Tuesday, August 21, 2012

How I Took the Road Less Traveled... and why I might change careers

For this latest round of revisions, I decided I needed a change of scenery. So I put the car in drive (don't know why I needed to specify that) and I turned the steering wheel (again with the specifics) toward the South/Southeast of Salt Lake City. 

I went South really fast. Then I turned left at Highway 6, a.k.a. the "Highway of Death", so named after the man who discovered the highway, Richard J. Death. Richard had a hard time making friends, so he was thrilled when the discovery of this highway brought him notoriety. 

Then, when you reach Price, you raise your hand to shield your eyes from the sun, and you look out in all four directions, and you ask yourself, "Which way looks to be the most desolate?"

Then you take the road less traveled, highway 10, and follow it all the way until you hit... well, nothing. You just have to know where to turn left. 

Then you turn left. (I know, who would've thought simple directions would make such an awesome blog post? Wait. It doesn't? Um... too late.)

And you follow a dirt road, and suddenly you come upon this:
aren't you happy you took the road less traveled? 
I had no idea when I took that picture this morning that it would end up looking so dang good. See, a real photographer would be all, "Okay, I think I'll set up here, because check out how the reflection on the glassy pond optimizes the light from... that... giant golden orb in the sky!" (Okay, I don't know if that's how photographers really talk.)

But as for me, I was walking around the mini-lake, tripping over sage brush, talking to the grasshopper who happened to be following me on my walk. Okay, I wasn't really talking to him. I was yelling at him to please stop following me. 

I was thinking about my blog post, and I was all, "hey! I should take a pic!" So I stopped right where I was and clicked the photo with my iPhone, and voila. My new career! (Okay, maybe I'm putting a little too much value in the beauty of the photo above, but seriously, most of my pictures look like this:


That parentheses above is hanging by itself, so I'm going to close it here.)

Anywho, I'm planning on spending the next three days writing here:



Sleeping here:

Exploring this:


And talking to this guy:

I won't worry about the isolation until he starts talking back. 

So, what do y'all think? Anyone wanna come down and join me? Anyone taking bets on when the buffalo will answer my questions? Anyone else picturing a tiny camera in the buffalo's eye, recording my every move? 

Just me?

By the way, I arrived here last night, when the buildings were all dark, and the isolation felt more like the setting of a slasher flick. But I made it through the night. I don't have phone service, but I can send someone a frantic text if I get in trouble, and hopefully that person will check his/her texts. But if that person is like Sam, he may not find out anything until the next day. Not that anyone could do anything, because by the time they got in the car and drove to the ranch, my body would be cold and filled with maggots. 

But just so we don't end on a downer, like my own cold-blooded murder, remember the time I posed with Jef from the Bachelorette?



18 comments:

  1. Yes, end every blog post for the rest of your life with that picture, okay?

    If a buffalo ends up in the next book, at least we'll know why.

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    1. Mr. Buffalo heard you. He likes you very much.

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  2. You are multitalented for sure. :-) Love the buffalo too. Enjoy your retreat!

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  3. That's awesome and beautiful!
    Enjoy your writing time!

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    1. Thank you! I guess to start enjoying my writing time, I should actually start writing. :)

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  4. Yes, I totally want to come and join you. I'll be there in five minutes.

    Also, my friend Ashley and I have a motto, based on the bumper stickers of the buffalo conservancy a few years back: I'M A BUFFALO. I DO WANT I WANT.

    So Brodi, be a buffalo, and have an awesome, creatively juicy time!

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    1. I love that motto! I'm going to repeat it to myself all day long. And then the actual buffalo will roll his eyes and be all, "Whatevs, human."

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  5. That looks lovely. Is it kid friendly? I need to plan a short stacation for my family the end of Sept. Enjoy the peace and quiet, say hi to the buffalo for me :-)

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    1. It is very kid friendly! And very quiet. Have I mentioned that?

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  6. Awesome picture. You have found your next adventure in life. I would love to come explore that place with you, but I am afraid that the timing isn't right, and you wouldn't get any writing done. After all that is why you left, right? Have a great time, and I hope you get a lot done. Best Wishes!

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    1. Thank you! We'll have to do a girls' trip there!

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  7. I thought of you and your Jef story last Thursday when I was sitting next to Ellen Travolta at our local summer theater. I was encouraged by how you stepped out of your comfort zone to talk to Jef and was all ready to take the plunge and talk to Ellen after the show. But she left during the applause and I missed my chance. Oh well. Maybe next time.

    I love the picture and truly, more than you know, wish I was there. Enjoy!

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    1. A similar thing has happened to me before... now you'll just be even more ready the next time you have the opportunity!!

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  8. You are really good at photography. You should post pictures you take more often!

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    1. Thanks! I will. I just have a feeling there will be more that look like the blurry pic than the ranch pic. :)

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  9. Actually, I just got back from a weekend at a farmhouse with taxidermy squirrels and a deer head and actually had thoughts that were quite similar to yours regarding the recording buffalo.

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