Time Floats

The past two months has been the longest year of my life. On 3/3 I got in a motorcycle wreck and on 4/4… we were in a blizzard about a mile over the New Mexico, the cow jumped out in front of us and SMACK!!! Cass was startled awake and I was keeping the truck pointing forward as it fishtailed from side to side. Eventually we slid to a stop after the power steering was lost. “There’s blood everywhere!” Cass’ voice was panicked. I was extremely concerned for Cass, but surprisingly, I was calm. I don’t even think my heart rate increased. I was informed later that I was still in shock from the first accident.

I turned on the light to see what happened. It was not blood we felt. When we hit the cow its ass end wrapped around the truck smashing the driver’s side door and spraying the inside of the truck with manure and glass. Cass and I were OK. I wish I could say the same about the cow.

Now it has been a month since that accident and two since the one before. They haven’t stopped me from having some amazing adventures, though. When we hit the cow I was on my way home from a week of R & R in Costa Rica complete with some great surfing and what claimed to be the longest zip line in the world through the rainforest canopy (when I got home Google said otherwise). A week or so later, armed with a new pickup, I met a few friends in Canyonlands, Utah for some “backpacking.”

We planned to go backpacking, at least, until Christian and Torsten saw that I was in a 4x4 truck with good suspension and a cooler full of icy cold beer. It seemed a better idea for three 36 year old guys, two of us injured, to take the 4x4 road to a nice secluded campground and day trip from there. That is until we hit Elephant Hill. You should check out the youtube video to get a better idea of how ridiculous this “road” was. We made it. One mud flap less and one additional racing stripe, but we made it. After getting to camp, It was really great to spend three days outside of a vehicle traveling light by foot. It was also really nice to hang out with two other guys my own age. I have known Christian since high school and Torsten, though he grew up on the other coast , pulled stories from a similar memory bank with the same soundtrack. The trip did wonders for my body and my psyche. Our adventures there were seasoned by wind, snow, red dirt, some really good beer and visits by coyote and Ed Abby’s ghost.

I haven’t mentioned Taos yet this blog entry, though my experiences here have been extremely rich. Let’s just say that it is indeed living up to its title of “The Land of Enchantment.” I’ll throw in a few photos from Georgia O’keeffe’s Ghost Ranch and other parts of the region.

In two days I am flying to Seattle to see Christian interview Tom Robbins. More adventures on the horizon…