Back in Arizona

Back in Arizona, back in the land of cactus, back on mountain-time.... After the week of doing very little except eat, pray, sleep ... it was a little bit of a shock to find myself back "on the road" with two relatively long drives from San Luis Obispo to Palm Desert and from there to here, the Desert House of Prayer near Tucson, Arizona. Though not as long as we'd been doing, but this time it was just me again.

When I'd arrived at Robert Inchausti's house in San Luis Obispo, he asked me if I was feeling mellow, because that's the effect spending time in the monastery has on him. And yes, I was feeling mellow, and I commented that I'd driven quite slowly down the coast from Big Sur. A good transition to the road as we talked about Kerouac (I was reminded that the opening scene of Dharma Bums takes place at the railroad station in San Luis Obispo), Cassady, Burroughs, Merton, Obama and a whole host of others ... literature, politics, social justice, war, peace, rock'n'roll preachers and reminiscences of earlier times we'd been together. All the while, Robert's wife, Linda, fed us sumptuous food to fuel our discussion.

From San Luis Obispo to Palm Desert and another wonderful meal and relaxing evening with Ed & Penny before hitting the road again for Arizona where I've now come to the Desert House of Prayer for "Part 2" of my processing of this whole adventure on the road. And there in lies a problem: for I'm still feeling too much in the middle of it to really have very much to say at this point about what it's all about, what I've learned from it etc. It's not just about "thinking" about it and reflecting on the experience ... it's about having time and space and silence and solitude - to just be and not have to think about it. Maybe that's the message of the road, though it's probably premature to say that - the road is to be driven not thought about, life is to be lived. Ginsberg wanted to know what all this travelling across the country was in aid of, what was the purpose of it all; Cassady just descended into giggles.

Next week I'm really going to get a taste of solitude in a big way as I've booked myself to go and spend 3 or 4 nights in a tent in the middle of the Arizona desert. Alone. No running water, no electricity, no internet, no cellphone, no car. It's organized by the Cascabel Hermitage Association (you can google it), that I heard about from a woman here at the Desert House of Prayer who's going there in April for a week to stay in a strawbale hermitage. I wanted to do that, but they're booked up and so can only manage 3 or 4 nights, and it's on the tent-ramada hermitage instead of the strawbale - but I think it's going to be great! Course, I won't be able to tell you anything about it until I've done it.

When I first arrived here at the Desert House of Prayer on Monday, I felt really tired - went to bed really early 9:30pm (which was really 8:30pm for me still on Pacific Time), and slept and slept, yet fitfully, dreamfully but dreaming indistinctly though it all had something to do with being on the road, and woke up groggy and still tired and a bit headachey - that dull ache behind the eyes that isn't really a headache. Felt I needed to blow some cobwebs away, get some air in my lungs and in my head, so I headed out to explore some of the amazing desert scenery just around here - it's a very fertile desert full of saguaros (the "classic" cactus), prickley pear and hundreds of other plants growing green on the desert floor.

[Don't forget: you can click on any picture to enlarge it.]

Fans of truly "western" culture might recognize the landscape in this next picture:

Yes, that's right, the High Chaparrel really was filmed just around the corner from here in Box Canyon! Lots more "western" landscape today as I went out into the blue skies and bright sunshine to really blow those cobwebs away with a hike up to Wasson Peak, only 4687ft (1428m) but the highest spot just around here with spectacular view across the whole desert plain in every direction. The 10 mile round trip has left me feeling like I've had a good workout and I feel fit, glowing too from probably too much sun, but it feels good!