Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate

In Austin we stayed at the Austen Motel, close to downtown. It is an old motor lodge on a large property, with attractive buildings, lots of colored tile, quirky artwork, and a lovely pool. It advertises itself a “So close, yet so far out.” (See www.austinmotel.com). The room we were assigned smelled very strongly of mold, and I complained. We stayed in that room one night and were moved to a nicer room, one with a hardwood floor (Room 144, the “Zen” room – ask for it!). We saw the manager about the first night and got a 10% discount, not enough but at least something. Remember, be aggressive at motels. Complain when you have to. Use a credit card like American Express. That way, you can protest to the credit card company if things are really bad. We’ve gotten an entire bill for one night removed by doing that. Read More

The drive from Denver to Santa Fe seemed interminable, but the beauty of the New Mexican landscape, from the Raton Pass just across the border with Colorado to the open cattle country after that – helped make up for the long distance. You know you are in a Latin land as you hit more and more Spanish language radio stations. As we approached the state’s capitol city, we listened to the Art Bell show. Art Bell is all over the radio dial, especially late and night and has attracted a huge audience, most of whom are obsessed with space aliens, alien abductions, “shadow” people, conspiracies of all kinds, and all other “para” phenomena. Most leftists have never heard of Art Bell, but they should know him (and all the other large-audience talk show hosts) because the many callers give important insights into what all too many people in the United States think is important. This is a land tailor-made for conspiracy theories and strange beliefs. These serve as a a substitute for thinking clearly, yet give their adherents the feeling that they have an inside track on things. Karen and I have concluded that we live in a nation of “bar talk;” everyone is an expert on everything, like the guy who won’t shut up on the barstool next to yours. There is no respect for real learning or an appreciation of the effort it takes to understand things. No doubt diehard fundamentalist religious beliefs function in a similar manner. As substitutes for thinking. I know from my many years of teaching undergraduates that the typical U.S. college graduate must certainly be the least knowledgeable in the world. The right-wingers rail against all the left-wingers on campus, but they have little to worry about. In the United States thoughtlessness rules, and bar talk is king. Read More

Our last stop in Utah was in Moab, a town in which we have spent many pleasant days hiking in the canyons and on the red rocks. Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse State Park, and many other natural wonders await the visitor. The Colorado River winds its way just north of Moab, and the Green River, on which John Wesley Powell began his famous journey through the Grand Canyon, meets the Colorado in Canyonlands National Park. The spirit of Edward Abbey hovers over Moab, and there is still a sense that Moabites are resisting the many efforts to turn their town into just another tourist attraction. Jim Stiles, Abbey’s friend and disciple and editor of the fine community newspaper Zephyr, has written a good book about Moab’s past, present, and likely future: Brave New West (University of Arizona Press, 2007). It’s an excellent case study (Dave Foreman says “Jim Stiles is the rock in the boot, the burr under the saddle blanket, the leak in the inner tube. We who love the West ignore him at our peril.”) that hits in great detail some of the themes of my book. Read More

The drive from Bozeman, Montana to Ogden, Utah, takes you along the beautiful Gallatin River and into the mountains of Yellowstone National Park. It was early morning so we didn’t see any rafters or kayakers on the river. Nor did we see any moose as we did in 2001 when we sometimes traveled from the park to Bozeman for some much needed r & r. A few miles out town we got behind a long line of cars. I thought that it was going to be a slow drive, on a two-lane road, following tourist drivers. However, when we reached the turn-off to Big Sky ( a resort area for the truly rich and site of the most expensive house in the United States – a spec. house, not yet sold, being constructed to the tune of $100 million), every car in front of us turned. We guessed that these were the workers who serve the rich in one way or another. Maybe the man who swept the wealthy man’s forest was among the drivers. Read More