Nicholas Quirke was delighted to be reacquainted with David Paris in Salt Lake City on December 18^th. They had breakfast at Gourmandise which provided him with the first proper Vegan meal he had in days.  It was also a great opportunity to share his journey and observations with someone.  David was a photographer and as they took in some of the important sights of the City Nicholas was inspired o be a little more creative with his own efforts. Nicholas wanted to see the City library which was a wonder of modern architecture. Its sweeping lines, towers of glass and concrete offset against the scenery and the old was quite breathtaking in its own way. When they took a look inside they encountered Tina whose whose openness and  energy was engaging. During their short exchange Tina talked about her own desire to travel and even took a note of his blog. It was imperative then that this brief, but vibrant meeting was captured on film. They did a lot of walking and talking around the city taking in the buildings and sights. Having enjoyed the Book of Mormon on Broadway it was very revealing to be in the city of the founding fathers. There was an enormous amount of money expended in Temple square but it was fun to see The Angel Moroni atop the temple. Nicholas was particularly horrified to find a shop selling guns on the high street. He was extremely grateful to David for the tour but had a 5-hour journey ahead of him and it was time for him to leave, though he felt there was still more he could see and experience in the city. Once again, he was confounded by the scenery, the vast Great Salt Lake itself and Mountains which then gave way to an immense and eerie expanse of what looked like sand surrounded by black hills. When he stopped to examine this phenomenon, he discovered that its surface was rock hard. He saw on his map this was the Great Salt Lake Desert which he had never heard of before and would look up on the internet when he was at his next motel. Nevada was surprisingly mountainous and chilly and his middle finger on his right hand seemed to freeze and even the gloves he put on didn’t help him. Nicholas was excited to be staying in Winnemucca which he knew through the much loved books of Armistead Maupin, this would be a stop that would delight Kate. For some reason he had imagined this to be desert land and much warmer, but night had descended as he drove into this larger than expected and seemingly sleazy gambling town, full of neon and casinos, snow and ice on the ground and Nicholas realised he was still in the mountains. He loved the motel, which again looked like a classic from the movies and he was particularly thrilled to be on the upper level. He could not escape the feeling that he was in a movie and as Phoebe had commented, it had the feeling of a strange serial killer road film. Throughout the odyssey Nicholas was frustrated by technology. He couldn’t work the phone, his camera appeared to die and would not charge, he experienced nightly issues getting his blog up (he had struggled the night before to get his video for 17^th December on line; particularly disappointing as he felt in was one of his best and had given him the opportunity to do some acting) and tonight was no different to the point that he had no internet connection at all and could not post his daily update. In his boredom and anger while trying to get this to work, he decided to look at his camera again, which had not worked since New York and even before connecting it to the charger it flickered into life. “Was this some sort of pay off?” he wondered. His phone now worked and his camera but there was no way now he would he connected to the internet? It would be another day’s journey before he could try again to get the delights of his day online. To add to his woeful state, he felt the oncoming of a cold and resorted to the medical kit sister had thoughtfully provided.