September 17-20, 2014– There are a number of interests which have presented themselves to me, in the past three years.  The latest such is the wellness-inducing power of essential oils, when used properly.  Let’s be clear:   Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils can, and do, relieve many conditions.  They cannot be said to cure communicable, or progressive-degenerative diseases.  With that said, I share some snippets of my recent attendance at a business convention, in Salt Lake City.

I set out around 10 AM, on September 17, with the goal of getting up to Salt Lake by 10 PM.  The first stop, for lunch at Cameron Trading Post, about 50 miles north of Flagstaff, brought me back to an old stomping ground.  I worked in the Tuba City Public Schools for five years, in the early 1980’s.  We had several visits to Cameron, an interesting Navajo crafts center situated on a bluff above the Little Colorado River and always enjoyed the traditional dishes available at the restaurant there.  It has become a favourite stop for busloads of retirees, as well.  On this day, there were seventy people in a group ahead of me, so I moved to the side of the scrum that was closest to the Host’s station, and got him to seat me at a table by the west wall. Time was a factor.

The interior of the dining room, in which I enjoyed a “fill-you for the day” Navajo taco, is preserved from its Victorian-era beginnings. Not wanting to disturb other patrons during their lunch, I took these shots of the wall near my table,and of the glass ceiling- one occasion when that term is not offensive.  By the way, a Navajo taco is a hybrid dish, using fry bread (itself devised by enterprising Native Americans of various tribes, as a use for the worm-shot flour given them as ration, during the 19th Century.), pinto beans, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce and shredded Cheddar cheese, with salsa or hot sauce available on the side. Some people add ground beef to their tacos; the Navajos usually do not.

I made it through the northern Arizona and Utah back country, not stopping, save for a picnic supper from my cooler, at the Hoovers Rest Area, north of Panguitch, UT.  The area was deserted, save for me and a skittish deer, which took off as I got out of the car.  There is a small restaurant and store across the road, but I ate my fill of my own stock, and kept going.

As you can see, Utah has lots of beauty, and I will be back in the intervening areas, over the course of the next two years or so.  Salt Lake City continued to beckon, though, and I drove on, arriving at 9:30 PM.  I settled into a cheap motel on South Hwy 89.  It turned out to be owned by fellow members of the Baha’i Faith, and I was warmly welcomed, and was safe among the urban nomads who reside there.  There were conflicts between a few of the people, which were resolved by the Baha’is getting the contending parties to sit down and talk it out, rather than having to get police intervention.  Nobody was anything but kind to me, though.

The first session of the convention began bright and early on Thursday morning, and included some Samoan fire dancers in performance.

Considering that Salt Palace was host to upwards of 18,000 people, I was quite happy to have even this vantage point.  The overriding message was clear:  The translation from Mandarin was “God helps he who help himself”.  This was how I was raised, and it is a major tenet of the company.  I will have more to say about the oils, in Part 2 of this series.