The New American Digest

I-70, Crescent Junction looking east. I believe a gas station has been put in here on the north side since I took this photo.
2-lane to the left is old US6 – road veering to right is US191 heading south to Moab – about 30 miles.
Between US6 and the cliffs is the Union Pacific Railroad, once the Denver & Rio Grande. The tracks to the now-defunct potash mine at Moab are just visible above US191.
Off in the distance along US6 at the gap is Thompson Springs.

For those that have read Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire“, Thompson Springs is where he got off the train heading for his job at Arches National Park due south of there. Thompson is still a sort-of town with fewer than 50 residents – but the area has been inhabited off and on since at least 1000BC. Pictographs are common in the canyons north of town.

The 80 mile stretch from here east to Grand Junction, CO is designated a scenic highway though most wouldn’t consider it such. Looks just like this photo most of the way.

Starting 20 miles west at the US6 junction north to Price and Salt Lake and just past Green River is a 110 mile stretch of “No Services” … which means NO services, no nothing, nobody. I believe it’s the longest stretch of nothing on an Interstate in the lower 48. That section travels through some spectacular scenery though. One of the last major stretches of Interstate to be completed; it was essentially a 2-lane highway until 1990; it dead-ended at a cliff face at what is now the US50 exit at Salina. Traffic was far, far lighter then.

On a personal note, I lived a short while in Moab – near-on 50 years ago now I think about it, before it became what it is today – while performing oil exploration surveys in the San Rafael Swell. It was still a oil/gas/uranium town then but those times were already passing on.

The divided highway portion of I-70 at that time ended here at Crescent Junction (and was only divided east to Glenwood Springs; two lane through Glenwood Canyon); we’d drive on US6 to Green River then head out south into the boonies at the heart of the Swell.

Old 6 is not maintained much anymore and is becoming rough to travel but I still pass along that route when I’m passing through and time allows. Both the gas station and restaurant in Green River are gone now but I can still feel the ghosts if I pause long enough to let the spirits flow. I usually don’t anymore.

One of my favorite regions of the country nonetheless.

Addendum:
I made mention of I-70 in the country just west of Green River.
Looking east across I-70 from 15 miles west of Green River. LaSalle Mountains on the horizon

So what to do when you’re retired? …

So how did DT spend his holiday?
Building a fence … or attempting to.
No different than any other day recently.

This gets to feeling like … exercise.
I’m allergic to that stuff: my skin turns red and starts leaking fluids.

The old fence had rotted at the base and was tipping over. Can’t just let it go – the propane tank is on the embankment plus the problem of dirt washing down onto the driveway … to say nothing of wiping out Ms DT’s flower garden.

Luckily, I’m paid by the project, not by hour.
Not that it makes a difference in this case. As Ms DT states: “Do you want to eat?“

Did I mention that in my household, I always have the final word:
“Yes, dear“

So the old fence was pulled out. Turned out the fence was further rotted out than I thought … nothing salvageable.

Borrowed a neighbor’s tractor – I need to buy one of these – and did some dirt removal.
There’s more clay in there than I expected and this is a Class 0 tractor. When I buy one, I’ll need a Class 1 … digging into that put a strain on the hydraulic system … but it worked. Made things a bit easier than digging by hand.

But I came close to ruining things – like stressing the hydraulic lines – when I found out that not only were the old fence posts embedded in concrete, but the installers laid down a concrete-filled trench. Most of the footings eventually came out – big chunks they were – except the corner post at the edge of the house/driveway; the one right where I wanted to set the main anchor post.

It’s not a valid plan if it doesn’t have to be changed in the middle of the project.

Gonna need the dirt for backfill once I’m done.

I know I’m in as good a shape now as when I was 25 so the railroads have done something to make their ties heavier. I don’t think those 2x8s are only wood either – wood doesn’t weigh so much that I can’t carry two 8-footers at a time …

I had a tool for digging 12″x2ft holes … but I decided to opt for this new-fangled thing called an auger. Funny thing – the tractor doesn’t have sufficient up/down motion on the rear to dig a deep hole and pull the auger back out.

That sucker weighs near-on 150lbs … and for some reason, that seems excessively heavy.

So the routine is to back into position … and the seat doesn’t rotate. No parking brake, so place the transmission into neutral and set the scoop down to hold the tractor while running, get off the tractor (which is too small for me, my boots get hung up and my knees bang into levers and such), go back and adjust the auger height – by lifting the mechanism while pulling and resetting the cotter pin, get back on the tractor, engage the PTO into low gear while disabling the drive gear, engage the auger (did you catch the seat doesn’t rotate? Need to dig while twisting backward while sitting forward), dig as far as it will go, reverse the process in order to reset the auger – by lifting the mechanism by hand while pulling and resetting the cotter pin.

Tim the Toolman Taylor had it right: “Too much power is just enough”.

Repeat as necessary … to find there’s insufficient up/down to dig a deep hole … which means now, dammit, I need to use concrete along with gravel to set a sufficient base.

But so far, somehow … I’ve saved Ms DT’s rose bush. The plants on top are Russian Sage – just now coming to bloom … as is the lavender on the other side of the driveway.

This sure feels like that thing they call “work”.
I need a job so I can rest from my days off.

Let’s all go out and celebrate DEI-pandering.

Me? It’s Thursday – I have things to do.

and the living is easy …

“First Alert Weather: System brings chance of rain, storms and snow for the first weekend of summer.“