After finally getting myself the long illusory setup of a cozy home base from which to explore, I find myself pulled from it for yet another summer away from friends, family and familiarity. It’s a “same first letter triplets” kind of post, folks. Yup, got me a real job and all that and still have field season, this year in Utah for 3-4 months then up to Ketchikan, AK for a month or so after that.

The land we’re collecting data on is the dead middle of fucking nowhere Utah, where the Northern Ute got told to fuck off to after getting the boot off their ancestral land in the Salt Lake and Provo basin areas. Needed to build temples and too wide straight roads I guess.

Currently I’m in Vernal, UT, dirty little backwards shithole that it is. I can see 3 Moron, ahem, Mormon churches from the hotel. Thankfully, town is a once a week thing for a day off and groceries, the rest of the time is spent camping near the Green river, made famous by both John Wesley Powell and Edward Abbey.

Having already seen some amazing sites, many spectacular desert destinations await exploration, and I’m getting paid to camp with a new trailer, for cooking and storage, I’m in a sweet tent, and roam around with a former co-worker from Apple I hired to work with me at this gig

Way better than in fire, but this has got to be the last summer of disappearance. I don’t mind a month or so here and there, but 4-6 months is a fucking haul. It’s been weird adjusting to having my own place after so long in some form of shared housing, love it, almost to a fault. The social life slowly builds, but will go on hiatus til the fall. That fact was what made it not hard to just do my own thing most of the time here, I hung with friends, but didn’t dive deep into building up a tribe seeing I’d be heading out soon.

The goal is to make the best of the situation, explore my ass off and see what can be gained from the experience. I’ve already advised the boss that next year a week or 2 here and there will be good, but no more disappearing for a season, done with that.

A former GF told me it was much harder on the one left behind than the leaver, was quite adamant about it and refused to hear argument on the topic. Now that I have the floor, I shall disagree. Yes, it is hard, I’ve been in the shoes of the one left behind, but at least your entire world isn’t disrupted by the event.

There is still YOUR home, friends, stores, hangouts, town/city, schedule, it all stays the same and provides what it always has without disruption. There is no need to try and reinvent a temporary version of your entire life in some random place every summer that may or may not suit you. Camping 6 days a week is a little rough, but Vernal is such a miserably generic cracker assed small western town that 1 day a week is plenty.

That being said, the best shall be made of the situation as the option is unpleasant. I’ve tried both routes and the effort put into self care, reaching out to friends and straight up bucking the fuck up always pays off for the better.

We shall see…

Meanwhile, here is another stunning desert photo: