Day 7 -- ID, UT

Scene of the "Tubby" incident.

Day 7 -- St. George, Utah. A small picturesque Mormon community that is Utah's southernmost city. Winter home of Utah's most famous, and first, snow bunny. Brigham Young himself. Why is there a huge D on the side of the mountain in St. George? If you know this, you're scaring me. I did the walking tour of downtown including the sparsely attended street fair on Main Street. After a good walk I was hungry and tired so I went to the first place that looked passable -- oh, if I had only walked 50 more feet! An aside: When Kathy (Mrs. B II) and I moved to Columbus, Chris was helping us move. At lunchtime I set out to find lunch. Having no clue what was around I started driving and went through several major intersections and saw nothing. At the next light I saw a White Castle. Ugh! But what if there's nothing else for miles? So did I buy a bag full of greasy sliders -- White Castle renowned trademark "sandwich"? No, no. I bought regular size burgers and fries. Purely awful and to this day I have never eaten at White Castle. What does this have to do with St. George? Well if I had driven to the next intersection there were many places to eat. -- So tonight I stoped short again and went into the Pizza Factory, eschewing the Pasta Factory next door. I was seated next to the kitchen so I asked to be moved. The young lady took me up a half flight of stairs and I sat down. I noticed children screaming. In my haze I said this was fine and eventually turned around to see that I was alone with a birthday party for a five year old and several other large parties. I did a quick polygamist check and there seemed to be four mothers and four fathers at the bd party. My waitress was sweet -- I charmed her of course -- and the meal was fine. On the way out I noticed a lovely patio with all adults at the Pasta Factory!

I was walking back to the motel and a couple on the corner kept saying something to me. When I got close the guy said "O-H" three times. What the hell? He said "You're supposed to say "I-O". You see I was wearing my block O hat and they spotted it down the street. They were from Columbus. Chalk up two more stangers met. -- My other conversation with a stranger today was at a rest stop where a normal looking guy tried to bum money from me! I declined.

Today I drove from Pocatello to St. George, almost 500 miles. I skipped Bryce Canyon but I am going to Zion Nat'l Park tomorrow. Then on to Vegas! It was 47F when I left Pocatello and 88F when I got to St. George. It is really, really nice here.

I passed though SLC and Provo which brought to mind another Jim dumb-shit move. My team at ProQuest had bought a company in Provo (genealogy of course) and three female colleagues and I flew into SLC to drive to Provo and introduce ourselves to our new employees. For whatever reason, the three women rode together in a gray Ford Escape and I drove alone in some kind on Monster truck, an Excursion I think. I guess they had ridden with me before. I said I wasn't 100% sure of the directions, so I would follow them. As we left the airport, I was multi-tasking (Probably why I was riding alone.) and when I looked up there were two identical gray Ford Escapes in front of me. No problem. They have to be in the one closest to me. So I continued to fart around with the satellite radio and change lanes to stay behind them. The changed lanes a lot I thought. As we approached an exit, without signaling they swerved off to the exit. I thought, "What the hell are they doing? Stopping to eat?" They turned in the opposite direction of the restaurants that I could see. "What is this?" They turned into a trailer park. Now I am baffled. Do they have "kin" here? They pull into a driveway and stop the car and sit still. Finally, the light bulb goes on for Jimmy Boy and I realize what you figured out long ago -- I followed the wrong car! They thought I was stalking them! I sheepishly drove off laughing my ass off at my own absentmindedness.

I leave you with this. My kids and friends know I am a grammar and syntax snob even though mine is not so great. I go nuclear over: "May I help who's next in line?" (This is wrong for so many reasons and I can't enumerate them.); "That'll be $3.79 at the first window?" (How much is it at the second window?); and "I'll be your lead flight attendant." (Who's our lead flight attendant right now?) Today I heard this gem: "If you're self-employed or an individual . . ." Hmm. I guess some of us aren't individuals.

The D stands for Dixie. As in "I wish I were in the land of cotton."