Day 1 National Park 2010
The car is packed with essentials for camping for a month. I have packed canned food and instant noodles and lots of water. I played Ven. Master Hua’s Dharma lecture tapes for the road on Guan Yin’s Doors . I listened the whole way on my many miles and hours of solo drive on dessert road, doesn’t seem so bad this way, the horizon felt beautiful. I felt great and was not distressed. I think I experience a lot of anxiety in driving. I don’t think it is the drive itself but more of the energy I pass through that can be overwhelming. I pass through areas where people had car accidents and lost a limb etc… and I feel, see those experiences as I am driving. It is traumatic, stressful, and exhausting this way.
I missed the HWY 152 exit in Gilroy and went into HWY 156 and drove all the way into Salinas. I turned around and didn’t feel too bad about it, rather I enjoyed the golden hills and the bright blue skies. I used to look at such hills and see what is dead and missing, now I see gold, beauty. Heading towards Baker’s field there was a long stretch of farms that grew plants, flowers for nursery. So the entire town smelled sweet and wonderful. Mohave area was a long stretch of driving. It took me longer to get across than I thought it would. The part of Techechi wth wind mill power plants was intense and unpleasant fungshui to drive through. The entire drive for this first day so far was pleasant and wide country boundless feeling wonderful.
When I pulled over for gas and checked for leaks underneath the car etc.. I sniffed all around the car for alarming smell. I listen to the car as I drive as if I knew what I was listening for, as if the car would tell me, as if I could understand even if it did. It made me feel better I was trying to stay in tuned to the state of the car.
For dinner I stopped at 7:30pm and ate spaghetti I packed watching the sunset horizon. I ate fast wanting to race against sunset knowing I had only a bit of sunlight left for driving. I wanted to cross the border into Arizona before sunset. I didn’t actually make it by my imagined time frame. I was further than I thought from the border. Seriously Map Quest drives faster than I do and I drive within speed limit. It so takes longer than the route said. So I was middle of nowhere when sundown arrived. I drove another 5 hours because there just wasn’t any good area to pull over to sleep, it’s all just wide country. I finally pulled over at Cross Mountain Road and parked my car on a small patch of dessert grass and hoped I didn’t park on top of a snake den or something like that. I slept in my car in fear of tenting on a snake den in the dark.
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| I just wanted to be prepared. |
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| They didn't all fit in my trunk. |
