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Show J Page E4 THE DAILY HERALD, (www.HaiiThclHerald.com), Provo, Utah, Sunday, April 2, 2000 Along Oregon Trail, 2 watch life mosey by By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER Associated Press Writer WAGONTIRE, Ore. A couple of travelers moseyed into Ellie Downing's cafe to study the floor. They'd heard the previous owners had once glued a quarter there as a joke on folks who would stoop over to pick it up. The quarter was long gone. Not spotting the two bits, the pair bought a couple of sodas, got back into their car, and vanheaded down U.S. 395 ishing in the surrounding flatlands.' "Two sodas all morning," sage-studde- d the shrugged hills. Television comes in by satellite. There is no cable or local news. Car radio reception dissolves to static. Many of the few highway signs reminding motorists of how far it is to the next town are shot full of holes by hunters, frustrated or jubilant, who come to the desert for deer, jackrabbits or coyotes. "Some boys were over here just the other day hunting jackrabbits," she said. Downing doesn't mind the hunters, "just so they don't hurt my cottontails," who have moved in around the cafe.' There is something sincere about Wagontire, a place where the French fries are hand-cut- , the cigarettes are unfiltered, the cowboys are real and the conversation, when a local trucker and an area resident get together, drifts toward whose grandfather buckarooed . six-roo- 12-mi- Downing, a little woman with big glasses and short brown hair. In Wagontire, a remote outpost whose sole residents are two people and a geriatric burro named Willie, encounters like this are about all the excitement you can normally amidst the desert dips and expect. Wagontire is a blip in the middle of nowhere, a humble wayside for travelers making their way across - the vast, spooky - expanse of juniper bushes and scrub brush that's called Oregon's high desert." Wagontire consists of a cafe, a motel, two gas RV an . pumps, park and a small not much, but It's landing strip. it all belongs to Downing. She's the queen of Wagontire. Her nephew, Jerry Gray, helps run this modest kingdom. When Downing needs supplies for her restaurant, it's a round-tri1 drive to a Wild West sort'of Burns town of only 3,000 that seems like a major metropolis to folks living in the high desert. Downing has the only telephone for 28 miles in onedirec-tioand 50 in the other..' Cell phones work only sporadically p n CLTU U JUIOME FURNISHING' UU . with whose over on the Alvord Desert. As you drive across the high desert, ' Wagontire pops up unexpectedly amid the gentle dips in the highway just when you think there couldn't possibly be any sign of life out here. Lights from Downing's cafe wink a welcome through the gray days and blowing rain or snow. Along with travelers, local ranchers also stop by for one of Downing's hamburgers in these parts for their size and juiciness.. As Downing washed dishes in the cafe and kept an eye on a soap opera, a couple towing dirt bikes behind their car dropped well-know- n get a lot of bikers through here in the summer," Downing said. "Most of them can't make it from Burns to on a tank (of gas). 7 Lakeview I've had as many as 18 of 'em "We - J - C " Dnins has "nly out here at one time for gas." The two dirt bikers said they wanted to inspect Downing's landing strip to see if their plane could land there. They decided the strip was too rough. Downing's air strip has a that it's sign boasting International "Wagontire Airport." That's about as accurate as large letters on Wagontire Cafe identifying it as city hall. But the air strip does get used by government officials as a base for firefighting operations and by private pilots who land to grab a bite at Wagontire Cafe. "We had three planes, come in over there all at once a cou I WRIGHT Associated Press Writer YELLOW ST O N E NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. Students from seven univer- sities raced their retooled across snowmobiles the of southern portion f ' fir i I 1 I TA 'frZff . ' ;. '''' York-Buffal- If M mm S'S Vk Twin M .'229" Fill El PC.. K sn 2 uc.tr s679" KWCiKsn... O WW set TWWiKsn '549" RUiKsn REtW :.W KING yjflo op? III 0 U US K eo. pc. TRIBUNE PILLOWTOP j VIA WW 9 si. QUEEN (Ml W 3KSCT KG.W i pc sit ... DEB.W RiuiPCHT KS.7W KING 3 K sn REG. , TWMiKsn 7 ' ' t.ir KMGiKsn PILLOWTOP .LEXINGTON Queen set ... 