Picto Diary - 17, 18, 19, 20 November 2019

17 November 2019 - No entry.

Above: Squirrel. S-Line. Salt Lake City, UT 18 November 2019.

Above: LT at Rockport Reservoir. 19 November 2019.

Getting close to the time for putting the bikes away for the winter.

Above: Little Big Band. Caleb Chapman Soundhouse. American Fork, UT. 20 November 2019.

Drums at Kit.

Above: LT. Residence. Park City, UT. 21 November 2019.

There's a message here.

Addendum:

With every message from you, I can't tell you how proud I am of "Drums" and "Minduveroan ..." You are providing such wonderful musical guidance.

Take care on your motorcycle adventures!

Warm regards,

Music in The Mountains,
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

He's so good these days that there's not much I can do to help other than transport.

Photos were terrific children look sensational.

Mr. Z3,
Oxnard, CA

Dear Steve,

You need not go to a museum to see the legacy of the Transcontinental Railroad. It is evident alongside I-80- you can see the snow sheds that were built over the tracks to protect the work crews (Chinese) from avalanches as they were working their way east through the Sierra Nevada mountains. These sheds were built not out of a sense of sympathy for the Chinese workers; but rather to enable them to complete the track laying mileage faster so as to garner more real estate for the railroad companies. In the Sierras, avalanches were so common (in sweeping the Chinese workers to their deaths) that the phrase “not a Chinaman’s chance” was created.

Living history.

Ahn Rhee
Larkspur, CA

50 Best Non-Fiction Books of Last 25 Years- Slate

https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/11/50-best-nonfiction-books.html

Scribe,
Boston, MA

Tks.

Read three of 'em.
"The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert
"Into the Wild," Krakauer
"Lost City of Z," Grann

Notice on the list is "The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot" by McFarlane. "Underland, read and reviewed by me recently, was great, so I'm inclined to revisit this author.

Most memorable image from Kolbert's book was botanist in Columbia? Ecuador? tracking tree species migration up a secured 8000 ft slope resulting from warming climate. And, the disappearing Panamanian frogs. I liked her balanced conclusion...man may be causing extinctions but man has successfully negotiated many past challenges. No time to give up on progress...solutions may beyond our current understanding...eg. she didn't assume the posture of a sky is falling alarmist.

Krakauer. I could never get over what a loser that kid was, and felt memorializing the life of a loser was an unworthy topic. I've motorcycled in Alaska near where he holed up, and lost his life eating poison plants of some sort, in an abandoned school bus. Not really that big of a deal. He could have found a comparable location here in Utah. The book seemed unnecessarily embellished. However, I'll not forget Krakauer's use of the term "rubber tramps" to describe people who lived in their cars. Much preferred Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" and Anatoli Boukreev's self vindication to Krakauer's criticism follow up, "The Climb." Foolishness on Everest of a sort but climbers were at least aspirational and not drop out losers. Krakauer's "Under The Banner of Heaven" also more interesting to me, if only because of my Mormon roots. To be sure, Krakauer a great adventure writer.

Grann. Fascinating, but forgettable, considering my brain's limited space. Not high on my list of favorites.
Thanks for sending this list....to be filed for future reference!

Bishop

I was at the first session of the Promontory Point Golden Spike commemoration. We paid $250 for a parking spot for our family bus. The irony of Elaine Chao speaking was a beautiful moment to share with the Chinese worker’s descendants seated in front of our SRO spots. We’ve come a longer way than people realize in 150 years.
Today the nation of China vows to retake their position as the worlds leading civilization. They practice while we sleep.

Peterbilt
Bountiful UT

Chinese harbor resentment for treatment by Westerners in Nineteenth Century, for sure. Culturally, they aim to get even.

Steve,

Have you read the latest installment of Jack Reacher. I think the editor spoke to Lee Child and advised that Jack needed to get back to his old tough self and take out some bad guys.

Search,
Park City, UT

I bot the book. Its on my to-be-read pile. Glad to have your heads up about a return to the true Reacher.