A Very Late Start of the Jeep Season

Today is July 4th and I am finally out Jeeping again. I guess I should be thankful that I can still do it, but I need to have these hospital issues in the winter, not the spring. So, I decided to hit Erickson Pass, which is between the Simpson Mountains and the Sheeprock Mountains. It has a sign saying 4 wheel drive is needed, high clearance, etc. No it doesn't. If it was wet, yes you would need it, but on a hot July day, all you need is air conditioning. Yes, even with the top off it works while you are following the trails. So, besides a "tough trail", I was looking for a few mines that happen to be in the area. Our first choice was the Clinger mine located on the west side of the Sheeprocks. We typed it into the GPS and away we went. The Garmin guided us right to the mine and we hiked maybe 30 yards up the hill to see it. Above you will see our host of the mine. He was kinda shy and scampered off as we got closer. 

The view looking towards the Simpsons was a lot better than our mine find. We found a lot of tailings and expected something actually worth visiting. But our high hopes were crushed to dust by what we found.

We found the dreaded government marker that shows that this mine was "fixed" so you can not enjoy it as it was. Bastards. It almost looks like a placer mine. Someone found and interesting spot with potential and went strait down. In the area, there are a lot of huge mounds of rock sitting above the surface. This mine looks to have been dug at the base of a rock or they blasted into the rock itself. No idea at this point. I did notice maybe 30' down the hill a metal pipe sticking out of the ground and appeared to be solid. It might have been an air line into the mine or vent or something. So from the tailings pile, I believe this one was pretty deep, until they blasted it. Bastards. 

My grandnephew? decided he wanted to Jeep today to so I brought him along as a navigator. Being that this mine sucked balls, we headed out to another area and disaster stuck. The damn GPS decided not to work anymore. I am hoping it was because the batteries were going dead. It had no clue where we were so we kinda gave up on the search. Not wanting to disappoint him, we headed over the the Simpson range and Flinders Road. As we climbed up the canyon we ran into a truck with a mangled tire. We stopped to help the guy but Jeep spares don't match up to Toyota spares. So our solution was for him to call a friend for assistance. Gotta love a satellite phone. Sad thing was his friend wont answer unknown numbers, neither do I, so all we could do was leave a message. He has a cabin right there so he wasn't in any real predicament. We hung for a half hour then moved on. We hit Death Canyon next and went to the first open mine on the left side of the road. Wanna know something funny? The Toyota guy owns that mine. So, we were actually authorized to enter the mine and explore. I took Rusty in for a ways and explained the hows and whys and then we headed for home. Twas a good day to get out of the city. I am going to order new super batteries for the GPS and head back to find the other mines we couldn't. Jeep on my friends! 

Fathers Day 2020: How it Sucked Bawls

As I write this, my emotions are leaning toward the pissed off side. Since this damn Corona virus arrived, life has really gone to hell and back. Businesses are folding and the current mood of this country is totally shitty. The worse part for me is being cut off from my parents. They went into lock down at the assisted living center in March: no visitors. Apparently they relaxed it last week and one of the kitchen attendants now has the virus so they went into super lockdown. So I was unable to go wish my father a happy fathers day. It sucks bawls! Granted, I did speak to him on the phone but I got the impression he really didn't know today's was fathers day or do I believe he knew who I was. That really sucks. Seeing this, my vow is to not ever let it  happen to me. I will exit stage left if I am ever diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's. The sad thing is, I believe their relocation to an assisted living center sped up the progression of the disease.   

 

Here's why. When they lived in their house, there was always something for him to do. Be it vacuuming or pulling weeds, he kept busy. Once the house was gone, the need of doing things disappeared. They have housekeeping there, laundry service, meals are made and served to them in a dining room. The sudden lack of busy work, which required you to think and be out and about is gone. You can sit and watch tv or read, surf the internet or vegetate. He has no  idea how to play on the net and his tv watching is pretty much zilch. Mom says he does like to watch Hogans Heroes but thats about it. Boredom is killing him. And I understand how that goes. 27 days in a room with not a whole lot to do taught me that it will never happen again. You can only read so much, play so many video games, watch tv or sleep before it turns into a nightmare. You lay there and next thing you know you are waking up with someone trying to stick a needle in you. My sleep pattern was/is shot to hell. I am trying to get back on a schedule to sleep all night and I am slowly making progress. Working again is helping me because I come home exhausted. Anyway, enough said. It's 1 week till July arrives and I aint been out in the Jeep yet. Its slowly killing me. An escape to the middle of nowhere is my way of relaxing and living life. Not doing it is bad for the soul. Someday soon I would love to make a run somewhere. Even a few hours would be good. Let's hope it happens soon!  Oh, before I forget, the fotos above are from dads 75th birthday and then his 90th.  I love the way Colt got him to smile. Jeep on my friends!

Test Run of New Blogger Creation Page

Good freaking morning America. Today is a day to experiment with "Blogger". Google has made changes to the look while composing and who knows what else. I do believe that the improvement was a waste of time. Here's why.....

1- I am still limited to 5 font sizes. 

2- I am still limited in font choice to 8 different fonts.

