Day 95 - Friday, September 3

Yesterday was a tough day. Doing 12 miles early and then going unsupported for 20+ miles and 3,100’ of elevation on a hot day left me wiped out when I arrived at the RV. It also left me losing another few pounds down to 154, a weight I haven’t seen since a sophomore in High School! But, I had an appetite which last week I was having trouble with and I was able to out eat Chris for probably the first time this trip. Panko crusted Cod with grilled Portobello mushroom with olive oil and garlic finished by a salad times 2. Wash all of that down with big bowl of ice cream and sleep at 7pm was the right medecine to recovering. I woke feeling sluggish and tired but the second I saw the pavement art on my way out of town my spirits were lifted.

Chris met me 13 miles out of town on a crisp morning that had no air quality warnings for the first day in a long while. The sunrise didn’t show any of the orange and reds of a smoke filled sky but turned brilliant blue and yellow. The landscape is so grand - mountains and fields of cedar, sage and scrub as far as the eye can see. The vistas unfold each mile and then a corner is turned into a new panorama. A train came through the valley and it all looked like we were playing on a toy set for some higher being up above.

When I met Chris I was really hungry and tired. He knew just the thing I needed - 4 thick pieces of Jimmy Dean’s spicy sausage with scramble eggs, fried cheddar cheese on toasted Dave’s seared bread. It must have been 2,000 calories but I left feeling full and then feeling full of energy for the next 20 miles - total recovery!

We finished the day boon-docking across from the Sevier Desert. While there is green all around this desert just popped up out of no where. One more day until we reach the last towns of Delta & Hinckley before we head through 150 miles of wasteland…

All for today - thank you for your support.

Cheers,

David.

Immediate uplifting of spirits leaving the town of Eureka, UT

Church converted into an Airbnb in the town center

THE BULLION BECK & CHAMPION MINING COMPANY HEADFRAME Perched over deep mining shafts, headframes or gallow frames illustrate the development of mining from small individually owned prospects to the large- scale operation of mining corporations. Technological innovations were required to accomplish this change. The Bullion Beck headframe, constructed in 1890, served to transport men, mules, supplies, and ore in and out of the underground workings. "The Salt Lake Tribune", January 1, 1891, described the newly constructed plant: Over the shaft is a main building of hoisting works. This is a substantially-framed structure, 40 x 119 feet, and high enough to take in the gallows frame, that being one of the best and strongest in the country and 60 feet in height. There are no better frame timbers or larger ones than these in Utah. Headframes were of various types- the 4- or 6-post type and the A-type or modifications of it. The Bullion Beck gallows is A-type, also called two-post headframe or Montana type. Mining engineers' handbook contains stress sheets and diagrams that illustrate how all bracing was placed at angles and in positions designed to hold the weight and stress needed to do the job. Sizes of frames depended on load weight, shaft size and depth, special equipment requirements, and weather conditions if exposed. The Headframe allowed mining from depths of 300 to over 3,000 feet below the surface. On top of this frame sits sheeves, large wheels over which ran the hoisting rope. The rope, first a braided belt then a wire cable, ran from the hoisting engines some distance from the headframe. Bullion Beck had two Frazer and Chalmers 500 horse-power engines. The ropes from the sheeves were attached to cages that traveled in and out of the vertical shaft. These could have single cages or double-decked and had sections of track attached for rolling in ore cars. In inclined shafts (shafts descending at an angle) all self-dumping ore cars with wheels called skips were used. Thus, the vertical beams running in the center of the frame are often labeled skip guides. Those of the Bullion Beck were partially reconstructed in 1987. Hoisting was the process of getting men, equipment, and ore in and out of the mine. The headframe served as part of the hoisting plant or works. Basically, the process involved a three-man team - hoist operator, top lander and cage tender. The hoist operator ran the hoisting engine according to a set system of bell signals. Removing loaded ore cars and sending down the empty ones fell to the top lander, while the cage tender delivered the loads to the different levels of the mine and loaded cars of ore or overburden to be sent to the surface. The floor at the top of the shaft contained iron plates and tracks for the cars so that they could be sent to the ore bins or to the waste dumps. Bullion Beck Mine contained a double compartment shaft with a man-way from top to bottom. The timber-lined shaft collar is now covered. The surface plant of the Bullion Beck Mine was originally enclosed in a wooden building. In 1925 all of the plant was demolished except the headframe, which sat idle during the depression of the 1930s. It reopened due to World War II demand and operated into the early 1960s. Mining historians view the headframe as "the most prominent feature in almost any representation of the ordinary mine of the frontier period." These wooden gallows are very rare. Those standing symbolize the important of the western mining landscape.

The Head Frame 1

The Head Frame 2

Vast expanses of prairie and mountain ranges on either side of the road

A blue, white and yellow sunrise unlike the oranges and reds of poor air quality ones

White Prickly Poppy

A long train appeared and I felt like we were all so tiny in this vast expanse

A clean road leading to the next mountain pass

Three hours after my mega breakfast my energy returned and we walked for a mile together loving the terrain

The Sevier Desert appears

The dunes remind me of the Sahara Desert - this is photo from a mountain before the desert

Across from the Desert we find our spot for the night and its a great one!