Grand Canyon Suite, Part 3: Miscellany

   Preparatory to starting the hike, dw read a book that advised hikers to force themselves to eat in hot weather, since your body "uses enormous amounts of energy" to keep itself cool. I observed that while that's doubtless true, I have enormous amounts of energy stored in the emergency back-up fuel supply that has settled around my waist. However I did take that advice when I inhaled a plate of bacon at Phantom Ranch.

On the hike itself, I expected I would be the oldest on the trail. (Not the oldest to ever do the hike. I don't know what the age record is, but I imagine it's 15+ years older than I.) I thought on any given weekend I would be the oldest. --- Not even close. We met quite a few people (mostly men) who were older than I am, some of them pushing 80. Not counting the rim-to-rim in one day crowd, I would guess the median age of the hikers was mid-forties.

"Why are they called the Vermilion Cliffs?" " Because they've been there ver a million years."  (the North to South shuttle bus driver)

 I wrote about the nasal cleaning swab in an earlier blog. This time I decided to buy one. I particularly enjoy the stern Teutonic flavor of "Nazal Clean". Some of the directions: -- Insert the Nazal Clean into the nasal cavity and rotate in a circular motion -- If Nazal Clean is lodged or breaks off in nose, seek medical attention. --  DO NOT vigorously rub the inside of your nasal cavity. -- Nazal Clean is NOT DESIGNED to be used in any other orifice. ---
(dw: "Rats, I had plans for it!")

Hmmm

Our favorite beer when we're in it's distribution area (mostly Utah) :

We think it tastes more like a stout than a porter, but it pretty much has to be named Polygamy Porter -- Polygamy Stout just wouldn't taste the same. (It's quite a good beer)

 

Available from St George Medicinal Herbs, co.:  St. George Silver Sol.  It cures: Athletes foot, blisters, herpes, cold sores, shingles, flu, cholera, meningitis, plague, gingivitis, thrush, cankers strep throat, best nose spray (look out, Grandma!), pneumonia, B.O., and toenail fungus -- to name just a few. Best of all, it promises YOU WON'T TURN BLUE!!

 

We drove hwy. 93 (it follows the eastern border of Nevada) to come home. We hadn't driven the road before so it was something new. The road pretty much defines High, Wide, and Lonesome. At one point (probably 100 miles from any water, even a small rivulet) someone abandoned a 25' sailboat. It looks as if it's been sitting beside the road for a long time.

 For 60 miles or so the road is paralleled by an abandoned set of 6 wire power lines (they dangle on the ground in places) -- the road is so remote that no one has stolen the wire -- that's a couple of tons of copper sitting untouched.  It's so remote there are deer crossing warning signs, and cattle warning signs with no bullet holes in them. We concluded the road is an alien abduction zone.

 

In Ely Nevada, I bought a loaf of "artisan all natural ciabatta" to make some sandwiches for dinner. It was so dry it couldn't be cut, it just crumbled. (It was too much trouble to return) But when I finally read the small print, I saw it had been baked in Frederick Maryland. Podunk Nevada is shipping bread from the East Coast?

 

Returning to earlier features:

The Pythagoreans had a thing against beans. Pythagoras was fleeing some soldiers and he refused to walk on some beans -- the soldiers caught him and killed him. But I think historians might have misunderstood what really happened. The beans were probably strewn across a stone floor and he was barefoot. It would have really hurt to have walked on the beans.

 

Word(s) for the day:  Godwin's Law -- An aphorism maintaining that as an online debate increases in length, it becomes inevitable that some will compare someone or something to Hitler or the Nazis.

 

Books: I've just started The Presidents Club (Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy) It's about ex-presidents and how they have often helped their successors and formed friendships with their political ex-foes. It's proving to be interesting. I've just finished reading the Hoover/Truman chapter. My parents loathed Hoover (my mother refused to call Hoover Dam by it's name -- when it's name came up, she called it Boulder Dam -- which was a temporary name) While Hoover wasn't very good as president, he was critical in helping Truman revamp and streamline the Executive Branch, and more importantly helping Truman design and institute the Marshal Plan which was critical for the survival of millions of people after WWII.     And so it goes. DJA