Highway 89 in Decline - A Photo Essay

One day I was driving home from southern Utah and decided to take the road less traveled between Zion National Park and Provo. I looked at a map and learned that Highway 89 runs approximately parallel to I-15, but across the mountains to the east. I decided that this would be a good chance to see part of Utah that I didn't know well.

I had heard, years ago, that one national magazine named Highway 89, a.k.a. Utah's State Street, the ugliest street in America. But as I drove up the road, I noticed a lot of beautiful scenery. It was far from the ugliest street in America. However, along with the beautiful landscape, I also saw a lot of abandoned houses. I wondered if these houses symbolized the trend of small towns losing their younger generations to the city, or maybe the derelict houses represented the effects of the crumbling economy on rural areas. Whatever the causes, I decided that I would like to undertake a project to document the deterioration of this beautiful section of the ugliest street in America.

This year, for our anniversary, Katie was extremely tolerant of my wish to drive Highway 89 and stop any time I saw an abandoned house. The following photo essay is the result of our trip, and is arranged in geographic order from south to north along Highway 89.

Guilt

Is it a problem for my spirituality if I post on my blog during General Conference?

Nope. No Middle Teton For Me

Bummer. The others had fun though.

Update - foot

The Dr. said this morning that I am healing on target pace. Evidently I am not faking it. The second set of x-rays confimed it.

I should be out of the boot in another four weeks.

Between now and then, I will be transitioning to walking on the boot rather than crutches.

Progress is good. I wonder if I'll be up to doing the Middle Teton in August.

Foot trouble

I had a dream last night that I went to the doctor with Katie and the doctor made me take off my boot and walk barefoot. The amazing thing was that there was no pain. The doctor started to ask me a bunch of questions, and I felt ashamed that I had obviously been faking the whole thing.

This morning my foot still hurt a bit. Bummer.

Why cities shouldn't bring in chain stores.

Jane Jacobs in Cities and the Wealth of Nations, gives a pretty convincing argument for her theory of economics.

In summary, her theory says that the most important unit of economics is the city, and the most important activity that a city can do to create a robust, healthy, and growing economy, rather than a stagnating and declining one, is to replace things that they were importing from other cities with identical or similar goods produced at the home city.

If this import-replacement process is fostered, then the economy will grow and generate real wealth and prosperity in that city. If any one or more of many things happens to decrease or end import-replacement in the city, then the economy of the city will stagnate and decline.

One of the implications of this theory is that by bringing in chain stores, the city is decreasing the production of goods in the home city, thus reducing import-replacement, and leading to the stagnation and decline of the city's economy.

No matter how much taxes the city gets from the chain store, it doesn't make up for that fact that the chain store is siphoning money out of the city economy and decreasing the variety and amount of goods produced in that home city.

Down with Walmart, Target, and every other chain store in the world!

Economics

I'm reading Cities and the Wealth of Nations by Jane Jacobs. I found out about this book from Economic Self-reliance Club in college.

I'm no economist (Although I was sent a letter after passing my Econ 110 class in college recruiting me to be an Economics major. My mom thought this was a pretty big compliment until I told her that my friends who got C's in the class got the letter too.), but it seems like Ms. Jacobs is pretty accurate in what she is describing.

It makes a lot of sense to me. I assume it would be in the Macro-Economics category. And it helps me to dislike a lot of things about the way our economy works and the way politicians deal with the economy.

I think this book should be a required reading for all politicians before they can be allowed to make any policy or law.

I'm also wondering why more economists don't talk about Ms. Jacobs' theory. Or maybe they do and I don't know it. Maybe there are flaws to it that I, being untutored, economically speaking, don't know or see.

Despite that, reading the book makes me dream about being in charge of a city and attempting to use her theory to guide the development of a robust economy.

There's got to be something good in a theory that inspires me like that.

Update - Overdue

Back by popular demand...

Choose the answer that does not accurately describe a development in my life since the last time I posted, 1.6 years ago.

A. I ran a marathon
B. I finished my internship
C. My father passed away
D. I got married
E. I graduated
F. I got a job
G. I was abducted by aliens

I will leave you to figure out which is not true.

Glad to back.

Jon (and Katie)

Where does the time go?

It's amazing to me how quickly two months have gone by. I just had a two week spell of sickness durring which I didn't run. Monday I did some backcountry, so today or tomorrow will have to be a run. Gotta get back into it.

Gearing up to go

I'm on the mend and feeling like Saturday will be a good day to start the training runs. Also, last night Matt, my roommate on my team, and I went to Wasatch Running Company for their team night and geared up for the training. The service there was great and they got into the cancer research battle by giving us a nice discount. We got new shoes and some running tights. Don't worry ladies, I'll still wear shorts over the tights.