As I left the hotel to start my second day of driving I was in much better spirits. The route I had taken the day before had helped make this trip somewhat enjoyable. I picked a random spot on the map to go have my coffee and breakfast. Not knowing really where I was, it was sheer randomness that led me to the perfect spot.
The sign said, “Road Impassable When Wet” as I made my way up a dirt track. It wound through the edge of some very hilly, scenic terrain. The blood red sun was rising in the smoke filled skies lending warm colors to the cool, fading night sky. I found a small ridge overlooking the plane below. A view to the distant, hazy night stained horizon toward the west. I parked on the side of the dusty road and got out to stretch and enjoy my breakfast. Alone on the knee of a giant, silent except for the faintest of sounds from a highway far off to my west. I actually relaxed.
As I indulged in the creative act of taking photos a private rhythm built in my heart. It was lent to me by a dark line of pines combing through the blushing dawn smoke. The smell of dry grasses, juniper and sage wrapped around my mind like the long hair of a lover’s embrace. The texture of the soil under my feet grounding my fears into the scarred, exposed bedrock I felt in my heart that everything was going to be fine on the other end of this trip. My mind stilled. The chaotic thoughts of the day before calmed.
It wasn’t until I came home to look at the location information of my cellphone photos that I discovered it had been the Northern Black Hills that had given me courage that morning. Also coincidentally, it was a land made unique by repeated, vastly powerful deformations in the very strata of the Earth. Geological chaos. I was “Home.”
I knew then I was going to make it all the way to go get Peggy. I’d decide the “bring her home” part once I actually met her. We’ve more than our share of real maniacs on all sides of our family. What if she’s dangerous? I’d have to take the heat from everyone if I did so. The Black Hills had spoken.
#GottaGetPeggy #OIIIIIIIO #JourneyToTheWest
No comments:
Post a Comment