Headwinds

Buenas noches, mis cabritillas, 

We're coming at you live from the fabulously named Starvation State Park in Utah. I presume that this is a sister to Donner Memorial State Park?  And, like Badlands National Park or Desolation Canyon or Dead Horse State Park, the name is a great hook to get you in the door.

I've decided that the theme for the trip so far is, "Headwinds". Apparently, three varieties of headwinds exist:

Headwind #1: The self-imposed kind. In this headwind, you do things that slow yourself down, such as trying to pack all the gear you could need for every conceivable situation (What if it's really hot and we want to sleep outside? What if it snows? What if it snows AND we want to sleep outside???). Or, taking on additional tasks before you declare yourself ready to leave (Oh yeah, we probably should make sure that the garden has an automatic timer on it so the plants don't die. Let's go back to the store, again!).

Headwind #2: The kind other people impose on you. For instance, say you take your truck into the shop on Thursday for some maintenance, then discover on Sunday that they haven't actually hooked some parts back up properly. This means that you have to go back in on Monday and spend another couple hours at the shop. For instance.

Headwind #3: The actual, natural kind. Let's be literal for a moment. Imagine you're driving across the Bonneville Salt Flats of western Utah. Imagine further that a 40mph wind is blowing at you. Now, if you were walking, that would suck, but you're in a car, so no biggie, right? EXCEPT this wind storm is also blowing clouds of salt at you, which is like being in a dense fog, except if you stick a pretzel outside it gets all tasty. That would slow you down a bit, wouldn't it? And it did.

So, the good news is that we are ready for literally anything. The bad news is that we have yet to do any real birding, and we're about 3 days behind schedule already. 

Tomorrow, we arrive in Colorado, hoping to start our birding activities in the afternoon, with Thursday morning being an early rise to chase down some grouse.

By the way, if you're going to drive from California to Nevada, I recommend Rye Patch State Park is a nice place to camp. And, in Utah, the Salt Flats are worth checking out, and the drive past Park City, through Heber Valley, and down Hwy 40 is very beautiful.

Until next time, 
Me