The engine purred. Herbert cruised effortlessly down the long, flat stretch of blacktop, parting the air with his big, blue, bread-loaf-shaped nose. The desert spread out for an endless array of miles on each side, interrupted only occasionally by a small plateau.The air maintained its crisp chill from the night before, a jug of drinking water beside my seat still bearing the abuse of its abrasive powers. I sat tall atop the driver's seat, my scarf-wrapped, hat-adorned head panning back and forth over the awe-inspiring landscape. There's something mesmerizing about nothing. Perhaps the lack of distraction allows one to see things for what they really are -- mother nature in the morning sans makeup.
The baby blue sky unfolded above, taunting us with its infiniteness. Not a cloud dared to obscure its intrinsic perfection. And underneath its watchful gaze, day and night, we drove.
With nowhere left to hide, the magnitude of my decisions began to poke its head out and wave at me from afar. I began to see where I had come from and the faint outline of where I was going. Though still a bit hazy and not well-defined, it was enough to bring a smile to my face -- not a fake, manufactured smile, but the unadulterated manifestation of emotions from deep within. It was borderline overwhelming, thus quickly suppressed, but not without leaving its memorable trace on my psyche.
We quickly wound our way through the Tonto National Forest, peering through the trunks of the Ponderosa pines in hopes of spotting an elk. The majority of the ride was an unlabored downhill roll, but soon we began to parallel the Salt River Canyon and the earth began to take on a more unpredictable appearance. Hills, spires, and plateaus began springing up with every twist and turn, taunting my eyes away from the road. Each and every hill was a new adventure, both for Herbert and myself; for Herbert the adventure was a battle, more or less, his engine zinging at a high rpm, giving it all he had; for me it was cresting another hill and revealing the unknown beauty beyond -- a proverbial kid at Christmas.If there was any doubt in my mind as to whether or not I had gone the right direction and made the right decisions, it was this day that removed it. The multitude and myriad of emotions this stretch of road provoked are ones that cannot be explained, only experienced.
And like all good things, this too eventually came to an end. Almost 100 miles of pavement devoid of all traces of society -- just me, the bus, and the top of the world -- were covered in a serene, tranquil setting of solitude. And as I descended that final hill, the sun decided that it, too, would follow suit, and down she went.
The perfect end to a phenomenal day: a Phoenix sunset. Have I arrived? And if so, where? These questions will only be answered in time, but I feel a deep sense of rightness, like I'm where I'm supposed to be at this moment in time. And personally I feel that's half the battle -- everything else has a way of working itself out from there. Let the adventure begin.---
I do apologize for the delay in this post, but I've been pretty busy the past week with many random things, from going out to coffee houses and dining on the local Thai (their food, not the people), to going to festivals and surmounting mountains. It's been a very interesting week, filled with many new faces and potential friendships. I was genuinely concerned on my way out here that I wouldn't be able to find enough people to climb with to fill up this vast amount of free time that I have, but as luck would have it, I've been almost overwhelmed with requests and invitations to travel around Arizona, climbing some of the state's best.
I've had such a reaffirmation on this trip as to the inherent good will of complete strangers. Underneath the publicized guise of killing, crime, and random acts of violence is actually a society that still, I think, believes in itself. Given the chance, most people will help you out if you can somehow portray a sense of genuineness, assuring them that you're not trying to take advantage of their altruism. I'm not going to lie, it's a tricky tightrope to traverse, but given a bit of practice and the proper motivation, definitely doable.
For the past week I've been couch surfing with a girl here in Tempe, who graciously offered up her shower and couch for my convenience; as much as I like not having the ability to bathe, it's always nice to wash off the dirt and sweat from the road. I also appreciate being shown around a new city and getting a solid grounding on the layout and the cuisine. On Wednesday we biked over to a festival on campus to look for photo-ops on its last day. In an effort to expand my horizons, continue to come out of my shell, convince myself that no one is ever really paying attention, and publicly mock myself, I let my host photograph me with any hat on that she desired; I should have been a model, obviously.