3- My font color choice went from unlimited to 24 choices. Why?

I am sure there will be more issues but those are what I noticed right off the bat.  I do notice the toolbar has larger icons which forces some of the other icons off the page to be accessed by drop down menu instead of already there in front of you. Oh well, not a damn thing I can do about  it. So, I spent 27 days in the hospital and I can say it all sucked. I have no idea if the new pills will continue to work or if they will fizzle out like the last 2 times. I do get my PICC line out this morning. That will be nice. I am ready to escape to the desert but due to a lack of dinero, it ain't gonna happen. Suck's to be me!  Jeep on my friends!

Something knew

Welcome to my experiment! I am stuck on the 4th floor on the University Hospital and I am really really bored. It's day 4 and there is no end in site. I am here because my damn body is playing a game and won't quit. The game is how to turn a human into a camel. Let me explain. My body thinks there is a drought and is hoarding water. I'm a big guy normal weight is around 275lbs. With all this extra water, I am or was up to 375lbs. I look like a bloody blimp. This is the 3rd time in here for this. They give me medicine and  it turns on the faucet full blast. Problem tho is it can wipe out your kidneys if not done right. Well, it appears that they hit it too hard this time and my kidneys are rather pissed off at the whole situation. Yesterday I got no medicine and none so far today. So,what's on their agenda? I wish I knew. The Dr wants to go in thru my jugular vein and do a close up check on my heart and see what's going on there. I was down to 358 yesterday and today's weight on a different scale was 364. I've got a long way to go I'm afraid. So who nose what will happen? I will say this, all of you out Jeeping suck and I sure wish it was me! Jeep on my friends!
 Oh by the way, this was written on a Fire tablet. And if any of you feel the need to help someone, choose me and sneak me in some donuts. I really need some!

A Dream From the Past

 It's very early Friday morning and I can't sleep. I am sitting here watching an old movie, Me and Will, and reminiscing about fun times from days gone past. The movie is sort of a Thelma and Louise with the exception that they are riding motorcycles. They are in search of the chopper that was used in the classic film Easy Rider. It is mildly entertaining making the time go by. It brought back memories of the past when I rode motorcycles. As I like to say, the good old days. Above is the Predator. 500 cc's of pure adrenaline rush. I took it all over the place and had a hell of time on it. But, all good things come to an end and I was riding up in Idaho at the dunes of St Anthony. Funnest day ever, until that last run down the dune. Instead of a smooth transition to flat ground there was a 2 foot high pile of lava rock.  We both flew and luckily survived. Bent the bikes handlebar and busted my tailbone. Great day that I am still reminded of daily every time I sit down.  

 Above sits the bike I always wanted to own. An acquaintance had one and he let me borrow it on occasion. The Honda Night Hawk S was a rocket ship. The government had put a new tariff on bikes 750 cc's and larger. So Honda took away 50 cc's and made it even more powerful than it was the year before. To this day, I wish I could find one in perfect shape to ride. It's probably for the best I never had one, I'm sure I would have got into trouble on it.  

 Say hi to my mom. This is the only foto left of the family bike, a 72 Honda cb350. Dad bought it from a family friend to go to work on and save money. It wasn't haul ass fast, but it did ok for an old bike. One of my fondest riding memories was riding that bike. Me and 2 friends left Ogden, went up to Logan and drove into Preston Idaho. We crossed over the mountain, with snowmobiles racing beside us and came out on the north end of Bear Lake. We followed the road south and came back via Logan Canyon. That was the best ride of my life. I'd love to do it again sometime. 

 Next in line was my high school purchase from the neighbor. A Mercury Sno-Twist. This machine was the fastest the year it came out, 1976, and was still damn fast in 1980. My friend bought one too so we spent a lot of time exploring the mountains during the 2 winters I had it. The only problem was they stopped making them in 77 so parts were like impossible to get. My senior year it began to run like shit so I traded to Mustang Andy for transmission for my truck which I happened to blow up at about the same time. I have rented one for a trip into Yellowstone a few years back as a Christmas present for Sam. That was a blast. I wouldn't mind another. Too bad they are so damn expensive nowadays. 

To end I will share what started the whole off road need for speed craziness. Meet the Suzuki RM125, 1975 model year. Growing up in South Ogden was great. My parents house was pretty much surrounded by unincorporated Weber County. 50000 acres of sand and hills with some great tracks to race on. It was illegal to ride up there and we were chased by the sheriff numerous times. It added more excitement to the ride and we never did get caught. Sadly, the whole area is now houses. Lots of houses. Over the past 40 years the area has grown like crazy. I don't think I would street ride in Salt lake or Ogden at this time. Too many cars and too many idiots. If I still lived in Tremonton, I would ride. It's still a small town and not a lot of traffic. Hell, with the swelling population of ATV'S and UTV'S, the desert is even getting crowded. Oh well, there are still areas way out there you rarely see anybody. Jeep on my friends.   

