“REDRUM REDRUM”

Breakfast station was breaking down as I was checking out, grabbed two biscuits and a coffee , fine. There was a high school football team high jinksing around in the lobby and eating area, the something Wildcats, wired for their game. Unique name. 

Finished the Coen Brother audio book so skip this part if you’ve no interest. I feel I had to review this like a book of shorts stories rather than an individual work. Where some of the individual studies were excellent (Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink) it lost credibility as a whole when trying to push cultural relevance on the lesser movies (Intolerable Cruelty, The Lady Killers). I didn’t feel there was a lot in terms of connecting their themes, there was a lot of stretching there. The “Warning” and percentage breakdown of content approach to every chapter was painful . Is the songwriter  that wrote the ode to Donny a friend ? Did she really qualify for a chapter and the song sounded like a woeful thing. Another relevance stretch. Started great , limped to the finish. 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned my sophisticated audio Bluetooth system. Grand for books, tinny for tunes. No Bluetooth in the Escalade so I bought this cheapie on Groupon. Does the trick but it has a weird light synchronization feature that glows with the beat of music. Nearly took me off the road a couple of times when it took off all disco lights of its own accord on a night drive.

A fab song triple today on New Wave: Poison Arrow – ABC ; Fade to Gray – Visage (that weird English French mix) & Broken Wings – Mister Mister. 

Back in my college days 82/83 I had enough cash for one weekend in Dublin. Would it be ABC – their first tour ever or  AC/DC – Back in Black, first tour after Bonn Scott’s death, with new singer Brian Johnston? AC/DC won the day and that show, at the RDS Dublin, remains one of my favorites ever. I saw them many times after.

After trying for many years, I saw ABC in Long Island this July, for the first time, 35 years later. They still had it and still looked the part. Lexicon of Love remains an 80s Classic album. 

I felt so Jack Torrence, driving the winding mountain roads through Estes Park, on the way to his new future, stoked, heading to The Stanley Hotel. 

Featured as the exterior for The Overlook, in The Shining, the hotel looks exactly as this fanatic for the movie would expect. It’s grand, majestic and big. It is a National Heritage Hotel and is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the country, the have daily ghost tours. 

And it’s my joint favorite Stephen King novel alongside 11/22/63; The Stand and Salem Falls . And Pet Semetary petrified me when I read it. Carrie is excellent too. When he’s good he’s great.

The Stanley Hotel has an elaborate ballroom and host both a Masquerade Party and Shining Ball in October. The bar and restaurant have a classic dark wood veneer, with an interestingly textured glass counter and metal ceiling. Packed for lunch.

Three Dog Night are playing the ballroom next month too. Judging from the poster, not puppies anymore.

I spent a fortune in the gift store. Very pleased with my purchases. As I like to do, I bought one thing for another person so my conscience is eased (a postcard in this case).

The have an opening for a caretaker here. I filled out an application.

Continuing with the Stephen King theme, I drive an hour back to Boulder for a look around.  Boulder is where the good guys congregate in The Stand, baddies go to Vegas. I’ve been to both. I was told King has a home here in Boulder.

Boulder is a pristine city and bright with full autumn  colors . Though you are in the middle of a metropolis you still feel surrounded by nature. The down town is a collection of two and three story red brick building with a healthy aroma of weed tinging the fall air.

The Boulder Bookstore, on the pedestrianized downtown main drag Pearl, is the most attractive and well stocked I’ve been in . A three floor labyrinth that covers all categories with a converted ballroom for a third floor. I could have spent all day in there but limited my spending to one book.

There was an adorable orchestra of young girls playing on the red paved street. I didn’t recognize the piece. On peeking over a shoulder it was The Lady Gaga Hit Mix. Followed by Cripple Creek. All the classics. I kicked in a few bucks.

Popped in to get postcards and George, the owner, told me to avoid Kansas but look for the Field of Dream field. George’s framing store has done the art for The Stanley for the past 30 years. Threads! 

There was a lot of activity in town; street fairs: football game; activities fair; Adventure Film Festival ; a Fall band stage; the place was vibrant .

Coffee at hopping Ozo. There’s a multitude of great looking restaurants along Pearl that look really interesting, and were packed after the game, by 6pm.

Whatever the university here is called won today so everyone’s happy in the valley.

I’m liking this Boulder place, I would definitely like to come back.

Booked in to the Westin back in Westminster, close by last nights dining spot. It’s a very nice hotel and I got a great  price and room online, checked in, showered and went to the Southwestern restaurant in-house.

As is my way, I started talking to Brent at the bar. He was in for a couple of days, from Boston, to see the football game , his buddy has some connection with the team  I didn’t understand.

