Friday, July 16, 2010

July '10 Utah Trip







Dorine and I drove up to Utah with Dorine's dad, Lynn Wilson, on Friday, July 9, and stayed at Dorine's brother Brian's house in Grantsville until we came home on Wednesday, July 14. We got to spend quite a lot of time with Darren, who's living in Provo pending the start of the fall semester at BYU and is looking for part-time work that he can do while attending school. We didn't do a whole lot while in Utah, but we did visit with some of Dorine's relatives in Salt Lake City (the photos above include one with Dorine's Uncle Bob and his wife Marilu, who live near 3900 South and 2300 East in Holladay, and another with her Aunt Frances, who lives near Liberty Park in what was Lynn's childhood home). We also got to see three of my four brothers (Robin, Jeff, and Kelly -- we missed Roger) and had dinner with them one evening at the Sizzler on State Street in Orem north of University Parkway. (See photo above, taken after Jeff and Kelly had left.) The other two photos show (a) Brian's (and his wife Dona's) kids in their living room in Grantsville, and (b) Dorine and me with Darren in the parking lot of Stadium Terrace in Provo, where his new apartment is located.

Despite my love for the road, the drive to Provo/SLC/Grantsville has grown pretty old, and I keep looking for different routes to relieve the tedium. This time we drove north from Farmington through La Plata, Red Mesa, and Hesperus to U.S. 160, which I've done several times previously, but then we headed northwest from Mancos, a route that "cuts off" Cortez and intersects with U.S. 491 between Cortez and Dove Creek. That sounds great in theory, but the roads are narrow and winding, and there's a lot of tractor, horse trailer, and truck traffic on that route, which makes passing a dicey proposition and any "savings" of time or distance questionable; therefore, I'm not sure I'll drive that way again. On the way home, we were stopped for almost an hour due to road construction between I-70 and Moab, which practically drove me ape; it's a great argument for driving at night!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Mal de Debarquement News Story



This video of an ABC News story is now a few years old, but it concerns a couple of ladies who were suffering greatly from mal de debarquement. The older one, Deb Russo, was much more physically disabled from the ailment than I am (at least for now). And the younger one, Kimberly Johnson, couldn't even read because of how the page seemed to move in front of her eyes, whereas, thankfully, my problem is limited to the ground's feeling (but not looking) like it's moving under my feet. However, like both of these ladies, I do feel some relief when I'm driving a car, and the ailment has had, and continues to have, far-reaching effects on my life. I'm contemplating asking to be released from my Sunday School calling at church, and it's virtually certain that I will not continue as a temple worker beyond October. Stress of all kinds aggravates my symptoms, so I'm having to pare back a lot of my activities. I'm still trying to go to the gym, but for now I'm having to ride a stationary bike instead of running on a treadmill.