Suicide: American Irony at it's Finest

Welcome to 2020. I know I am way late on publishing anything but there are reasons. Might not tell you any of them, but I have had various physical setbacks. Now, let us begin with today's topic of choice, Suicide.  Next to saying " I have the Corona Virus" this single word has a magical power of its own. For example, your doctor could be going over the same old routine questions he asks you every time, half asleep, and you answer yes to the suicidal thoughts question and WOW, he is wide awake with a look of OMG, someone said yes. This word or saying yes has now opened a proverbial can of worms that, for the most part, they have no idea about. They either switch to a whole new set of questions or ask if you NEED to talk to someone. Now bear with me as I try and explain my thoughts on this present day system. At todays appointment, the Dr left the room to read my chart and figure out an antibiotic. I guess she read a lot because first words out of her mouth were " you have considered suicide?" Now the fun began. "Sure, but its not going to happen". She than began to try and explain how bad it was when I stopped her and said "let me ask you a few questions". I toss out this to begin, 35 y/o woman, business career, gets pregnant on accident and demands an abortion. She is looking at me funny now. In my opinion, once there is a heartbeat, that is a living human. MY OPINION. Yet, she can visit a Dr and have this living human executed and no one says shit to her. Happens every day, according to Google, 1700 times. I used 2016 data. This child, with no voice and no chance is eliminated, all for the egg donors pleasure. No medical reason, just plain old selfishness. You get the point. A slightly different take is the family pet. You have had rover for 13 great years but now he just can't keep up and has problems. What do we as Americans do? We say goodbye and put him into an eternal sleep. He is happy now and has no pain. Not the easiest thing to do. I have done it once and it hurt.  So, back to the human issue. I recognize that some people are mentally ill and could have their lives changed by medication and go on to live full productive lives. Some others do it or attempt it to draw attention to themselves. Again, more than likely, this person could be helped. But what about the person who has lived , in their opinion, a full life and now life is no longer fun due to a body that has quit on them or a disease like Alzheimer's that will slowly suck the life out of them? I know of a person who reached that point. Got tired of being a human that couldn't take care of his basic needs. How was he wrong in deciding his own fate?  Is it wrong for us as humans to want an option on how it ends? When your body begins to stop working as designed, what can you do? If you are lucky, you have a spouse or child willing to help you get through these times until nature says its over. But, what if you don't? What if there is no one there for you? I suppose if you were well off you would have money and group of strangers could take of you till you pass. If you are poor????  No family????  What do you do? Uncle Sam ain't gonna help ya. More than likely, you will end up homeless and die on the streets somewhere. Not a way I would want to go! We have control over whether we give birth or not, so why don't we have control over when we think it is time to go???  I think it makes sense. I also think that Dr's need more training if they are going to question a grown,sane person on their right to die. 

Passage, Surprise, What the Hell?

 Welcome to  another trip back in time. Yesterdays trip was to Ophir Utah located in Tooele County. Years ago, it had the recognition of being Utah's smallest town. It probably still is, but without having a mayor, it became unincorporated Tooele County. After the last mayor retired, no one wanted the job so it is now governed by the county. I do have to apologize, these fotos are from my archives. The half cab top doesn't allow easy access to the storage and I really didn't plan to write about this trip. I shall explain why in a few. The foto above shows the ore dump for a mine located 2000' up the mountain. The workers went in thru the tunnel here in town and took the ore elevators up to the actual mine. 

 The foto above is what is left of an old passenger train car. Time is taking it's toll on the poor thing and as of yesterday, it has pretty much collapsed into a pile of wood. What made me change my mind about writing was a sort of discovery of truth, for lack of a better phrase. Some of the properties have actual mines in their yards. For years I have watched an owner, who owns a lot in town, decorate his place around what I thought was a mine entrance. His property is mostly solid mountain. It is maybe 25 feet from the edge of the road to  a solid rock mountain with what looks like a mine.  

 As we were coming down from playing in a snow storm, we noticed that the cable was not hooked up and other people were walking around the property. We stopped and talked with this young couple for a few minutes to see if it was theirs. It wasn't. They were just curious too. They were looking for ghosts, literally. We began a conversation on graveyards in the area and where they were located. They moved on and we explored this interesting property. The foto above shows how upper management works.... 

 The owner has been decorating for Halloween and it was kinda fun to walk through. We headed to what appeared to be his mine entrance, stuck our heads past the decorations and literally hit a wall of rock. It seems our owner has made a fake mine entrance on his property. What the hell???? Here I have thought all these years that here was a mine a guy had in his back yard. How cool would that have been? But, apparently, it is just a decoration. So disappointed. We looked around further and then I saw something that surprised me.   

To the right of this fake mine is a brick wall. It is bigger than the fake mine and looking how it formed itself to the mountain, I believe he did have a mine entrance and he sealed it up. I'll never know for sure until I get lucky enough to meet the owner some future visit. I can understand why he sealed it.The first would be safety. Open mine are often tempting places to visit, and he didn't want any liability. The 2nd reason is a guess. I have read that some of the mines in Ophir had bad air in them. Unless you are carrying an oxygen meter, there would be a high chance of death. Remind me to get a detector. Snow is falling early this year. Not a lot of mountain visits left for they all become impassable. That's ok tho, We still have the desert to explore. Jeep on my friends!