Here, look at this. Does this look like a state capitol to you?

Photo of Utah State Capitol building with columns, pediment, and a dome

Utah State Capitol

Yeah, it does to me. I mean it screams State Capitol. State Capitol of Utah , in fact, located in Salt Lake City , completed in 1916.

I arrived there, virtually, today, bringing an end to Leg 24.

I’ve been to SLC once in real life — where by “been to” I mean “spent an hour or so in the bus station, en route from Banff National Park to Denver”, back in 1981. And at one time I was regularly sending money to SLC, in exchange for their sending microfilms from the Mormon church’s Family History Library to where I was. (The Mormons, for theological reasons I have no interest in getting into, have a great deal of interest in genealogy, and the Family History Library in SLC is the largest genealogical library in the world. )

What else to say about SLC? It’s the home of the world’s most perplexingly named professional sports team, the Utah Jazz. It made more sense in New Orleans. And, well, that’s about all I want to know. Utah’s political/social/religious institutions are not appealing to me, really. So I’ve gone a couple kilometers past the Capitol and am heading north — not necessarily toward a big improvement, but that’s the way my path lies.

Real life walking — no bicycling lately — has brought me here along the Erie Canal trail, a place I go frequently, but this time something about the late afternoon light with the crepuscular rays and the reflected sky in the water demanded a photo:

Crepuscular rays from the sun behind clouds near the western horizon, over barren trees, reeds, and still water reflecting the light from the sky.

Late afternoon sun

So did Mr. Muscovy:

A muscovy duck standing in the recreational trail near the Erie Canal in Camillus, NY. Some mallards are in the water.

Mr. Muscovy on the Erie Canal

And so did these things. I thought at first they were some form of fungus, but now I think they’re dried out wild cucumber.

Probably dried out wild cucumber fruit; they're kind of egg shaped, and covered with long thin and deadly looking spikes.

Spiky things

A map showing my progress is here , a spreadsheet with progress detail is here , and a Google Earth KMZ file is in  this Google Drive folder . Present coordinates: 40.803°N, 111.914°W .

Addendum: I only just now noticed Leg 24 was, according to current plans, the second longest leg of the EarthWalk. In terms of great circle distance anyway: 598 km. (The actual road distance was 782 km.) In terms of time, I took 8 more days (77 vs. 69) to go 616 km from Lincoln, Nebraska to Pierre, South Dakota — that was during the months of February to May, so the slower going makes sense. Leg 25, the current one, also is in the top 10 longest (great circle distance) legs, as will be Legs 26 and 27! But they’ll all pale in comparison with one staggeringly long leg coming up, I estimate, around early 2027. Unless I can find something along the way to break it up. I have about three years to work on that…

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