Twenty years ago I traveled through Utah on my Harley Dyna motorcycle. I was a long haired stoner freak from The People's Rebublic of Berkeley.

In Provo I was stopped and detained by the Provo police. At BYU, I was almost arrested for not wearing a shirt.

I said to myself " holy shit! I've got to get out of here!" I had visions of Easy Rider...and hordes of morgbots.

I didn't feel safe until I crossed into Nevada.

I haven't been back.

Anyone with similar experience Should?

That's what you get for riding a POS bike through the West. Get a Ducati or BMW, buy some decent leathers, leave your shirt on enjoy the scenery unmolested.

Hahaha! Fellow Harley hater here, I don't get it.

Are you sure it wasn't because you were riding a Dyna? :) I want to rule out all the possibilities.


Things have changed quite a bit since I lived there. Twelve years ago it was passive aggressive judgmental looks being dished out. It was enough for me to notice when I was TBM then. I have been to several establishments with my fellow apostates since and have no problem with Mormons. I have openly discussed my apostasy in provo with several RM's around and not a single one had tried to bible beat me.

+1 to sacredhusband.

I agree that things have gotten better in utah county, but I ran screaming after a handful of years and, even as a nevermo, I'm still recovering from the experience. I wouldn't wish that level of repressed anger and unhappiness from others and the resulting isolation and loneliness on anyone, mormon or not. I thought it was the most god forsaken place ever (and I've lived numerous places in the USA and abroad).

I'm not willing to waste my life waiting until it gets better there when I could leave and be around happy, fulfilled people that already exist.

I tried living in Provo for almost a year as an ex-mo.
It was pretty bad.
I had similar experiences with the Provo cops -- one Sunday morning they spotted me (still had CA plates on my Mazda pickup truck) coming out of 7-11 with a big coffee, so they knew I wasn't mormon (or at least active). Pulled me over as soon as I got out of the lot, for a "broken taillight" (which I didn't have).

After that, they must have had me on some list. I got pulled over for bullshit stuff (usually "I thought you had a light out") about once or twice a month. They always sniffed around my open window trying to smell pot (I've never used). They always let me go "this time" with a warning, they just didn't like me being in their mormon town. So I obliged them and left after less than a year. Loved the area, the quick trip to Sundance to ski in the winter, the golf in the spring/summer, but couldn't stand the morgbotness.

I've visited Utah twice in the past two years. People were as polite there as anyplace else I've traveled. Maybe even moreso.

I haven't been inside a Mormon chapel in over a decade, and been resigned for nearly as long.

They left me alone, no one tried to reconvert me back to their faith. Visited the Family History Center my last day there in May before boarding the plane to come home. The people went out of their way to be helpful, but that's their job to do that.

The last librarian to help me before I departed turned out to be my cousin through the very same family tree I had questions about. She was the reference head librarian I was directed to from another floor.

That was serendipitous. :))



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2016 02:42PM by Amyjo.

He has a "new" vehicle now that is the old pickup of my boyfriend's dad (who died last January). They seem to have already figured out who he is again.

He dresses somewhat goth. Used to dress more goth than now. They always come up with an excuse. The last one was that a truck like his was in a hit and run and after stopping him, the cop said he was sure it wasn't him.

He got pulled over for geo caching? Don't know how you spell that. He is targeted a lot. He doesn't look mormon in the least.

My boyfriend got pulled over recently for something and the cop gave him a really stupid excuse, too. My brain isn't functioning and I can't remember what. He also doesn't look typical mormon.

We live in Cache Valley. Yes, the cops target people who don't fit the stereotype.

Where I live black people get pulled over if they're in the wrong neighborhood, just for being black.

One of my black professors from grad school said he had it happen to him a lot in the white suburban neighborhood he lived in.

He drove a swanky car, wore a suit, tie, with a corsage nearly every day of the week. The cops apparently decided he was some kind of pimp. He was a gentleman and a professor, both.

He wouldn't get arrested or issued citations since he hadn't broken any laws. It was clearly a case of racial profiling, and he knew it. The police departments that were doing that have gotten somewhat better over the past decade, but there's still a problem.

When you look at the national news, it isn't limited to select areas of the country. It seems to be more widespread across the nation.

Thank you for writing that.

I have a dear friend from grad school; he used to get pulled over a lot. He is now a senior banker at one of the big name NYC banks. Still gets pulled over, still worries every single time.

It is horrible that this stuff happens to ex-mos in Utah. There are other groups for which it is a much bigger problem.

There was a time when I'd go out and I was getting totally hassled, spit on, knocked down, pushed around, hog tied...It really got pretty bad. But once I stopped dating really narcissistic women, things improved.

I don't ride a motor cycle but I don't try to pass as a mormon and I've been confronted their for being an outsider. I wouldn't trust local doctors to treat me as well as their mormon patients and I don't think I receive the best service in establishments with mostly mormon customers. There are strange laws about booze and strange ideas about anyone from the outside world.

you find the places to go that are exmormon/nonmormon friendly. Sadly, no matter what I do or how I live, I still look mormon. My boyfriend says I always will.

