Sunday, September 17, 2006
Mountain Shadows RV Resort, Draper, UT, Part I
September 5, 2006
We decided to take the upper route to Lake Tahoe. We figured we would drive past Provo and on to Salt Lake City. As we drove by Provo, however, a thought occurred to Brian. "Hey," he said. "Isn't BYU in Provo?" We immediately began rearranging our plans and trying to find a campground in or near there. Why does BYU have any significance whatsoever? It's a longish story. Basically, BYU is --or, perhaps, was-- the stomping grounds of one of Brian and Ian's personal heroes, Professor Steven Jones of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Again, this probably means nothing to you. So I will elaborate.
Steven Jones is one of the few prominent scientists in academia who has deigned to comment on the seemingly flawed logic which has surrounded the September 11 collapse of the World Trade Center. He is writing a paper demanding a true reinvestigation of the tragedy. If you would like to find out more about Steven Jones and other information pertaining to September 11, go to Ian's website, www.reachingtruth.com!
Anyway, as a testament to this man's courage and conviction, he has at least two, well, not worshipers, but admirers in B & I. And they wanted to pay a visit to Dr. Jones during his office hours at BYU. I went to the university's website to confirm that it was in Provo, and to find out his office hours. That done, we found one of the few RV parks in the area which had wireless internet and an open pool, Mountain Shadows RV Resort.
It was a weird, fate-like thing. We needed to find somewhere to stay for a few days because I needed to get mail delivered. And here we were, 20 miles from Provo to the South and Salt Lake City to the north. And the site we thought would be perfect for us was the only one available. Synchronicity, is that the term? A strange convergence of events with needs? Eh, whatever. We decided to stay for a while.
So we checked in, plugged in the water and electric, and Zorah and Ian headed for the pool and hot tub. Since we hadn’t been able to get cigarette tubes in Colorado, and had been buying packs instead, I asked the guy in the Park Office where I could find a smoke shop.
He said to just go down State Street, and I would run into one around the 7200 block. It sounded like it was pretty close, though I didn’t ask mileage. It also sounded like it was pretty easy to find, since all I had to do was take a right out of the park and keep going until I saw the store. I told Brian that I would go take care of that while they swam, and set off.
It was easy to find State Street, just as the guy said. After a block, I was only in the 12000 range. Okay, not too bad. Next block, 11500. These blocks were really long, too, but I figured I should keep going. I think I was at the 9000 block about 20 minutes later. These blocks each seemed to house either a few strip malls, or a Cosco, Super Wal-Mart and a Home Depot. I was looking out for a smoke shop all the way, and saw nothing. At this point, I called Brian's cell phone to let him know I would be a while. I didn't realize, however, that the cell phone was in the truck. The ringer was off! Oblivious, I continued on. Finally, I reached the 7200 block. No smoke shop in sight. There was a gas station, a Chinese restaurant, a nail salon, and a pizza place. Ooookaay.
Maybe most of you would turn around and go back at this point. Not me! I was determined to get the thing I set out to acquire. After driving so long, this turned into a personal, if not fanatical, quest. I stopped at a gas station and looked in the phone book there. Can you believe it? In Utah, they don't rip the phone books out of the payphones! I found a smoke shop on State Street and called them. They were open and said to just keep coming down State Street. I would see a Carl's Jr., take a left into its parking lot, and the smoke shop would be right there.

Steven Jones is one of the few prominent scientists in academia who has deigned to comment on the seemingly flawed logic which has surrounded the September 11 collapse of the World Trade Center. He is writing a paper demanding a true reinvestigation of the tragedy. If you would like to find out more about Steven Jones and other information pertaining to September 11, go to Ian's website, www.reachingtruth.com!
Anyway, as a testament to this man's courage and conviction, he has at least two, well, not worshipers, but admirers in B & I. And they wanted to pay a visit to Dr. Jones during his office hours at BYU. I went to the university's website to confirm that it was in Provo, and to find out his office hours. That done, we found one of the few RV parks in the area which had wireless internet and an open pool, Mountain Shadows RV Resort.
It was a weird, fate-like thing. We needed to find somewhere to stay for a few days because I needed to get mail delivered. And here we were, 20 miles from Provo to the South and Salt Lake City to the north. And the site we thought would be perfect for us was the only one available. Synchronicity, is that the term? A strange convergence of events with needs? Eh, whatever. We decided to stay for a while.
So we checked in, plugged in the water and electric, and Zorah and Ian headed for the pool and hot tub. Since we hadn’t been able to get cigarette tubes in Colorado, and had been buying packs instead, I asked the guy in the Park Office where I could find a smoke shop.

It was easy to find State Street, just as the guy said. After a block, I was only in the 12000 range. Okay, not too bad. Next block, 11500. These blocks were really long, too, but I figured I should keep going. I think I was at the 9000 block about 20 minutes later. These blocks each seemed to house either a few strip malls, or a Cosco, Super Wal-Mart and a Home Depot. I was looking out for a smoke shop all the way, and saw nothing. At this point, I called Brian's cell phone to let him know I would be a while. I didn't realize, however, that the cell phone was in the truck. The ringer was off! Oblivious, I continued on. Finally, I reached the 7200 block. No smoke shop in sight. There was a gas station, a Chinese restaurant, a nail salon, and a pizza place. Ooookaay.
Maybe most of you would turn around and go back at this point. Not me! I was determined to get the thing I set out to acquire. After driving so long, this turned into a personal, if not fanatical, quest. I stopped at a gas station and looked in the phone book there. Can you believe it? In Utah, they don't rip the phone books out of the payphones! I found a smoke shop on State Street and called them. They were open and said to just keep coming down State Street. I would see a Carl's Jr., take a left into its parking lot, and the smoke shop would be right there.

Forty-five minutes passed before I finally saw the Carl's Jr., shining like the holy grail. Apparently, State Street is the longest street in Utah. No, it really is. The people at the smoke shop said so. Hey, isn't it weird that there should be smoke shops in Salt Lake City? Anyway, I took the highway back and got to the trailer in about 20 minutes. Of course, everyone was wondering what had happened, and were extremely skeptical about my telling of the past events. It is true though. I really am an idiot. LOL.
One good thing that came of it was that I saw a restaurant that looked good for dinner. It was a more upscale Chinese restaurant called Joy Luck. They had interesting dishes, such as Strawberry Chicken, which we had to order just to see. It was all very good food, and somewhat appeased the family, making up a little bit for the fact that I went out for a pack of cigarettes and disappeared for three hours.
One good thing that came of it was that I saw a restaurant that looked good for dinner. It was a more upscale Chinese restaurant called Joy Luck. They had interesting dishes, such as Strawberry Chicken, which we had to order just to see. It was all very good food, and somewhat appeased the family, making up a little bit for the fact that I went out for a pack of cigarettes and disappeared for three hours.