Barley the Van wishes to Thank...

the generous anonymous donor who recently purchased a Kindle edition of "Destroying Demons". In fact, Barley appreciates everyone who ever dropped down a few $, € or £'s on my travel memoir too.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n:283155,p_27:Jeff%20Sambur/

With that sale, Barley and me will be able to wander and wonder for about thirteen more motorized miles. That's makes us both very happy. 

Even now after 4.5 years of "Destroying Demons" going public, I break out in a grin after I notice a sale on Createspace or Kindle Publishing. I also know that with each purchase Mr. Amazon grows richer too. I'm not so overjoyed about that. 

In a day and age when more books are being published (the reality of self-publishing) but less Americans are reading, it's nice to know you chose my book. 

Thank you,

Reading is one thing animals can't do. That skill makes humans-human. 

When I'm not in motion, I love to read or blog. 

Cheers from chilly Zion National Park.

Jeff 

PS. How many of those self published books won a Gold Medal IPPY! See last photo with Fido posing. 

PPS. I don't think the medal is made of gold. 

ATV'ers and Hikers mix about as...

well as a very opinionated, vocal Liberal (like me) at a Trump political rally. In other words, not so much. 

I'll explain the differences:

Hikers seek unscarred landscape. ATV'ers scar the landscape.

Hikers seek quiet and serenity. ATV'ers make an inordinate amount of noise. Blap! Blap. Blap!

Hikers enjoy clean air. ATV'ers belch a lot of nasty stuff. 

The list goes on...

So why does Utah State Parks mucky-mucks think its appropriate for Coral Pink Sand Dunes State to allow ATVs on 90% of this so called protected area? Thus leaving a mere 265 acres of non--crushable habitat to the Coral Dunes Tiger Beetle. That scarab doesn't stand a chance. I saw motorized tracks on the beetles turf too. I found another telltale sign of Varoom Varoom encroachment there as well. (See the last photo. I picked it up). 

In Utah, there's an undercurrent of jabber from the state legislature to take back Federal Land. (Utah is 65% Federally Owned). If this is the state's idea of stewardship. I say "No Way!" The Fed's might not be perfect, but I believe their land management policies are more sustainable. 

The irony to Coral Dunes is that there are literally hundreds of miles of ATV trails adjacent to the park on BLM property. How do I know this? It says so in the park guide.

I'll take Great Sand Dunes National Park any old day. They are big, beautiful and best of all-NO ATV's! 

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2015/05/it-more-than-huge-litter-box.html

Cheers!

Jeff Sambur Champion of Silent Sports (that's the name of a magazine from the Midwest.)

"Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting...

Dinosaur tracks!" 

My apologies to Elmer Fudd. 

After another disappointing outcome at the Wave Powerball, I turned my attention to the Moccasin Mountain Tracksite. The BLM, the Utah State Parks and the Kanab Visitor Center all talked it up.

Heck, I've never seen a dinosaur let alone it's footprints. Why shouldn't I go? I'm retired. I could find the time in my BUSY schedule. 

So I drove away from Kanab and found a sandy ATV road. Happily for me, there were no motorized noisemakers around. I squashed the sand down for 2.5 miles and located an information kiosk at the site. I half glanced at the map and wandered out on the sandstone. 

There I turned bloodhound. I put my nose down low to the gritty stuff, and zig-zagged my way across the surface. Since I've never ever seen a dinosaur track, I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for. The closest I was getting to the dinosaurs were a few skittering lizards. A very distant relative to the big guys.

Ahh! But the place was stunningly silent, the clouds looked like parading pregnant sheep, and the temperature was bask in the sun warm. In other words, I wasn't complaining. 

It was after 30 minutes of futile dinosaur track efforts, I tapped my pocket and then remembered. I had a map! Those cool fellas at the BLM took an aerial photo of the site and delineated where those reptilian footprints could be found. I shifted from bloodhound to Sherlock Holmes. 

By lining up trees, a tear shaped pool, and fence posts I found evidence of my elusive prey. I sat by Kayentapus while I ate my PB&J lunch. Mr or Mrs K was a 15-18 foot long, carnivorous Bad Ass. He/She was a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex. 

I thought back on how if I were sitting at this same spot 190 million years ago, I could have been K's kosher lunch. Would the first thing that crossed that pea-sized reptilian brain be, "That tasted just like chicken!" 

The first photo is what my lunch date imprinted on the site. The last photo is a footprint of Jeffus Samburus. A very rare, migratory species. If you chance upon him, don't be afraid. He's pretty docile. 

Cheers from Kanab.

Today is my last chance to score a permit for the Wave for this season. At this point, I would lean into a fast ball  just to take a base. I want that permit! 

Jeff