This is the last part of my journey as I went from the West Coast to the East Coast, from one type of water to another and from my old life to the new one. Some take this journey many times, others just once. But the water, the vital essence that is needed to keep all things alive can come in many forms and just as it can leave a mark with its absence, it will leave a mark with its presence.
It might take some time for you to see the mark, but once you recognize it; you will begin to notice that you are thinking and maybe even dreaming about it more and more.
These are the White Sands that have an uncanny resemblance to the white snow that lies in much, much colder regions.
The White-Sands is the most beautiful place I have ever been to, it is so calm and peaceful...in a word sublime.
Not too many people know though, that underneath the beautiful exterior lies an explosive core of military weapon testing that is still active today. In fact, the very first Atom-Bomb was set off in this very area.
After a beautiful and peaceful morning spent in this un-real place, I had to leave because the White-Sands were closing for an explosive afternoon.
Most places in the American West are dry and desolate with an occasional oasis where life can be found.
In other places however, even those with no life struggle to survive.
It is only when you reach the great divide of the Mississippi River that you leave the dust and sun-bleached skulls to find an altogether different type of America. The American East!
There, water stretches into the distance as far as the eye can see...
A place where boats can be found in the water as opposed to withering away on the back of broken trailers.
After 2 years in the desert, it is a place where one could finally begin to breathe easily...
But this Journey is long and arduous, and the great distances involved begin to take a toll on both me and my car as the temperature gauge reads -70F, the oil gauge arrives at the boiling mark and the tire bursts off altogether to leave me with steaming shreds all over the road.
As I solve one problem another one appears as I go deeper and deeper into the ravenous East!
The wind picks up to terrifying speeds and walls of rain fall down to flood the highways and stop the traffic altogether.
Visibility approaches zero as the water completely obstructs my view. But I foolishly press on ahead.
And 8 hours later I emerge victorious, but the effects of the storm beat me to the ground and my blood shot body can take no more and I pull over to pose with the locals.
After talking to the locals in a small unknown town, I had a chance to look around at my surroundings and take in the luscious fields of green.
Here, the abundance of water can be seen all the way from the clouds, to the trees and on the ground.
And some of it seeps deeper still to create terrifying overhangs in the shape of rotten fish.
Rotten fish that took thousands of years to form, and is still undergoing change everyday; no matter how small the water presses on and never gives up. And so should I.
As I arrive to New York though I sense a certain type of artificiality and a lack of nature.
Here, nature is not King. Instead a different type of hierarchy exists, from those at the very top of the food chain.
To those all the way at the bottom.
The Nature I have been used to is blasted away.
And all that's left is an artificial presence of what life is supposed to look life (the more East I went, the more zombie like locals I encountered).
And yet, even in the heart of this truly stifling desert a glimmer of hope and truth can be found.
The water might not be real, but it provides the same tension and relief as anywhere else.
And maybe that's why my new home has been able to survive for so long,
because it is able to provide the same emotions, the same feelings that are essential to life. No matter how fake the intention might be, there is a glimmer of hope!
Maybe its not about the East and West and all the local patriotic or the foreign multicultural people which came to America that make it so special.
But rather, its the hope that we were able to make it this far not in spite of everything that came down our path, but because of it. And even though we must sometimes part with what we loved so much,
There is always hope that we can do it again even better very, very soon.
Now, I can finally return to Deep Springs to tell you my story!! Come with me to Death Valley Big Mouse!!
It might take some time for you to see the mark, but once you recognize it; you will begin to notice that you are thinking and maybe even dreaming about it more and more.
These are the White Sands that have an uncanny resemblance to the white snow that lies in much, much colder regions.
The White-Sands is the most beautiful place I have ever been to, it is so calm and peaceful...in a word sublime.
Not too many people know though, that underneath the beautiful exterior lies an explosive core of military weapon testing that is still active today. In fact, the very first Atom-Bomb was set off in this very area.
After a beautiful and peaceful morning spent in this un-real place, I had to leave because the White-Sands were closing for an explosive afternoon.
Most places in the American West are dry and desolate with an occasional oasis where life can be found.
In other places however, even those with no life struggle to survive.
It is only when you reach the great divide of the Mississippi River that you leave the dust and sun-bleached skulls to find an altogether different type of America. The American East!
There, water stretches into the distance as far as the eye can see...
A place where boats can be found in the water as opposed to withering away on the back of broken trailers.
After 2 years in the desert, it is a place where one could finally begin to breathe easily...
But this Journey is long and arduous, and the great distances involved begin to take a toll on both me and my car as the temperature gauge reads -70F, the oil gauge arrives at the boiling mark and the tire bursts off altogether to leave me with steaming shreds all over the road.
As I solve one problem another one appears as I go deeper and deeper into the ravenous East!
The wind picks up to terrifying speeds and walls of rain fall down to flood the highways and stop the traffic altogether.
Visibility approaches zero as the water completely obstructs my view. But I foolishly press on ahead.
And 8 hours later I emerge victorious, but the effects of the storm beat me to the ground and my blood shot body can take no more and I pull over to pose with the locals.
After talking to the locals in a small unknown town, I had a chance to look around at my surroundings and take in the luscious fields of green.
Here, the abundance of water can be seen all the way from the clouds, to the trees and on the ground.
And some of it seeps deeper still to create terrifying overhangs in the shape of rotten fish.
Rotten fish that took thousands of years to form, and is still undergoing change everyday; no matter how small the water presses on and never gives up. And so should I.
As I arrive to New York though I sense a certain type of artificiality and a lack of nature.
Here, nature is not King. Instead a different type of hierarchy exists, from those at the very top of the food chain.
To those all the way at the bottom.
The Nature I have been used to is blasted away.
And all that's left is an artificial presence of what life is supposed to look life (the more East I went, the more zombie like locals I encountered).
And yet, even in the heart of this truly stifling desert a glimmer of hope and truth can be found.
The water might not be real, but it provides the same tension and relief as anywhere else.
And maybe that's why my new home has been able to survive for so long,
because it is able to provide the same emotions, the same feelings that are essential to life. No matter how fake the intention might be, there is a glimmer of hope!
Maybe its not about the East and West and all the local patriotic or the foreign multicultural people which came to America that make it so special.
But rather, its the hope that we were able to make it this far not in spite of everything that came down our path, but because of it. And even though we must sometimes part with what we loved so much,
There is always hope that we can do it again even better very, very soon.
Now, I can finally return to Deep Springs to tell you my story!! Come with me to Death Valley Big Mouse!!