Brent is an anesthesiologist , part of a small partnership, that outsources their skill sets. Originally from Nashville he was able to give good advise as I head south. Brent does a lot of travelling to Asia with his Singaporean girlfriend . They go to Singapore once a year and always tag on another country to visit while they are in that part of the world.

They called last call at the bar and we said goodnight.

Where to go next? Everyone says to avoid Kansas .

To quote Jack, all play and no work makes Karl a less dull boy.

Hotel: $136

Dinner : $24

Souvenirs at The Stanley : $2Much

I’m in Colorado .

Don’t think it will be just t-shirts from now on. Getting a bit chilly as I drive east.

Headed to Deja Brew Coffed , best rated in Glenwood Springs, and had an Apple Jesus with my cappuccino , some type of muffin with baked apple, thankfully no whiskers . Nicely decorated little spot with vintage Sanka posters. 

Glenwood Springs is known for its public hot springs , opened in the 1880s. It’s a pristine, medium sized town, nestled under the mountains and hills, with the White river running through.

They have an interesting looking throw back vaudeville theatre with a remarkably ugly mural on the side town center. Did Judy and Mickey always have dentures? Do people still watch vaudeville and what type of people are the viewers and performers?

On the history side, Doc Holliday is buried near this town. Watch Tombstone and the earlier, classics Gunfight at the OK Corral & My Darling Clementine  , kiddies. Stopped in at the bookstore, Bookstation, that was more magazine centric but bought one anyway, Janesville non-fiction. I spotted an interesting non-fiction, Dodge City, that I downloaded, keeping with the Cowboy theme.

Then chatted with four Irish  ladies , here for 10 days, from county Wexford. Laden with shopping bags. Stopped at Native Son, more bar than coffee shop despite google recommendation. Bad. My Black Mirror shirt sparked a conversation with Seth, we  fans tend to bond. He recommended Maniac on Netflix, sounds like my cup of tea.

Headed for Boulder.

Stopped in Vail, since it was on the way, and very glad I did. Gorgeous town, looks far more Alpine than American . They are in full fall foliage here. The town only incorporated in 1966. Yetis Grind; great name; great coffee ; great looking and great gluten free amond poppyseed cake. Of course gluten free.

Seemingly a photo with Einstein a must in Vail. Margaret and Abby , from San Antonia,performed the duties. Margaret, a professional photographer , made me pose. No problem.

Stumbled on The Gilded Spruce, a delightful little perfectly located Christmas store and spent unnecessarily again. As might be expected, Vail is an all out Holiday town, made all the more Christmasy as it has no street lights, and is completely lit up with festivities lights.

You can get a nice little two bedroom here for $1.9m. Bargain.

Vail has a real fairytale quality, one of the prettiest towns I have been in.

176 miles later I’m in Boulder, a third of the journey through torrential thunderstorms.

I booked a great room at a great rate at The Marriot in Boulder. Unfortunately when I went to check in I discovered I booked a great room at a great rate for a week from today. Tonight the price would be triple that . The staff were super nice and arranged a refund on my non refundable booking. Big thank you, I am a moron.

Turns out it’s a college football home game for Colorado State AND parents weekend so everything is booked out. But , I got a great room in Drurys, Westminister 16 miles east.

Went to dinner at Rock Bottom, a smaller chain of microbreweries and restaurants and had a chat with Perry at the bar. He’s a pilot with United, was with Continental, 32 years between the two. He’s here on training for a few weeks, the main airline hub being Denver. This is the first of four weeks training and he’s established Rock Bottom as his local.

Perry has 50 acres of Olive Groves at his Texas home, helps with the taxes. They are handled by a co-op so he needs to do little to manage it.

He hopes to retire to Chile in the next years, he loves South America. He’s hoping to maybe do it all on a boat , he has owned and sailed in the past. Nice retirement dream.

Each floor on the hotel has a nice laundry room, so I threw everything in. I’ve been the man in Black this trip.

Hotel: $150

Gas: $53

Dinner: $16

50% chance of rain went to 100%. A massive thunderstorm in Moab, but it cleared by 10.

Went to the Love Muffin for breakfast , they were out of muffins but hopping. Their roof was leaking into a bucket from the storm. Coffee and eggs and spuds, nothing to write home about. Maybe the muffins are magnificent.

Popped in to the Back Of Beyond and bought a book for someone else. Excellent Western and movie section. Matthew behind the counter was a very knowledgeable fellow movie fantic. For a young guy, he knew the classics. We agreed Annihilation was our favorite movie of 2018 todate. I recommended Under the Skin, as a good companion.

Matthew recommended Moab Roasters across the road as the best coffee in town, they claimed best in the world! It was another strange combination of clothing store and coffee shop. It was a lousy cappuccino. 