170(1 isa m m m mm twin2kt ...r;. .Tr.....1ii99" RUiKsn nam '1199" KMGiKsn '1299" 4 a 4 Quteii n tat mow ;...'1599" FUUiKsn.... IIEtW ,.....'1699" HES.W EBMUBEEEDJKJ POSTUREPEDIC TWiNiKsn... ) RECIHT RB.'139r !899" FUUiPCsn .'1099" b P. r. dm -- w ..749" : P0STUREPEDIC WEST PORT PILLOWTOP E. Queen 2 pc. set '1US" P0STUREPEDIC p 4 TWIN (INC ipc .'1999" sn.... HE6.W done in six years," Paddleford said. The National Park Service has helped sponsor the challenge. The primary sponsor is the Society of Automotive in based Engineers,, Warrendale, Pa. "I think the park is just excited to promote cleaner, quieter snowmobiles," said district four-strok- "'f IfilBUNE CUSHION FIRfitTLUSH ' Yellowstone National Park to ' prove to a team of judges that the future of snowmobiling is park ranger Mary Wilson. Challenge officials are not a cleaner, quieter experience. until the end of the saying marked the Wednesday event who passed the emisbeginning of the Clean sions test, but a leading candiSnowmobile Challenge 2000, a is a snowmobile from date competition that started this State University of New year as a way to promote the that has a industry but has become more serious since park officials engine. "You can't even smell the announced a ban on snowmoand if you have cologne exhaust biles may be inevitable. all you'll smell," said that's on, The guidelines are tough. In Andrew driver Mills. the days leading up to the Donald Ableson,. past presievent, only two of the seven of the Society for dent sleds passed emission tests, a Automotive he said Engineers, critical step in the competition was he what by impressed in which carbon monoxide emissions must be reduced by a heard as the sleds zoomed by. r "You weren't plugging your quarter and unburned hydroas they went by," he said. ears carbons by half normal levels. But Jason Bohrer, assistant "Emissions is the most heaveditor of SnoWest Magazine, ily weighted, in addition to based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, noise," said challenge coordinasaid he could not tell much diftor Lori Fussell. ference. As the teams sped along an "At normal running speeds, route to test their 80-mil- PRIMROSE PLUSH ple of weeks ago," Downing said. "I think nine people came over here for breakfast." Wagontire has had its brush with fame. It made Ripley's "Believe it or Not" newspaper feature once. A bicycling New York Times reporter stopped by several years ago. It's quiet in Wagontire on this March day. But "it's busier in the summer," said owning, leafing through a guest book showing" visitors from around the world who have stopped at Wagontire. - Downing moved from Burns to Wagontire last summer. She traded some land in Burns for the --16 acres that make up Wagontire, Cleaner, quieter snowmobiles race through Yellowstone By ELISABETH A. ' tel?t,ner 2i in miies in one direction Cell phones work only sporadically amidst the desert dips and hills. Car radio reception dissolves to static. " P0STUREPEDIC e machines' fuel efficiency, they passed a riverbank where a coyote had been gnawing on a elk carcass and where eagles soared overhead. Earlier, park officials made sure the area was clear of elk and bison so the drivers would not get hurt. The goal of the challenge is to develop a snowmobile that is environmentally friendly but retains performance that riders demand. "I think it's our only hope really, to stay in the park," said challenge judge Craig Koll, Old of Faithful owner Snowmobile; Tours. Bill Paddleford, a "Teton County commissioner who estimates that a snowmobile ban could eliminate 15 to 20 percent of the area's winter economy, said he helped start the competition because of frustration with manufacturers he thinks are too slow to put out environmentally friendly products. " The students are given six months to retool handed-dowsleds. "We've done more in six months than the industry has n they don't sound a lot different than a typical fan-coole- d snow- except for the engine snowmobile "that was noticeably quieter," he said. Colorado State University mobile," four-strok- e competitor Justin Mick put himself through a bachelor's degree in ecology by repairing snowmobiles. Now he is getting his masters in mechanical engi: neering. "My professors said if you don't like the noise, tell the manufacturers," he said. "I don't like to complain. I'd rather get involved and try to fix it." ' The students are competing through Friday for a share of up to $23,000 that will be donated to their schools, probably tq continue the sled design work for the following year of competition. Other schools competing this year are Colorado School of Minnesota State Mines; Ecole de Mankato; University, Technologie . Superieure, Quebec, Canada; University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; and Michigan Technological University. Teachers, Parents, Educators! i ; r hSJ wsm' j : HOME FURNISHINGS rV a -- 0 ffrfffffr. ffljM; MtfM'i Jlli;$ wmr mm mm mm wmm jMXMm www.rcwil.,y.,om1 C ggjfa Wilhy Online at f' liT iimmm o e Check out The Daily Herald's Newspaper In Education Website for fun activities, lesson plans and so much more! www.heraldextra-nie.cor- n |