By ED PECK
All who wander are not lost. Except guys. We get lost, we are not just wandering. Of course, we claim we are taking “the scenic route,” but we are lost. Part of the creed written on the back of our “Man Card” says, “Never Stop and Ask for Directions.” The tradition goes back to Columbus heading for China. He took the shortcut, too.
On Labor Day weekend, Jere Taylor and I, along with three members of the Barney family and others from Meeker took advantage of the nice weather and traveled to Rangely for a car tour of the historic Dragon and Rainbow mine areas. We also followed some of the old Uintah railway. Jere’s mother, Edith Ball, had cooked for a railroad crew along the Uintah Railway. Rodger Polley, author of two books on the area, gave us a wonderful guided tour of the old Gilsonite mines. (Thank you, Rodger!)
We started at the True Value Hardware store and headed to the Utah side of the world. At Dragon, we concluded the tour and dispersed to find our own way back to civilization. Rodger gave us good directions, but I think I missed a detail or two. I missed the first turn and had to make a U-turn six miles down the road at the Garfield County Line. The map I took did not show the county roads. Later we caught sight of Rodger’s Jeep and he gave us help. However, we lost Rodger in a trail of dust, and came to an intersection of a different county road number. Jere and I had not been on any of these roads before, so I made a Lewis & Clark-like decision. Guys use a form of precise orienteering in these situations. We flipped a coin and went East.
The road started to wander more south than I was comfortable with. When we came to the top of a hill, I got an internet signal on my phone, so I turned on a direction app with one of those feminine voices that sound sweet but are pushy voices much like a wife. There is a loop-hole in the “never ask for directions” creed. If you are not talking to a real person, you are not really “asking for directions.” Hilda told us to make a U-turn and then make a right on Dragon Trail Road. Well, that sounded good, so we made the turn onto this rugged road. It turned out NOT to be Dragon Trail Road, but some unnamed BLM road servicing gas wells. Good thing we had four wheel drive.
We guys are often known to stick to a bad decision occasionally. We just call it “taking a short cut.” My advice, do not listen to GPS phone voices in Northwest Colorado. We made it back to Rangely by driving an extra 15 miles on shortcuts. We probably would have made better time if we had Lewis and Clark’s guide, Sacagawea, who happened to be a Shoshone teenage girl. Teenagers know everything, but then I would have to admit I had asked for directions.
