Take that closer look

The first time I ever passed through Green River, Utah, about fifteen years ago, I was angry with myself for taking I-70 east instead of a more scenic route. To my eye at the time it was only hellishly hot, barren and ugly. I couldn't fill my tank and get out of there fast enough.

The next time I was in Green River, I stopped for the night, pretty much out of necessity. It was either that or push on for a couple hours more. I spent the night at one of the truck stops (it is eventually possible for fatigue to win out over the constant drone of idling big rigs) and left at the crack of dawn.

Since then, I'd heard some good things about Green River, so I went back on purpose. Once I got away from the truck stops and the sadness of a main drag in decline, it became a different, better place.

Dawn and ducks on the Green River

There are a lot of places like that. I've had to retrain myself the past couple of years to look beyond first impressions. There have been pleasant surprises. And, alas, some places really were just disgusting hell holes.

They say you won't know if you don't go. So I've been going. Off the Interstates, away from the business districts, up the canyons, along the rivers, down that sketchy dirt road... And now I know more of the story.