JoshuasTravels

First things first: I’ll be commissioning as a second Lieutenant on May 5th (the same day I graduate from Truman, but – honestly – I’m not half as excited about that). And the High Brass has decided that I’ll have about a month of limbo before my Army-clock starts ticking. After that limbo-month, I’ll spend two months in at FT Sill (Oklahoma) in basic Officer training, after which I’ll transfer to FT Knox (gloriously named after our first Secretary of War, and located in Kentucky) for tank-specific training. After that I’ll be headed to FT Bliss (which is ironically located just outside El Paso, Texas) for the next four or so years (that includes a very likely stopover in Iraq).

Would I have rather been stationed somewhere in Germany? I can answer very definitely: yes. But this life seems to be what you make of it, and Texas is the way things are. There are things you can control, and there are things you can’t control. And El Paso isn’t that far from quite a few interesting places. The beer, I’m afraid, will be worse than it would in Germany, but you could say that about anywhere.

Now then – I’m writing this, Renegade Journalist style, in a bathroom on a train speeding (somewhat speeding) between Salt Lake and Missouri, using the razor-outlet to power my trusty Thinkpad. I couldn’t ask for a better laptop, but she’s starting to show her age.

So: like a stray cat, I just keep finding myself back in Utah. There’s a few good reason’s it’s called The Ski Bum’s Paradise, and with ten-or-so resorts less than an hour’s drive away, compared with a relatively low cost of living, topped off with the peoples (and sister) I know there, and… well, it makes for a very attractive spring break.

I rounded up four friends: Chad, Cheri, Greg, and Paul, and we all saddled up for a train ride out there. But the only thing Amtrak seems to do on time is bill your credit card, and both our trips wound up being more along the lines of 35 hours. The lesson here, I think, is: fly.

But we got there, and we ripped it up. Wolf Mount, Brighton, Solitude, Snowbasin (where my parents met), and a full day of touristy stuff (the Temple, the Lake, etc).

I’m proud to report that my sister (who goes to school just north of SLC and has a weekly ski schedule), has developed into the best skier in the Fenton family. I don’t mean to brag, but that’s saying something. Her form is impeccable, and her default speed is just-ever-so-slightly higher than mine (in that thunderous range where most people would find themselves saying all the Holy Hossanas they could remember).

And, of course, no trip to SL would be complete without saying hello to Ross and the Rossettes. My father’s cousin, and his family, has always made a point to see me whenever I hit the beehive state, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me.

I took a whole lot of good pictures. Upwards of 1,700. To be fair, though, many of those are rapid-fire sequences, and I deemed only 120-ish worthy of throwing up on the ol’ interwebs.

And, to close on a bit of housekeeping, I’m still working on re-vamping my website. It’s been almost done three times now, but things keep sliding back to square 1. Having said that, I wish you all the very best of March 16ths.

proudly sitting here, sporting a ski-goggle tan and signing off,

Josh “quick turns” Fenton

http://picasaweb.google.com/jfento/ASkiBumSLastSpringBreak