canyon and travels up the canyon a bit. It then does a U-turn, crosses the river and ascends back up the west side of the canyon towards the State Capitol. It’s a cool little change of scenery. It is also the border of city and the mountains. Traffic flows from east to west as the other side of the street is reserved for joggers and pedal bikers. Today, as I had the bike at near idle doing the 25MPH limit, a coyote emerged from the trees right on the side of the road. He paid little attention to me and had his attention more fixed on how to cross the road to get down to the river. He was very healthy and a beautiful animal. It reminded me just how wild, the edges of Salt Lake City really are.

Those are the kind of things I think about on the ride home.

Day 226