I drove on I-70 over the continental divide that runs through Colorado, past the major Colorado ski resorts and through some of the nicest canyons I have ever seen. With cold mountain streams and bright yellow aspens running up the rocky walls. I-70 through Glen Canyon used to be a narrow two lane road but they recently opened a crazy four lane route that actually didn't seem to kill the landscape that much. I'm not sure how they made this road but when I took a short break at a rest area I could hardly hear the highway above me.

When I was on the east coast I tried to avoid the interstates but in the west I love them, the speed limit in eastern Utah is 75 which means you can easily drive 90. And since there is literally nothing for miles but rock and dried brush, I donÕt mind rolling past it. In the west I start to feel how huge this country is. Nebraska? Sure the cornfields are huge but there are cornfields. The land is cultivated, used, ordered and organized. Eastern Utah is a dessert. Rocks, Rocks and more rocks, and the interstate. Thank god for the interstate.

I arrived in Salt Lake City at around 8 pm which was just in time to meet up with my friend Kris from Wind-Up Films. Being back in Salt Lake City was a bit odd, as soon as I got off the interstate I knew exactly where I was. I half expected as much when I was driving around the north-east but Salt Lake has be so far away from me of late. Denver was eerily familiar too, even though I had only been there once. I also met up with my friend Jen who recently became a certified Feng Shui practitioner. I think that I am going to ask her if she will Feng Shui my car while I am here.

Lincoln lives in a storefront apartment in Denver. It is a giant retail store that he as renovated into a pretty decent living space, complete with a new little kitchen, a funky bathroom, a bedroom, and a huge work area. He still has his matching classic Schwinn bicycles, one of which he let me borrow for a few months.

On the day he left Iowa I walked into my apartment to find the bike gone and a Dekalb seed jacket in its place. It was unclear whether or not he actually gave it to me or if it was just on loan like the bicycle before it. The jacket was one of the first items to be tagged at my inventory part last October. But I never put it up for sale b/c always thought of the jacket as Lincoln's.

So when was invited to Denver visit by a few of the High Bidders on my auctions I decided that I would return the Jacket to him. Well I discovered that there was a reason that he loaned the jacket to me. It doesn't fit him. The sleeves are so short on him that it barely covers his wrists. So I guess I'm going to hold onto it an give it away somewhere on my trip. Maybe I will give it to the guys who run the DEKLAB and the University of Iowa.

Lincoln and his friend Chris worked on an installation last year called Auto-Mobile where they drove Chris's beat up 85 toyota truck to random places in Denver and documented peoples reaction to the truck. And later installed the truck and the various forms on documentation into a gallery space. They are going to send me a few images from the show so you all can see it.

When I arrived the other day I didn't really give Lincoln much notice to my arrival, a pattern that I seem to be maintaining as I travel across the country. "Yes, this is John, Yes I'm down the block, Yes that's right I need a place to stay." When I arrived in Denver I bought Lincoln a six pack of beer and proceeded to sit outside of his place drinking one then two beer while the sun set. I started to worry that he was out of town this week. I left a note and found a coffeehouse in the neighborhood called Buzz, which has free DSL, which is where I am writing these entries right now.

Today I had lunch with Kendra and her brother at the Blue Bonnet restaurant on Broadway in Denver. Its is in this area that looks like it could have been a little seedy in ten or twelve years ago but now there are a bunch of Sam's Clubs, Walmarts, and the like. I guess the Blue Bonnet is an institution for Mexican food in Denver. Yesterday I had a Gyro at Pete's Kitchen on Colfax, the only street I really know in Denver.

During my first road trip trey and I stayed at a youth hostel off of Colfax which even after 10 years of economic growth is still a pretty unsavory part of town, or at least I'm told its that way. I kind of like it, the Salvation Army on Colfax is one of the better one's I've seen on this trip and Pete's Kitchen has the best Neon Sign in Denver.

But I should be telling you about Kendra and her brother. Kendra majored in political Science and is also and artist. She was not supposed to be in town when I arrived b/c she was scheduled to fly to Paraguay on a peace Corp mission last week, but things as they are in the world and a freak accident ha postponed her mission. She dislocated two vertebrae by sneezing. Yes sneezing.. (Amy who I met with last night has a cast on her leg from a stress fracture that she has no idea how she got) Not sure what is going on in Mile High City but I'd be careful when you come to Denver.. I have no real injuries to report.

Kendra bought a wallet book that I had had made for an installation that I made in college. I created a series of wallets, which were supposed to represent the various identities that I felt like I had in my life at the time. Each wallet contained photographs of groups of people who I was connected too in a particular way. One was of my dad's family including my stepmother Barb, Sarah and Lauren, one was of my recent interactions with my mother, one was from my friends from my internship in Washington and so on. Each a unique group of people, each only connected to each other by me.

Kendra's wallet included photographs of my closest friends at the time, images of Trey, Sandy, Amy and Caroline. My friendships have shifted so dramatically since the wallets were made, I am only in regular contact with Trey at this point but here from the others once and a while. Kendra will head to Pargauy in a year or so.. I'm not sure what she will be doing until then?