The Arches National Park contains the Worlds largest concentration of sandstone  arches. That’s where I’m headed.

My spiraling Pet Shop Boys Tee, drew comment from a small group from Delaware. They’d been traveling the park for 3 days so I got a list of best things to see. 

Arches National Park is my new favorite and I struck gold with the day. The Rock formations here are nothing like I have seen before. There is also a magnificent smell , a Park Ranger explained that it is unique to the desert , after a big storm as we had this morning.I’m thinking a bath oil franchise – Karls Scent of The Moab, if I can just capture that Utah essence. 

There was a bit of a back up getting in to the Atches National Park. It’s still prime time there, the temperature perfect for hikers. There are warning signs all over to bring lots of water, it gets in to very dangerous temperatures in the Summer.

There are lots of spots to pull over roadside through out the expansive park, one spot more spectacular than the next .

One of the first I pulled off to was The Balancing Rock, or The Nads of Moab, as its known to the locals. Ok. Maybe not to the locals.

Stopped at The Fiery Furnace , another prime viewing spot, colored by the excessive iron content in the stone then went in to The Devils Garden. A couple from San Francisco took my photo, so it’s otheries of me as well as selfies.

The Devils Garden is the location of multiple trails through the canyons, of various difficulty levels. I went in about a mile and a half and went left, where the sign right said to avoid if afraid of heights.  Many of the more splendid arches are in these trails. These canyons are also the site of numerous movie location shots. 

127 Hours PT. 2 – The Irish Connection.

How did Franco know how long he was there if he couldn’t see his watch?

Five hours later as I left I happened on another magnificent trail called Park Avenue, me home address. Leaving, I felt I’d a huge amount to come back for, there’s a lot I didn’t get to.

I drove 15 miles along the Colorado River, deep red from the mud washed by the storm today,  to Monument Valley Movie Museum and Library, on the Red Cliffs Ranch (its an expensive winery and hotel).

A lot of the great westerns were shot in this region; any John Ford Western (a lot of my favorites); Thelma and Louise; MI2; the recent Lone Ranger; oddly the bible anthology The Greatest Story Ever Told; some of Forrest Gump (gag me) and the series Alias Smith and Jones, I loved as a kid. That’s just a few. My Mother would recognize a lot of the movies listed there  I wouldn’t.

I have an odd connection with John Wayne and John Ford. When The Quiet Man was shot in Ireland, some filmed in the small town of Cong, a friend of my grandfather drove for the cast. He collected autographs of all the stars and director , and some original photos. An autograph book that I ended up with. My fascination with film started very young.

Leaving there I drove on in the general direction of Boulder, Colorado . With the mountains surrounding I was out of GPS coverage for about 40 miles. Abandoned by trchnology, I headed east, using the clear night sky and the guiding light of Canis Major to guide my way.

196 miles later I took a room in Glenwood Springs , Colorado.

The cost;

Hotel; $107

Gas: $53

Dinner: $12

Slow off the starting block today, packed and headed in to Park City for Breakfast. Promising rain again all day. Will hit the shops on Main and buy things for myself.

The room at the Marriot was very nice but  what hotel charges $10 a night for WiFi in this day and age?

The Eggs and Bacon At Main Street Deli were basic and expensive, lame coffee.

Crossed the road to the Park City Museum. It was a silver mining town before the skiing thing took off in the 1960s. The two crossed purposes when the original ski lift in 1966 was converted into an odd little subway that ran up the mountain through the mine shaft.

The basement also housed the original town dungeon, opened in 1885, closed 1966. 11 people died in this claustrophobic little prison. It was mostly a detention center and a cooling tank for drunks, The cells were tiny, about 7  by 6 foot . Spooky. 

And of course, Park City hosts the Sundance film festival, annually in January , now one of the top five film festivals in the world, with a focus on Independant film. It was originally started by Robert Redford. The historic Egyptian theater is the epicenter of the festival.

Mediocre coffee at Java Cow on Main, another odd combination of coffee, ice cream and souvenir store. 

Wandered the picturesque Main Street . Park City definitely has that laid back groove that comes with lots of money, It has that priveliged Hamptons feel. There are a few people on the streets , it’s obviously a town between seasons. Its quite a feat to be more expensive than Manhattan. 

Dolly’s Bookstore was another odd combination of bookstore and attached chocolatier. I bought another hardcover  titled The Piranhas. I read the authors other, Gomorrah, a few years back. That’s also the title of an excellent movie and an excellent, grueling series, dealing with the Naples mob.

