This trip has had a truly magical quality for me. I have been filled with the varying beauties of these western landscapes. Pulling out of SLC, the morning light of tender silver gave everything a heartbreaking clarity and lightness. The skies through most of Nevada were flocked with all sorts of clouds. All the various peaks above timberline had mantles of snow, thick mantles of white. Such a contrast with Colorado’s uncloaked peaks. Today Nevada’s name made literal sense. The mountain-rimmed expanses of Nevada are gorgeous. And the range after range of variously shaped mountains – wow!
A pee stop in Winnemucca. The gas station store sold clothes, knick knacks, DVD’s and junk comestibles, as well as incorporating under its roof a slot machine casino-ette! All it lacked was, as far I could tell, a bordello to keep it from being Perfection, where everything one could want is under one roof.
We stopped in Carson City, the state capital and walked around downtown. The old capital building is not a very imposing edifice. The town seems to not have been very prosperous, with no imposing public or residential buildings.
Tahoe is quite empty of people. It is between seasons. The lake is full to the brim; such a contrast to when last I was here. Now the water is so high that there are no beaches to speak of.
Connection: There is a very strong similarity between the gestalt of jazzist Al L. and the gestalt of Grāvele. A peculiar out-of-it-ness, that, for me is part of Al’s charm, and was part of what felt frightening about the Ditch.
The Grāvele theme keep occurring. One of the towns to be turned off to, from the interstate in Utah is called “Delle,” the Ditch’s maiden name. How did this name, via what language, come to be bestowed upon a town in Utah?
Seeing today’s topographies and truly enjoying them, continues to open my mind to its own power. How I feel about something, determines what I see and what meaning I give to it. Before, “desert” being a “barren wasteland,’ I didn’t really perceive much of what I drove through. Today, it was not simply getting through, but a process of being present and enjoying the shifting venues.
Before, a criterion was always, could I literally live / survive in a place? Desert terrains always seemed to answer the question with a NO! So I didn’t like deserts. Today, this narrow sense of Home had receded. Whether I could live in these spaces is unimportant. The key was simply connecting, being open of heart and mind, in the moment, and then I could connect and enjoy.