is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.

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Better Throw Her In The Water.

Better Throw Her In The Water.

Sleeping is good after falling down a mountain of sand and then driving three more hours and then eating and then washing all the sand away. I slept very well. And even after I woke up I was still asleep. When, at breakfast, I simply could not figure out what was going on with the bill, a bill which turned out to be very straightforward and not at all confusing, Evany decided that she should drive the first leg of our day�s journey. At that point of the day, really all I seemed to be able to do was sing Brian Eno�s �Baby�s on Fire.� For no particular reason. Anyway, things work out fairly well with Evany and I, because I am not so good in the morning, and she begins to lose it around 3pm (although she�s back by 5), whereas I am upUpUP by then, so the driving shifts work out just fine. So far.

Today we drove up and down and back and forth and side to side a lot. Our ears popped, and it was cold and then hot and then cool and then warm. And we saw lots of pretty clouds floating over large open areas surrounded by impressive mountain formations. Things went from scrub to green to brown to ruddy-desolate to green again, and all kinds of impressive. Ah, "the loneliest road." Evany slept through a particularly harrowing channel or gorge-like stretch that we drove through where the winds were buffeting the tiny Audi 4000 back and forth quite a bit. I distracted myself from my white-knuckle driving by singing along to some loud Sugar. (Tangentially related: when I was in college, some guy-in-a-band I knew once said to me, �it is so confusing that you are a girl AND you like Bob Mould.� If only that were as difficult as it gets when it comes time to understand the world we live in.)

Otherwise the day was largely uneventful. We saw some beauty. We drove a lot. We ate things. We sang songs by Aimee Mann and Cole Porter.

At lunch time in Ely, NV, Evany said to me, �Can I get thirty minutes of gambling in before we leave Nevada?� (Her tone: �You. Are. Keeping. Me. From. Gambling!�) So I walked around Ely. Ely has two combination drugstore/soda fountains. At one I bought a number of cheesy postcards such as I had never before seen. For instance: [picture of a wolf] �You can�t run with the wolves if you pee like a puppy.� (What?!) Also: [picture of a baby deer from behind looking over its shoulder at viewer] �I�m a little behind in my writing.� Etc. Then I wrote and sent one of the postcards.

Evany lost some money playing blackjack but then won it all back playing video poker, and walked away more than $20 richer than when she began.

Now we�re in Salt Lake City. Evany is watching the Olympics. Speaking of television� strangely enough, I walked out of the bathroom tonight and Evany was watching TV with an odd look on her face, and she said to me, �what is this SHIT?� It was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I say this is strange only because the exact same scene (of me walking out of a hotel-room bathroom, encountering someone with a strange look on his face and a question about the very same shitstorm of a movie, occurred between me and Mr. Perrone last Sunday evening in Los Angeles. Some cable channel has it on a tight loop of terror, no doubt.).

Tomorrow we drive to Yellowstone, which will involve getting out of Utah, through part of Idaho, and into Wyoming. We might stop for a day hike on the way, depending on our mood. Today we opted for gambling and eating over a hike to see petroglyphs. And I am very very happy about the cherry pie a la mode that came my way because of that decision. We�ll be in Yellowstone for two days, and I�m guessing we�ll be without wireless coverage and without telephone in our cabin, so updates might have to wait until Casper, Wyoming on Sunday.

I have taken some very lovely polaroids. Maybe I will post them retroactively into the appropriate diary entries later, once I�m set up in Amherst with my scanner.

So, Evany has begun to reveal the host of unanswered questions she has developed thus far on our trip. I don�t know what the desert lighthouse thingy was. But when she began wondering what the difference is between ham radio and cb radio, I realized I could write and ask David Lowery about it (for some reason my sidekick has been getting more frequent coverage than hers? another unanswered question?), and this is what he revealed:

�Well ham radio is licensed and regulated. It�s actually somehow part of federal civil defense. Ham radio operators can use more power, and a host of different modes and frequencies. CB radio is completely unregulated. But very Handy when you are on the road. Go to a truck stop and get them to install you a CB radio and antenna. That way the truckers will hear you. Channel 19 is the trucker channel.�

The answer does answer the question �how is ham radio different from cb radio.� But I�m not sure it clears anything up. However, that is certainly not the fault of Mr. Lowery, whose prompt answering of vague and out-of-context questions is to be admired and lauded.

Hey! Thanks to all of you who, because of Evany�s link enabling you to do so, have been writing with suggestions and anecdotes about cross-country car travel. Our sidekick coverage has been sporadic, but when we do have it, it is fun to get the input.

Stats:

Austin, NV to Salt Lake City, UT (Elevation: 4290; Population: 1.7 million)

Miles: 438

Lodging: $61

9:10 p.m. - August 26, 2004

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