It's been a long time since I've posted. Life has, more or less, gotten in the way. While some of you may view that as a bad thing I see it as a new opportunity to explore all there is to offer. You'll notice my pictures have changed as well, that's because i've been traveling. My life got complicated and I needed to clear my head. The pictures you see are the result of that soul searching.
There's something about California that just beckons the human spirit. The road out West, despite nearly 200 years of industrialization remains basically untamed wilderness. The further one travels Southwest the less constrained you become by the pressures of the big city. Something about the open road that goes on forever, it's almost comforting. After awhile you become one with the road and the cities begin to merge together.
As the weather became warmer the landscape turned into mountains. Tall, vast giants that looked like forces to be reckoned with and conquered. This was never more true than late at night driving through the Najavo reservations of New Mexico. Each mountain penetrated the sky like an angry diety begging to be messed with. It is no wonder the American Indians have so much respect for nature, it is impossible not to feel a certain kinship to the land once you have been on it so long.
California, for years it has been the land of milk and honey for me. While I still believe that I have come to the conclusion I was looking for utopia in all the wrong places. Los Angeles, despite its beauty, is not what I imagined. While fun it is no more than an extended theme park ride or a city that believes it is also a nightclub. Everyone is so lost in style they forget about substance.
A certain caste system has developed among those on either side of the Hill. Those in the Valley live comfortably but work long hours and never seem to truly get a break. Those in the Hill on the other hand seem to reap the benefits without actually earning them. Don't mistake this for an absolution, merely an observation on my part. I spent quality time on both sides of the tracks and realized this was more or less how it works.
California is the size of a country and there is a lot more land to explore. I plan on taking many more road trips and finding out all the state has to offer. One never fully appreciates just how unique and far mankind has come until you spend quality time on the road. The sheer act of the road trip is, when pondered, incredible. Whenever the whim takes me I can simply pack my bags, get in my car and drive anywhere. I am not anchored to any one place so long as I have a working vehicle. Given serious motivation I can cross the country in under a week. Of course we have planes and trains but arriving in a new city like that makes you an immediate tourist. Not so with cars. While driving through the streets of Los Angeles I could have been a local to any one of the many cars surrounding me. I know i'm not but that's my secret (assuming they don't look at my license plates) it is the only real way to disappear.
If you want to know yourself lock yourself in a car and drive for 14 hours straight alone. That's how you do real soul searching. You can't go back home because you're already too far so its just you and your brain on the open road. That's when things get good. Whatever you've been dealing with, whatever troubles you have you find a way to get over it. After all it's not like you have a choice.
No matter what you were before you come back home changed, baptized by the highway. We all have our own sense of spirituality, mine is found in embracing the freedom of the American West.
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