Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

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Dallas to Seattle Day 5: To Boise

25 April 2021 • 800 km / 497 mi (map)

This was a day for moody cloudscapes and quiet contemplation.

A single railroad track runs straight toward the horizon through a flat, empty desert landscape under a heavy gray overcast sky, with weathered wooden ties, gravel ballast, and a line of utility poles following the tracks to the right.
Clive, Utah
A black railroad tank car marked UTLX 68599 sits on tracks in the Utah desert, its side covered with large faded graffiti reading “P. FORTY” in orange and cream lettering. A second tank car labeled SKSX is coupled behind it, with scrubby brush and gravel in the foreground and a heavy overcast gray sky above.
Clive, Utah
A high-desert landscape of pale sagebrush and dry grasses spreading across a sandy basin, with low rugged mountains and a flat-topped mesa on the horizon under a heavy overcast sky, clouds descending to obscure the farther peaks.
northeast of Montello, Nevada

Who leaves Utah and then doubles back to drive more remote Utah desert? Right. This guy. (Notice the sign saying 93 miles before any services? I kinda dig those signs.)

A weathered “Welcome to Utah — Life Elevated” highway sign with steam locomotive artwork and some graffiti stands on metal posts beside a two-lane road in open high desert. Low scrubby sagebrush, dry grass, and distant hills fill the scene under a flat, overcast gray sky.
southwest of Park Valley, Utah
A straight two-lane highway with yellow center lines stretches toward the horizon across a vast, flat high desert of dry golden grass near Park Valley, Utah, with low rocky hills on the horizon under a heavy, overcast gray sky.
southwest of Park Valley, Utah
A wide panoramic view of an empty two-lane highway cutting across arid high desert, with sagebrush and dry scrub spreading toward distant low mountains and a prominent rocky butte under a heavy overcast sky. Power lines run alongside the road, which bears a bright yellow center line and white shoulder stripe.
southwest of Park Valley, Utah
A wide expanse of high-desert sagebrush flats stretches toward a line of low brown hills and distant mountains southwest of Park Valley, Utah, under a heavy overcast sky with gray storm clouds trailing wisps of precipitation.
southwest of Park Valley, Utah
A view across an empty two-lane highway with yellow center lines toward a vast sagebrush desert basin, with distant snow-dusted mountains partly obscured by heavy gray storm clouds and low-hanging rain.
southwest of Park Valley, Utah
A single green juniper tree stands alone on an open expanse of golden-brown prairie grassland under a flat, overcast gray sky, with a dark grazing animal barely visible in the distance to the right.
northeast of Park Valley, Utah
A blue “Welcome to Idaho” state border sign stands beside an empty two-lane rural highway running through flat high-desert terrain of dry grass and sagebrush, under a heavy overcast gray sky. Power lines and utility poles stretch across the open landscape to the right.
south of Malta, Idaho
A wide, overcast high-desert landscape south of Malta, Idaho, with sagebrush and scrubby dry ground stretching toward low, partly snow-dusted mountains shrouded in heavy gray clouds. A paved road and strip of green grass run along the foreground.
south of Malta, Idaho

And … this is about as close as I’ll get to the country of Malta for a while.

A green highway sign reading “MALTA pop 225” stands beside a two-lane rural road under a heavy, overcast gray sky, with a cluster of bare and evergreen trees, a white farmhouse, dry grass, and farmland stretching into the distance.
Malta, Idaho
Salt Lake City, Utah, to Boise, Idaho · 800 km / 497 mi
(Mouse over or tap on the markers to see the photos there. Use the button to adjust the map’s position and zoom.)

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