Reaching Salt Lake City

After defending my dissertation, I headed out west to relax and free my mind of the crushing concavity of worrying about the defense perpetually (and also to hopefully gain some headway on the "what next" issue). I set out to Salt Lake City in Bopper, my 1981 Tercel with a top speed of 84 mph on a straight away.  Here is a picture of me setting forth, with a full toolshop in the trunk.

Good thing I brought it too. The right side transaxle began to leak fluid, and in Davenport, Iowa, I had to do a little roadside repair. You can see me giddy (I'm serious, I love this stuff) with excitement at the challenge below.

I know I would have to replace the transaxle once I got to Salt Lake City, but while on the road I found a combination of epoxy and chewing gum reduced the leak such I could make it to Salt Lake without breaking down.

Also in Iowa, I noticed this car at an gas station, with a rather touching, morbid, dedication on the back of the car. I asked the owner, a smallish teenage latina girl, if I could take a picture of it, and she said it was no problem.

And finally on Monday evening I drove into Utah. My car's 1.5 liter 60 horsepower engine had a hard time handling the mountains. With the pedal all the way down to the floor, I would watch the speedometer go from 80 mph in the flats to 45 mph as Bopper stuggled up the rocky mountains. Big brand new shiny SUVs and trucks would fly past me mockingly, but let's see how good their vehicles are at 335,000 miles. Chumps.

But oh my heart, how wonderful it was to see the landscape open up and rift. After being in Ann Arbor chained to a desk and a bar stool for 6 months now, in complete stagnation, I can feel my mind waking up and becoming excited and alive as I dive into the west, open roads, new places, and new faces.

I am now at Mark's house in Salt Lake City (Mark is a former post-doc of my lab), and I will explore this odd city for a few days before heading out Friday morning to southwestern Oregon for our 4 day white water rafting trip of the Rogue river.