Park City, UT to Salt Lake City, UT: 22.5 miles
I took a walk in the morning in my sister's residential neighborhood - basically walking up until there was no more up to up. It felt weird to walk without a dog. There were tons of other people riding bikes or walking - all doing their best to avoid any kind of eye contact or interaction. American Grotesque.
I'm not sure if this is better or worse than my rural area back home where, probably because people are so sparse, anytime I see someone there is a requirement for an almost perfunctory, banal conversation.
We picked up my younger sister and her SO from the airport and stopped back at the house briefly before heading back up to Park City. We went to the Main Street area where there are tons of shops and restaurants. It was fun to walk around and see everything. There were a few interesting stores; the local art was neat to see.
It was also a great place to people watch. HL Mencken talked about America's Lust for the Hideous, but he was talking about the steel belt Pennsylvania towns - towns not totally unlike many of the towns I've ridden my motorcycle through over the last several days. Some towns may be shabby with vacant store fronts and empty churches. But these towns persist because they persist. The physical location of Park City is gorgeous, but seems to be filled with a transient cast of a modern American Downton Abby. It is an odd mix of people, but it may be hideous in a way HL Mencken was more blind to. We did a short loop walk at the McPolin farm on the way back to the condo and I looked back toward UT-224 and the constant flow of cars and drone of traffic - where were all these people so desperate to be away from?
Back at the condo we hung out for a while. Ryan Montbleau was doing a free concert but I was a bit peopled out. So when everyone left for the concert, I headed back to Sis' house on the bike. This will give me a chance to give it a good once over before heading home.
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