prickly love

well, this trip confirmed it. i'm in love.

in the spring of '08, i drove to ventura, california for a brain gym training, which took me through the mojave national preserve for the first time. the desert grabbed my heart, with no plans to surrender it.

time passed, with no further contact, and the thrill of new love abated. i put it in the box marked "oh well", and moved on.

about a month or so ago, having had it's praises sung to me again, i drove back to the preserve, to take another look.
and wham! in love all over again.
we made plans to meet again, the desert and i, and soon.

i spent one night there, camped out under more stars than i've seen in a very long time. i remembered camping skills and knowledge long unused, under the kind and gracious tutelage of one more experienced. i also remembered, too damn late, that i need more padding under me than most do, when sleeping on the ground. damn but my ass hurt.

on halloween weekend, i got to spend 2 nights there. this was truly a treat better than candy, and i like candy! treats included:
-hikes, where we found 3-4 deflated mylar balloons, in disparate locations, for different occasions. huh? why?
-reading, or more accurately, being read to, when the reader could quell the laughter spasms that threatened to asphyxiate him! it was a very funny book, one that now i don't have to read!
-writing, a draft of this that bears no resemblance to the final posting. as i was staring at the mountains in the distance, i found myself musing about time and space, and that since they're the same thing, perhaps i was seeing into the future? you betcha.
-a smoldering campfire that stunk up the tent all night, and yes, it was a treat to me. not everyone shared my opinion. this was the same campfire that regularly shifted to blow smoke at us during dinner-that i could have lived without.
-and some of the best, and longest nights' sleep i've had in a very long time.

the moon was 99% full, and hugely bright, the only light needed during the middle-of-the-night pee walk, bright enough to keep me awake, shining through the tent skin.

oh yes, the wildlife. 2 ravens, apparently hoping we were dead and available, sorely disappointed. we tried to explain to them that we were old and stringy, mostly bones, and not very tasty. they were not convinced.
a jackrabbit, bounding off to parts unknown. a real treat, that, since they're scarce on the ground these days.
and a horned toad-tiny,tiny, in a place and at a time of year when they're not usually seen.
and since it was halloween, of course there was a bat.

i have to throw this in. i really like being naked outdoors. skinnydipping has always been a favorite activity. now i like skinnydipping in the sun, and the moonlight. and no, there are no pictures. be grateful.

all this leads up to this: in the month of october, i've had 2 of the best times i've had in the last 3 years, excluding yoga and dancing stuff. these times involved a lot of dust and sweat, sleeping on the ground, eating things that came out of cans, getting my ass scrubbed by bushes while peeing, watching for snakes, and other things too numerous to mention.

now THIS is my idea of a good time.