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Published: August 12th 2007
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Hola all,
First off, some bad news. Recently the website that my blog is hosted on had a major meltdown and lost some blog entries of mine. The only one that I haven't been able to recover is the one called "weekend in washington", i think. Anyone who might have the text from this entry please let me know...
Okay, now back to the good stuff. Lots has happened in the last long while. When I left Indianpolis I decided that I would try to get to Colorado as quickly as possible since my trip was winding down and I'd already seen the prairies a few times. So, in two days, I made it from Indianapolis to the eastern edge of Colorado - about 17 hours of driving and eight hours of sleeping and sitting on air conditioners. Finally, though, I got into the "Bible Belt", which, fittingly enough, is enormous.
The sun seemed to be only a few miles away and the sky was a bleached blue that never broke for a cloud. The air was heavy like a wet blanket and the temperature was 10 degrees above "god damn it's hot". And I was out and about
in a leather jacket and jeans.
So, I left Indianapolis, where I was staying with a good family (and now good personal) friend Doadie's house, on the early side and tried to beat the heat until I could reach interstate-speed winds. The first day was about eight hours on the road and the second was nine. Highlights include:
* Excitement surrounding being one drop short of being out of gas when rolling into a gas station. Ever gone 40 mph in a 70 mph zone?
Various pro-life signs on the side of the road, including: "Choose life, your parents did!", "Abortion is killing god's work!", and the always suttle "ABORTION IS MURDER".
* The hundreds of Christian symbols and signs, including a 75 meter-tall cross, "Jesus is your answer" signs, and church after church. My favorite church-front sign is probably "the bible is central to our beliefs." Isn't that kind of like a sign in front of McDonalds that says "food is central to our business"? I said aloud "Well alright then." Although I did like the "'The Devil Made Me Do It'" sign...
* Seeing what people eat, drink, smoke, and watch on television in such
a place. For all four the answer is a combo of "crap", "dumbing", and "anything".
* Seeing the gun stores (My favorite was beside a church): I held an AK-47 and several other assault rifles, a desert eagle, and an uzi. In one store in Indianapolis the owner gloated about killing two "negros" that tried to rob his store. His
gun store.
* Meeting the amazingly warm, amazingly ignorant, amazingly religious people shuffle to and from trucks and SUVs in a proud, well mannered sort of way.
The two days left one clear, unwavering conviction in my mind: it really is as "bad" as they say. But "bad" ins't the word. Let's just say this: seeing it as an outsider may beg criticism or arrogance. But, apart from the religiousness of it all, I would have loved to grow up there. Kansas, too, is really beautiful. It is the sort of place that reminds you how huge the earth, if not world, really is. The sharp, clean, smooth transformations from sky to field to road gives a feeling of clearheadedness and relaxation that has not been rivaled anywhere else on this trip.
Then, quite suddenly, I was back
in the Rockies, and have remained so for the last six days. Within a couple of hours of my first stop I had picked up an Irishmen named Gary that I met at a hostel in Boulder. Here, without exaggeration, is how the first conversation went.
"Howdy"
"So, what is Boulder like? I'm wondering if I should stay the night"
"Dude, it's alright, I mean, if this is the sort of thing you are looking for. Personally, I'd say skip it. Go to the mountains"
"Really, eh?" "Do you work here?"
"Yah man" (the two words slurring together in a way only a relaxed Irishman could pull off. The tone was like the sound of a sneeze in super slowmo).
"Haha, and you're telling me to leave?"
"Yah, yah... If I had a bike I'd be - - ", the rest of the sentence crumbled under his laugh but a sweeping arm showed what he meant: I would be off, in the middle of nowhere. I'd be right on the other side of that jagged rock wall...
"Well, I'm looking for someone to go camping with, want to jump on the back?" I asked, almost - but not quite - half joking.
Gary froze. Well, almost froze. His head kept bobbing like a beachball on a wake. "I'm off at three."
That night I slept on his floor. The next morning we were on our way to the heart of the rockies. In six days dust turned to snowy rock which turned to coniferous trees which gave to desert. We slept all but one of those nights outside, usually next to the fire beside a huge pile of wood used to feed the flame when the cold bit us awake. The last six days were spent seeing how the rockies really should be seen: on a motorcycle, with a crazy new friend, out in the wilderness, sleeping next to a fire.
The days offered FANTASTIC, twisty, calm rides through valleys and over peaks. Many times we pulled over to nearly abandoned roads and set up camp; the sunlight fading, giving the mountains, the grass, and the few things I unpacked form the
bike a soothing, loving glow.
Next: another national park (Mesa Verde) and Utah's... everything.
ciao for now
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