Since I’m now living my life backwards, having devolved from being the owner of a four-bedroom house to being a small apartment dweller (I mean the dweller within a small apartment), collecting anything that has a significant physical presence is pretty much out of the question. So before my devolution proceeds further and I find myself once again living in a college dorm room, I have decided to begin a collection: one that requires no space at all. Along with my friend Judy, I’ve begun the acquisition of all 312 hot springs in the state of Nevada.
Nevada claims more
natural hot baths than any other state in the union. (Note: this is
not counting Iraq, as of this writing. However, I can imagine an entirely
new mission statement for the “Baath Party.”)
Visiting all the Nevada springs during my time here may prove to be
an impossible undertaking. And although I suppose the collection of
this data could be considered “research,” I don’t
believe such a feat would be given serious weight by any tenure committee.
Yet this is one of those jobs that someone just has to do, and it might
as well be me.