Picto Diary - 03 June 2016 - Dick Brass

Above: Moab. 01 June 1951.

Image from Guzzi.

I was almost six years old when this image was taken.

Above: Green River. John Wesley Powell River Museum. Green River, UT. 03 June 2016.

The museum is a favorite stop of mine. I like browsing their book store. Today I bought a paperback copy of Edward Abbey's "The Monkey Wrench Gang." Theme is a bunch of idealistic environmentalists plot to blow up the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell and return the Colorado River canyons of southern Utah back to their "natural" state.

Seen in this image, the Green River, which is the Colorado River's largest tributary, runs high... as was the case, yesterday with the Rio Grand, Animus, and San Juan rivers. Above average snow pack buys another year of water "peace." But, it'll take four or five years of above average snow packs to refill Mead and Powell. The west is still in draught condition.

Above: Stalled traffic. US 6/191 between Green River, UT and Price, UT. 03 June 2016.

Accident... semi roll over and fire... about 5 miles ahead of this spot. Forty five minute delay. Ducati's overheat at too much idle. I kept the engine off for much of the inching forward here. It was a good test of the new ignition activation hard ware and software installed in Albuquerque by PJ's Motorcycles.

Most of the accident scene had been cleared by the time I arrived. I don't know if anyone was hurt or not, but, it was a sticky situation for traffic as the overturned truck was in a gully where there was no room to route traffic to one side or the other. Traffic arriving just after the accident must have had to wait a long time for the accident scene to be cleared.

Above: Rocky Mountain Recreational Vehicles and Motorcycles. Helper, UT. US 191/6. 03 June 2016.

In search of Dick Brass.

Dick Brass worked with me in my organization of Big Cat dual sport motorcycle ride events in Jarbidge, NV and Dubois, WY, circa 2005 to 2007.

Dick was then a curmudgeonly, spry 80 years old. He lived in camper pick-up combination and pulled his Suzuki DRZ 650 dual sport motorcycle behind on a flat bed trailer. He kept a good supply of quality red wine in his camper. No wine stores in the desert.

Dick was an MIT graduate and was living off a pension earned in more than thirty years employment with Pacific Power (Rocky Mountain Power).

Dick was most at home mapping out riding trails in places like the San Rafael Swell. He used Rocky Mountain Recreational Vehicle and Motorcycle as a mail drop, since he didn't have a personal address.

Two weeks before Big Cat Jarbidge, circa 05, Dick spec'd (sic) out trails in the Jarbidge wilderness that we would use in our ride. I went on one of his reconnaissance rides with him. In the middle of nowhere the DRZ 650 got a flat tire. "Oh, no," I said to myself. "What now?"

Dick jumped off the bike and in no more than 10 minutes had taken off the rear wheel, un beaded the tire, removed the tube, patched the hole, reversed the procedure and had the bike operational. I love being around guys who can do stuff... not having the ability myself. Dick was a classic example of the many self effacing doers you see of this genre in the motorcycling activity.

Noted dual sport riding wizard Jimmy Lewis joined us on our main Big Cat - Jarbidge ride. At one point we stopped at a vista point, and Jimmy, first time riding in this area, paused for a moment, then said, "breathtaking." And, it was breath taking. All facilitated by Dick Brass's reconnaissance the previous two weeks.

I decided to stop at Rocky Mountain RV and MC to ask about Dick's whereabouts. I wasn't expecting to find him. He'd be over 90 today if he were alive. It had been ten years since I had had contact.

The manager inside, after hearing that I was trying to track down Dick Brass, said: "You're not a bill collector or anything like that are you?"

After deciding that I was on the up and up, the manager said. "Yeah, Dick was in here about an hour ago."

Knock my socks off! What? He'd have to be over 92 now... and he's still out and about looking for new trails?

The manager deigned to provide Dick's phone number. I'll call.

Serendipity strikes again!

The image above shows four Polaris Sling Shots. The Commodore tells me they've made about 5000 of them to date and that BMW has a similar vehicle on the drawing board.

Above: Utah Railways coal train. Price Canyon. Paralleling US 6/191. 03 June 2016.

Five visible locomotives here in the middle of the train. There are two locomotives in the front and two in the back. Total 9 locomotives for this train which will "help" the train go the three thousand foot of elevation over Soldier Summit to the Wasatch Front and power plants to supply the electrical power needs of two million people, the bulk of Utah's population. Uh...many locomotives to "help" the train? Yes. That's why Helper, Utah, at the start end of this run, is called.... Helper.

The bulk of Utah's electrical power is supplied by coal, the world's least expensive source of energy. Cheap power undergirds economic progress where Utah leads the nation in employment growth, unemployment rate, bond rating and many other indicators.

Cheap coal power is also "democratic" as it does not penalize, as does government coerced high power cost, People on limited incomes, struggling to get by from pay check to pay check, have a shot of a good life in economically expanding, low cost, Utah.

I marvel at the engineering creativity that is able to get millions of ton's of coal out of the eastern Utah mines, into train cars, and over a 3000 foot elevation rise, before being dumped at a power plant in the valley. American culture spends too much time adulating ephemera and too little valuing the great achievements - a coal train, for example - that enable our lifestyle, the best ever known in the history of the world.

Above: Wind turbines and the Duc. Mouth, Spanish Fork Canyon. US 6. Spanish Fork, UT. 03 June 2016.

Let me get this straight. With abundant sources of cheap coal in Utah we install expensive wind power? And, because wind is variable, and doesn't always blow, we still need to keep the old coal fired plants running anyway? So we add to the overall cost of power? For what?

Not to mention wind turbines being one of top killers of bird life.

All so unnecessary... so cruel... to the humans and to the birds.

