The Hula Hoop Incident

Rozel Point: in the wasteland of Northern Utah Spiral Jetty is on the north side of the Great Salt Lake which means it's far away in a desert wasteland. I couldn't wait to see it. Our journey started at the Golden Spike. That is where the pavement ends; so naturally that is where the adventure begins. The road to the Jetty is dirt for 12 miles or so. Have you noticed that when you are driving somewhere new, it feels like it is taking forever? This road was pretty bumpy and the kids were crammed in the back seat of the truck. Kids in the back seat can make a road feel like forever too. Finally we got there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Jetty The parking lot is a little bit elevated. You can see the Jetty near by and the edge of the Lake farther out. The Great Salt Lake is the end of the line for the nearby rivers, so the water level moves depending on how wet the state has been in recent years. ...

It was a dark night in a small town in central Utah in the early 90's.  A handful of teenage boys were prowling around, up to no good. I was there. We found a hula hoop in the park and took it with us on our walk. We played frisbee with it in the empty streets. We rolled it down the road, but put a little English on it, so it would roll back. We walked past the fair grounds and saw a lonely street light at the end of a T-bone in the road. The challege was obvious; giant ring toss. We took turns lobbing the plastic ring at the light, trying to get it hooked over the light pole.  It took longer than I thought it would. Throw after throw missed and sent the hoop rolling. Random strangers stopped to help us. I was never an athlete, so my throws were pathetic, but entertaining. But as with life, persistence is the recipe for success. In the end the hoop was hanging for all to see. The next morning at school, people were talking about the hula hoop on the light pole. It was m...