Salvation

Salvation Mountain, Slab City

No matter what you choose to believe or not believe, any man that can build a mountain is a true inspiration.

Salton Sea Mud Volcanoes

Niland

A trip to see the gurgling and burping of the earth's bowels...

Wild Turkey

Mecca Hills Slot Canyons

Sitting on a rock next to the glow of the campfire…Grubby hands scooping beans right out the tin can. Sharing laughter with pleasant company while engaging in the ritual “pull and pass” of whiskey. The warmth of a sleeping bag amidst the chilly canyon air… It is these very moments, which countless cowboys, hobos, college students and artists have already experienced moreover glorified; that leave us not at a standstill, but moving to the fore.

Orion's Disapproval

The haze has settled. Orion watches over us from his normal resting place. Does he disapprove of the 6 lane highways being erected in the sky? What was once a singular winding, lonely and dusty Milky Way are now the paved, predetermined paths in which the bright lights of satellites and airplanes zoom by.

Introducing: the new and improved...

MILKY EXPRESSWAY

Playful Pursuit

An ocottillo

To my surprise this afternoon, I saw a coyote willfully but playfully pursue a jackrabbit, weaving slaloms between ocotillos. I can’t help to think that in this bone dry environment, neither animal has it easy. The fact that fauna their sizes (though miniature in comparison to that of places I’m accustomed to) can even exist out here continually amazes me. God speed, giants of the desert!

The "W"

Locals don't call it by it's name as that may beckon it...

The big “W” is howling again. Eerie moans through the crack in my bedroom window. It is all encompassing and seemingly impossible to escape. Another indicator of the harshness of this land I set up shop in. Luckily, one can find respite indoors, where the only reminder of the cruelty outside can be heard softly in the background amongst the safety of my government furnished and carpeted luxury.

23.

Carlsbad Caverns NP, New Mexico

Alamogordo, New Mexico near White Sands NM

Saguaro NP, Arizona

Grand Canyon NP, Arizona

Joshua Tree NP, California

Salton Sea, California

The most excellent and extravagant birthday presents I received today, I procured myself. No two things could have been superior to what was waiting for me at the end of a long, magnificent journey: the bravura of employment and a nice (not warm, but that’s okay) shower. Hallelujah!

I have learned lessons of vast enormity as an eager student in the discipline of getting up, getting out, and getting off the interstate. There’s much to be exclaimed about wrestling the back roads, surveying the seemingly trivial, microscopic towns and monitoring the local political sensitivities broadcasting through the radio speakers. To any of you who may feel uninspired, the time is NOW. Your future is forthwith! Acquire as many excuses as you can to sojourn with friends in faraway places, feast upon fruit from a stand on the side of the road, adventure through the Parks while thriving on the cheap. Delight in southwestern sunsets, only camp gratis, snuggle, snooze and snore under the stars. Truly experience America the Beautiful as well as maintain, breathe and subsist on the dream!

Gape at something other than your computer screen. Do something other than wonder. Become something you never fathomed you could be. The only limiting factor is you.