“This is something.”
“Isn’t it something else?”
[Joe drives 40 West toward the sunset. Our aim is Flagstaff.]
Hiiiii! It’s been a while! We’re eager at this time to share with you recent moments from our life. We don’t want to keep contained what moves us with such enormity, because the magic of our moments is growing, and we've felt the magnitude of our lows, too, so all the more reason to pull you in closer. Can we share this with you? We want to take every chance we’ve got to imprint this time in our minds – to let our neurons’ firing be of positive influence! And we want to give this to you, too.
Right now, Joe has uttered with the utmost sincerity, “wow, the colors,” for the 23rd time – and, honestly? If I’m telling you the truth? It seems almost unreal the immensity of the beauty, this lucky opportunity to know such an array of colors. The sweeping sky before us reveals tones heretofore unknown. I’m breathing it in, cause Gosh, I know this grand life to which I bear witness – I know it, because I am in it and I am of it! And here’s the kicker – here’s an absolute truth: as I gaze at the sunset glowing In Rainbows over the red stone and desert sand, I now know it to be true: life is one big TRIP – we’re all just tripping our way through. Life is a natural psychedelic made of the colors aqua, lime green, persimmon and blue – the colors of the Navajo, Zuni, and the Hopi - all the indigenous. And endogenous…
Life mirroring life, the inside reflected on the outside, the external a match for the internal, and again, the micro and the macro. Nesting dolls. Perfectly sized objects inside perfectly shaped holes. The innies and the outies. The cosmic and the cellular. The big raps on turtles’ backs aaallll the way down.
We’re just tripping on through! And currently our trip takes us to parts known in a van that we call home. It’s our Sprinter Starship and we’re driving on Route 40, heading West.
We want to tell you about New Mexico – suuuch a beautiful state! – for reasons geographical, artistic, cultural and culinary (we clearly never had authentic Mexican until last week). Albuquerque, or ABQ for short, is so colorful, and Santa Fe gave us the historic feels – we felt as if we were stepping outside time, enacting a scene from the early 90s TV drama “Quantum Leap” starring Scott Bakula – yup! That is us! We have Quantum Leapt to the year 1822 and we’re standing here in Santa Fe Plaza as the new trade route to Missouri is given dedication in a ceremony of men and boots. We can just feel the history now, in this month and year, rising out of the glowing sandstone. It’s quite the come up.
And right now we’re leaving that state and headed for the other – the ‘Zona! – for a second time this month. We’ll spend this week in Sedona, for the second time this life. We’ve left our plans for Denver and Salt Lake City by the wayside because, weather. We’ve not yet prepared our Sprinter Starship for freezing temperatures – our exposed tanks and pipes might not make it through, and why risk such damage to our home? We’ve had our hands full anyway, calling auto-body shops for little (and big) dings and dents our home on wheels has sustained (insurance claim), and we’ve also got a dead coach battery to replace, too (warranty-covered). Maintenance and travel: tripping is not for the weary! Don’t expect to emerge unscathed or untouched. When you’re tripping, whether inwardly journeying and/or along the outer roads, care must be taken to look after the well-being of your vehicle.
(Mid-November 2018)
