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Show _ THE ZEPHYR/ APRIL-MAY ata alia THE CANYON COUNTRY. PO BOX 327, 2006 she passed on in 1965, so don’t be surprised if that ol’ rotten ' frayed rope we use snaps like a dry twig.” No...none of this would pass muster. Instead, the adventure tour companies must endure all kinds of mes ie OR LEAVE oe MOAB, UTAH 84532. Jim Stiles, publisher inspections, substantial 435.259.7773 www.canyoncountryzephyr.com cczephyr@frontiernet.net moabzephyr@yahoo.com contributing writers Ken Sleight Martin Murie Ned Mudd Barry Scholl Chinle Mille Scott Silver Phil Hyde Lance Christie Robyn Slayton-Martin Wendell Berry Erica Walz the artist John Depuy historic photographs Herb Ringer (1913-1998) Zephyr pilot & aerial reconaissance Paul Swanstrom Zephyr Transportation Fleet Specialists Gene Schafer Tom Wesson webmaster Gary Henderson BY UI SHILES | ADVENTURE THIS! Adventure is everywhere, On the land, on the sea, or in the air! Turn around, what do you see... ADVENTURE! Adventure everywhere! ~ The Mickey Mouse Club Recently I Googled “Moab” and “adventure” on my computer and came up with 480,000 hits. Apparently there are adventures enough to be found in Moab to keep tourists entertained and spending their money until the next Millennium. Just to mention a handful, I found the Adventure Center, Moab Adventure Xstream, Adventure Headquarters, Moab Adventure Inn, Adventure Package, Moab Adventure Guide, Moab Moab Moab Moab Desert THE ZEPHYR, copyright 2006 The Zephyr is published six times a year at Moab, Utah. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of its vendors, advertisers, or even at times, of its publisher. All photos and cartoons are by the publisher unless otherwise noted top and cruise to the bottom, kind of like you're flying. "Without a braking system, you'd hit about 145 miles per hour. With the system, you'll go 50 or 60. That's on the computer, anyway. We'll see." One of the city's concerns in considering the permits is its noise ordinance. Nearby residents are worried about screams coming from riders Zipping down the cliff.” Sad to say that’s one adventure we'll never have to embrace, thanks to one of my favorite environmental groups, The Nature Conservancy, who bought the tram and removed it from the face of the earth. By comparison, if you travel just 55 miles south to the sleepy Mormon/cowboy hamlet of Monticello, the “adventure” falls off dramatically, to just 759. What do you expect from a town without a brew pub? I kept searching for an adventure-free town and the best I could hope for was Colorado kicks Moab’s relatively passive ass with 1,890,000 adventure hits and New York City, the Gotham of all Thrills, adventures 1938 According to Google, you can find four times as many adventures in New York as you can in Baghdad, which produced | less than 2 million hits... Just what kind of adventures are we talking about? Mainstream Adventure America and how can | argue with 480,000 Google hits and a booming adventure economy? (I think even a couple of my advertisers have “adventure” in there somewhere). But like so many other words—wilderness—for instance, an adventure just isn’t generates an incredible 8,370,000 hits. But if you can believe this, according to Google, you can find four times as many Alfred North Whitehead pay the MOAB, Utah - Riding down the ski lift from the highest point on the red-rock rim overlooking the Moab Valley in Utah, our feet dangled some 800 feet in the air as Scott McFarland talked about the latest project for his Moab Adventure Park. "We're applying for permits for a zip-line, a 2,500-foot-long cable that goes from the top of the hill to Adventures, Adventure Xscapes, Adventure Racing Retreats, Moab Resort Adventure Package and a link to the Moab Adventure Park, from. WWTI Newswatch50 in, of all places, Benkelman, Nebraska that could only muster 154 hits and die for it. and that Watertown, New York. They reported the following: Gnaw Bone, Indiana with a paltry 64. At the other end of the adventure scale, nearby Aspen, The vitality of thought is in adventure. VE ELMOGR aa)ep ere aeT SUNAy ea teLULSLan OLcMe oVat= Mel eLelUpany a(t When the idea is new, its custodians have fervor, live for it, and if need be... standards, to insure “Now let's see Kimberly...I’m thinking...an adventure that starts around 10am would be perfect because I want to have a leisurely breakfast at the Jailhouse Café. Love the eggs benedict! Then maybe a rappel somewhere? Or would you rather do a boat thing? No more than $100...$150 tops. And back here by four for drinks at McStiff’s....does that sound perfect or what?” the bottom," McFarland said. "You get into a harness on the Subscriptions & transcriptions Linda Vaughan circulation JA Bryan Lance Lawrence Jose Churampi Mark Anderson Kathy Aldous meet various federal insurance premiums, “adventure” is as free of hazards as humanly possible. It’s okay for the customer to get excited, and compared to the workaday/cubicle life he or she leaves behind to come on this adventure wacation, how could it be anything but? But is it really an adventure? I have my own adventure definition—I would call it a “spontaneously sought, poorly planned, even stupidly conceived exploration of a mystery.” Spontaneity is critical to an adventure. How can an adventure be planned and scheduled? Anda realadventure should have an unknown component toit...maybe there will be hazards ahead...maybe not. Who knows? It’s a Mystery! But this is what it’s become: in New York as you can in Baghdad, which produced less than 2 million hits. That is a telling piece of information. Just what kinds of adventures are we talking about? And what exactly isan “adventure?” According to one internet dictionary, an adventure is, “an undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature,” or “an undertaking of a questionable nature (both sound like Baghdad to me as well as certain areas of the Big Apple).” Or... “an unusual or exciting experience.” Thisis the definition I was looking for. This is the kind of adventure that tourists are in search of when they come to places like Moab. Most if not all of the “Moab Adventure “ Google hits are commercial enterprises, anxious and eager to provide an “exciting and unusual experience” for the paying public. Their businesses certainly CANNOT be, to even a modest degree, “hazardous in nature.” I doubt if any adventure tour company could survive if its owners faced their first customers of the day and announced, “Listen up people... we want all of you to understand that there’s a real good chance only half of you will survive this hike to the Fiery Furnace...the rest of you will probably die in free falls or rock collapses. So call your friends and family now and tell them how much you love ‘em.” And forget about experiences of a “questionable nature.” Add to the previous warning this addendum: “And don’t forget our climbing equipment is as old as my granny and I know...I know! Once again, I’m out of touch with what it used to be, or even mean. I'll take my adventures as they come, unplanned, unscheduled, free, and if it kills me, Tjust hope I don’t die with a cell phone clutched in my hand, frantically punching 911 as I hurtle toward the greatest adventure of them all. “DYNAMO JIM STILES” If this doesn’t give me some credence as an adventurous type, I don’t know what will. Someone told me that the first issue of The Zephyr was being auctioned on eBay and while searching for it, I discovered this out-of-print book. This is from the book description: “James Stiles was a banker and educator. Most notably, he was the publisher of the Nassau (County, NY) Post, Daily Review and Review-Star. His newspapers, and other local work like his stints as director of Roosevelt Raceway and trustee and chairman of Adelphi College, were key in the growth of this New York City bedroom community.” Weird huh? Here’s the cover. |