I can't help it and don't usually mind, except occasionally if I'm in Utah which won't be happening any time soon now that everyone I care about is dead in that state.

I'm still trying to envision you riding a motorcycle.

Naw, it's not coming to me.

I rode from Idaho through Utah to Nevada on my motorcycle. I had no problems with the locals or the cops. Got served at gas stations and everyone was polite. Maybe it was the 52 other bikers with me but it was an uneventful ride.

I don't feel comfortable visiting Utah as well, and you couldn't pay me enough to move there. In fact, if a company I was working for moved to Utah and wanted us to move, I'd have started looking for another job as soon as they announced their moving plans.

People, the universe is just punishing you for not conforming.

I love Utah, because the only shits that I give about what people think are those really small rabbit shits.

That guy Nate, he's harmless. A real dick, but harmless.

As for the law enforcement, I think most of them are jacks now. People like us are a welcome respite.

So Brian...You say you were scared riding thru Utah twenty years ago. What were you scared of? Was it enough of a scare that you are still traumatized today enough to take the time to mention it to us on this website? I've lived here for most of 50 years, 45 of them as what we now refer to as an. " exmormon". I've had motorcycles, long hair, a " bad" attitude, etc and been all over this state lots. Funny, I've never been "scared". I think you were just looking for attention, just like why you wrote your post here.

Don't characterize an entire state as being "scary" just to draw attention to yourself. ...I responded so I guess you got what you were looking for...but to those of the rest of you who may have taken this seriously...come to Utah, enjoy yourself, you make your own way and your own cool in life. It's not so scary ...Happy Halloween.

Most post here to draw attention to themselves, it can be a positive healing thing and not a mormonistic narcissistic activity.
You are doing the very thing you are condemning, Which I feel is a very mormon thing to do.
People need to vent and reach out to others, to find kindred spirits and like minded people. Those that do not want attention just don't post.
This person had an experience and feels the need to share it. Let him share and let him vent and resolve and heal.

Dave(the seer)...oh gosh, there I go being all "Mormony" again. I thought after 50 years I'd finally gotten over it. But I guess my comments to Brian to come visit Utah again and have a good time seem real "Mormony" to someone who sees everything in terms of Mormonism. Sorry, I'll try harder to present a less "Mormony" image so you won't be upset. Don't worry, Brian and I are more than able to figure this out. He has been invited back...oh gosh, there I go again.

Not afraid (always carry my fake i.d. when traveling through Utah) but it does give me the creeps until I'm over the border into the next state.

+1

Utah is a great state. It has too much to offer to worry about what others think about you, or your religion.

Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.

And don't forget to "enjoy the ride."

Fear is irrational, on the other hand.

Sometimes to get over a fear of something, you need to work through it rather than avoid it.

:))

Bobofitz, thank you for your comments.

Let me add details to the story. I was handcuffed for four hours while the Provo police tried to come up with a pretense to arrest me. When I was finally cleared by the K9 dog, the Provo police said "I think you need to go back to California". I said "excellent idea".

How do the Provo police differ from the basaji I I've seen in Iran?. They don't. Thugs are thugs.

I've seen how they treat outsiders around here.

We love you here in California. I guess Utah needs to develop better taste.

Hi Brian..your details certainly round out your experience and help to explain your unpleasant memories of Provo, in the 90's. The social and legal changes of the last 20 years would make it highly unlikely that you would have a similar experience. The details of being handcuffed and hanging around a police station are memorable...I know, but I deserved it.

You sound like a good guy and I know you'll enjoy your next trip here . I know your not scared...it was just a creative choice of words. Come again, it's changed. I know you're welcomed by me.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

The Salt Lake police can punish you without arresting you at all.

My son, who is disabled, objected to a police office hitting his friend at a party. The neighbors had called with the usual too-much-noise complaint. Everyone at the party was cooperative, the cops had no reason to start pummeling one of the men (early 20's).

To express their displeasure with my son standing up for his friend's rights, they drove him up to Park City and dropped him off by the side of the road. It was December, in the middle of a snowstorm.

Thankfully some kind people saw him walking by the side of the road, freezing, and gave him a ride home.

If he had been hit by a car or fallen into a gully and frozen to death, no one would have known how he got there. You and I reading the paper would never guess it was the vindictiveness of the police that put him in harm's way.



Kathleen

Whoa....I used to ride my own Harley :) Owned 3 different ones.

ETA: Just scrolled back up to read additional comments....davetheseer,, I may have missed it, but I don't recall ever seeing such a rude post from you before this thread. Having a bad day?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2016 07:15PM by cinda.

Whoa Cinda. Any valid points, thoughts or discussions that you may have/had, are severely discounted by admitting that you owned a Harley-3 times!

or "The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers." Very suspicious of outsiders.