road tripping: a desert trek

desert road, open spaces, extra large sky

I love the freedom of road trips; stopping when you want, turning on a side road or adding an extra day to a particular place just because you can. The freedom of the road is romanticized in novels and movies, but some of those depictions are reality when traveling with your love and best friend.

stokes castle, austin nevada

We left early afternoon, and after pushing through the Oregon high desert with water levels equally high and wildlife abundant, we stopped for the night in Austin, Nevada. It’s a small, mostly boarded up, for sale town wedged on the side of the Toiyabe Mountains. Austin is mostly dead and abandoned, but not in a cool ghost town sort of way. Its rugged beauty though, includes a castle, stories of colorful silver miners and hiking, biking and other desert exploring stuff. 

big smoky valley,  lonely and lovely

Leaving, we dropped into the Big Smoky Valley on the Loneliest Highway in America. It widens and closes in as you travel, encircled by mountains which were still dressed in snow, defining the ruggedness that often goes unnoticed when not frosted in white. Cactus grows, wild burros roam and cattle graze on dry land wheat as well as irrigated fields. It always amazes me when all is barren, what water in the desert will accomplish.

death valley looms before us, ominous and stark and beautiful

Reaching the Southern part of the valley, we exited to enter a more famous, or infamous desert valley; one with death in its name. Neither of us had visited Death Valley before. But, we were intrigued, at least partly due to a book that we’d read on our annual unplugged weekend.

Stark and awesome and teeming with nothingness, we descended below sea level while being miles from the sea. In the beginning all was void and without form. This area feels void and without form, however it was formed by the One who controls the universe to be exactly void.

 the lowest point is 282 feet below sea level

Areas appeared to be what we imagine as post-apocalyptic. Truly, nothing was growing; making other desert experiences seem like the tropics.

Something I learned: Borax – used for cleaning, whitening clothes and softening water was harvested from Death Valley and hauled out by 20-Mule teams. I had boxes of the stuff when the kids were in diapers.

the mule team wheels were as tall as i am

Borax is still available and widely used in laundry boosters, some hand soaps and teeth bleaching solutions. Heck, you can mix up a formula to kill ants. Maybe, even though there’s a lack of life in Death Valley, there isn’t a lack of purpose.

The deserted, nothingness of the desert is a time for quietness of mind and soul and body.

And, this road trip includes more desert ventures, some free verse which I find expresses more than big compositions, lots of time for talking about hopes and dreams and hard things. 

I’m introspective and reflective –

Missy

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