wagons west: tetons

truly haunting.

before leaving wyoming, we took one last walk near the tetons, at dusk. the trail wound through the aftermath of a recent forest fire, near a stream. the sun set behind the mountains and created some excellent lighting. i wish, as i always have, that michigan had more, any, elevation.

wagons west: mountainside

not pictured: these flowers smell like honey.

an entire mountainside, laced with flowers that smell like honey. it made wheezing as i hiked the mountain just a little more tolerable. this is not to say that all of the flowers we walked by smelled pleasant; a few made me fear that we were close to a masturbating bear.

wagons west: devil's tower

not pictured: the alien, low roar of the wind

i was able to take a few good pictures of Devil's Tower as my brother hustled me along. photographs, unfortunately, cannot capture the scale of the thing. however, that fact does make an actual, physical visit worthwhile. more than worthwhile. no sign of richard dreyfuss, sadly.

wagons west: prairie

the prairie is white space.

i was not prepared for this. i expected vast fields of grass, sure, but tall grass, and trees, and mountains in the background. but the prairie really. is. nothingness. high clouds, short grass, and damn near nothing in between --- anything that is, a house, a car, seems that much more special, more beautiful.

wagons west: jeep cherokee

i really love these trucks.

my car, an older vw jetta, broke down, and i've been tooling around in my stepdad's cherokee. it's been a treat. it's a small truck, as trucks go, but it's more than enough vehicle --- so long as you're not grossly overweight. it fits, like a tailored shirt, comfortable but no excess. nothing looks more awkward than a 5ft-nothing mom piloting an escalade down the highway.

what's more, the styling is simple, but powerful. it's as square as an old volvo, but design is completely resolved, no mistakes, no afterthoughts, no compromises. the chamfer on the main shoulder line, for instance, transitions right into the a-pillar, controlled, purposeful.

with rising gas and raw material prices, i expect -- and hope -- to see more rightsized, classic styling in cars soon.

wagons west: diner

forgotten marvel.

this diner was near our first campsite --- not abandoned, merely closed for the holiday weekend. it was in rough shape, though, certainly less gloss than in its heyday. it must have been a real treat to live back in the 50s, when people would spend a little extra money to make their restaurants look special, imaginative, alive. now, the march of carbon-copy mcdonalds, cheap, identical, dead.