Natalie, in Stoked, a far better coffee shop, gave me the run down on  Park City, She described it as being a little Disney like, lots of LA Movie peoples second homes and moneyed New Yorkers. I’m here in what’s called  Shoulder season post Summer and pre Snow.

Natalie is planning to move to Berlin with her girlfriend, Wolfe next spring . Wolfe is an artist specializing in oil on wood block painting . She showed me a website of the art, I liked a lot of the pieces.

Natalie  has an Irish passport, so she’s all set for Europe. The grandparents were from Limerick. She described a lot the coffee customers as Poodle Ladies.  I witnessed a couple , over manicured , over exercised, sheep dressed as lamb.

Moab was strongly recommended as a destination by Natalie and the Garage Cafe there, to eat, So heading to Moab. Moab is the town adjacent to Arches National Park.

The 260 miles to Moab brought me first through the changing fall colors, then across the plains with the mountains to my left and the last stretch through red rock valleys.

Walmart has gas stations?

Checked in to the Bowden Motel, not the Plaza, but it’s two blocks from the center of Moab. A couple of German tourists were unsuccessfully trying to pay at the front desk with travelers checks. They still make those things?

I got a complaint from good friends in Zurich I wasn’t posting enough selfies. Will see what I can do.

Moab is still in season , the temperature is  perfect for hikers. The town has more of a Western feel than Park City, anc there’s s nice hum to the place, lots of outdoor dining.

Went to Zax for dinner and ate at the bar. Got in a conversation with loud Harold on my left and  louder Bob, on my right, a tattooed ex marine and a veteran of Beirut. He lives in the cab of his truck, hauling long distance for the Military. He cant haul in California because his truck gives out too much emissions. Harold avoided Vietnam and just gave me a recipe for cheese curds (he’s from Wisconsin).  Though Bob lives in the lorry, he owns a home in Leesburg, Florida. I got some good instruction on how to carve up road kill if I ever have the need, truck ploughed Moose in particular. 

Fortunately, Steve Noonan, sat down at the bar and saved me in the middle of the “Let me tell you how I got my Indian Name” story.

The improbable Indian name is “Snow Hawk” by the way. Will fill you in someday . I thought I was going to get the “Two Dogs Humping” punchline.

Steve had an interesting story to tell. He is a helicopter pilot with the Australian army, on a three year transfer , posted with the Marines in San Diego . It’s a project to gain amphibious experience from the forces here.

Steve is 29, from Brisbane. He is making the most of any free time he has, seeing as much of the country as he can and meeting as many people as he can. We had a great conversation, comparing experiences as emigrants, once Snow Hawk and Cheese Curd and his missus left the bar.

Hopefully I will catch up with Steve when he gets over to NYC.

The Bills:

Hotel: $140

Gas: $34

Food: $15

Today was a day of driving. 570 miles on Route 80 from Reno to Park City, Utah.

If anyone is ever thinking of taking this drive, take my advise, fly. Buttes, Buttes and more Buttes.

Not a lot to see. This was the most interesting spot crossing Nevada. Locals congregate here to party on the weekends.

About the only thing worth mention that I saw today were the Utah salt flats. I hit on them soon after crossing the Utah border.

Why would you have vultures over the urinals? I had performance anxiety at the gas station.

The Salt Flats are where they run the one mile land speed record efforts. It was also the place that the first transcontinental telephone line made contact. It was a very ghostly visual with the bleached flats against the stark gray incoming thunderstorm . I got to watch spectacular lighting strikes across the flats. It started pouring, so I got moving and drove through a downpour for a couple of hours. The first miles, flat and endlessly straight through the flats are other worldly.

Eight hours driving and multiple gas/coffee stops later, I’m in Park City. The Main Street looks beautiful . 

I did get 6 hours in to a very good audio book The Coen Brothers: This really ties the films together. The author studies each film individually  but also cross references all of their 16 movies todate as a unit.  I particularly liked his breakdown of Millers Crossing , and the double theory , that everything happens twice in the movie, with different results. Now I have to rewatch.

My top three Coen Brother movies are ; Blood Simple; Miller’s Crossing; No Country For Old Men. But then how can I leave off Fargo or The Big Lebowski.? And I love Raising Arizona.

A great audio book if you are a Coen fan. With a chapter dedicated per movie it’s very easily digestible? 

Got to Park City, parked on Main Street and managed to find The Butchers Block Chip Housd still open at 9? at the bar and had a very good halibut. Booked in to the Park City Marriot close to Main Street. The manager told me they call this time of the year Mud Season. It’s pouring here.

I’m knackered. But I think that puts the vast, empty, open spaces in my rear mirror.

Bingo. I’m definitely in Utah. Do I have any Mormon friends?

Hotel: $135

Gas: $102

Dinner: $35