Above: Duc (left) and BMW F800 GS (blue, middle). Harrison Motorsports. Salt Lake City, UT. 03 June 2016.

Dropped off the Duc for an oil change and picked up the F800 GS which had had some auxiliary lights and a new GPS mount installed. I rode the F800 GS to Park City. I'll pick up the Duc tomorrow after the oil change.

All five of the fixes required for the Duc in Albuquerque by PJ's Motorcycles were successfully made as far as I can tell.

1. New hands free brain and wireless key fob ignition worked well. I did not engage the steering lock overnight in Moab for fear of creating another hands free brain problem. Steering lock is also a function of the hands free brain, and, I felt that a steering lock malfunction in Marfa, TX a month ago might have been the trigger to disable the ignition on/off malfunction that caused me to leave the bike in Albuquerque in the first place. I'll attempt to use more of the features - beyond ignition - of the hands free system when I get home and am not at risk somewhere in the remote wilds, on the road. Once burned... twice shy.

2. PJ Motorcycles, Albuquerque re-ran the engine tuning software on the bike to fix the surging idling and the difficult AM start. The surging has disappeared and the bike started promptly this morning.

3. Rear pannier now locks and is removable from the bike. There was a hairline crack in the malfunctioning bag that created a minute mis-match in the locking mechanism. PJ's installed a new part on the old bag after discovering the cause of the problem.

4. Center stand bolt replaced. Center stand working.

5. New rubber. Pirelli Scorpion Trail.

I appreciate the attentive service of the guys at PJ's. Mine were not easy fixes. Their service guys and their tech seemed quite on top of things.

Above: Late Friday Group. Park City Rockers. New Park. Summit County Utah. 03 June 2016.

Buddy Rich and pals do Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog."

A rock trio... they put out sound... close your eyes and you're listening to intensity of Texican rock and role trio, Los Lonely Boys.

Addendum:


Hey Steve, Are you ever home? Your travels are great.

Bea,
Livermore, CA


Ahhh, the question of how to deal with the "Indian Problem:"

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), aka Boss Indians Around, is one of the oldest bureaucracies in USA government, and was given birth to inside The War Department. Also assisting in keeping the Natives on the "rez" today at 25%-65% unemployment rates are these other federal gov't agencies: DOL, DOC, HHS, DOJ, DOE, to name a few, and then there are the State and local government bureaucracies for law enforcement, schools, roads, (depends on the State), even right down to the country bureaucracies (I got tagged a couple of years ago for jury duty for county court).

The Natives themselves don't agree on what or how. Some are bought off by gov't jobs and grants while others who have suggestions outside a current administration polices (or bureaucrats) can be tossed in the slammer or run to ground by the heavy hand of the gov't. There is no easy answer and due to traditional tribal differences and gov't intervention, it's a murky situation for the members of the 400 plus "tribes," (tribe also being a murky definition, as seen by Senator Elizabeth Warren claiming to be Native American to score a job at Harvard for a minority - I think Warren claimed to be 1/32 Cherokee).

In 1979 I was sitting next to President Carter at the Cabinet table in the west wing of the White House, prior to the start of a meeting of various representatives from different minorities, a political deal to sway votes in the coming election. President Carter politely asked which group I was from and I told him. He thought for a few seconds, and then said something like, "You know, if your 300-400 Indian tribes would get together you'd have a pretty good voting block, could get some things done."

I replied, "You know, if your Democratic and Republican parties could get together the government could get some things done."

President Carter pondered my response for a few seconds, then said, "I understand."

I think the best description of the situation in "Indian Country" was once put forth by some pundit who came up with this story: General Custer was preparing to leave Washington to head out West and kick some Indian butt to redeem himself in the eyes of The War Department, where the BIA was being spawned. As he was leaving he said, "Don't do anything until I get back!"

BIA, good or bad, at least it has not successfully dealt with the "native problem" as well as did the Brits the Palawa (indigenous people of the Australian state of Tasmania), of which there are none left today.

And then there were the Spanish dealing with the natives (Tainos) of Cuba. On February 2, 1512, their chief, Hatuey was tied to a stake at the Spanish camp, where he was burned alive. Just before lighting the fire, a Spanish priest offered him spiritual comfort, showing him the cross and asking him to accept Jesus and go to heaven. “Are there people like you in heaven?” Hatuey asked. “There are many like me in heaven,” answered the priest. Hatuey answered that he wanted nothing to do with a God that would allow such cruelty to be unleashed in his name.

When I motorcycled around Cuba in 2002 one of my projects was to find a Tainos Indian. I suspect while your were touring Cuba you saw how Hatuey is honored in Cuba today: Cuba's Hatuey beer! And Hatuey's "trade dress and the Indian head device are trademarks of BACARDI USA."

'nuff of a Native rant. Before I have an afternoon (below the yardarm) Cuba Libre, I need to start the lawn mower/weed eater and knock down some of the Custer Weeds in my front yard, having been off the rez for most of the last eight months.

Always good to hear you're out there on a motorcycle, or pondering the same.

I'll close with this: Custer hired six Crow scouts (Crows had no love for the Sioux). The Sioux (and Cheyenne) were camped out, en mass, in prime Crow Country. The Crows lead Custer to where he could see the Sioux/Cheyenne camp, and then said, "They're down there. We go home now."

Best,

Dr. G,
Crow Agency, MT

PS: I used to live in Albuquerque, so have been an avid Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fan, in part for the location shots.


Too good, Dr. G. Tks.


I thought YOU were going to be one of the monoliths! :-) Also though there was a "ship rock" in Bryce Canyon. But, I guess it's "sinking ship." Close!

Tom
Charlotte, NC

Nope. I'm the Colossus of Memnon, remember? I can't be two things at once.