12-18-10

Its raining in california. Its raining in nevada. There's new snow on the peaks above camp and my gear's gone damp overnight. Now its what to do. The dribbling clouds and dusky fogs prevent focus on climbing; the cause and reason for being fixed on the edge of this small town. Not just any one of several thousand across the american heartland. We'd be heros of stone, climbing crusaders, standing atop big boulders, but only if the sun would allow. And two days have passed now since the first snow and the move. Maybe we'll be here forever cooped up in cars avoiding the precipitation and the perspiring ceiling in the back. The cramped quarters caused a spill and a bourbon bottle sip before bed but a cozy escape from a persistent rain. The 72 hr mark a mere two hrs, and the second day of forced rest takes its toll on our team's spirit and temperament. Tomorrow, we hope, the rain will cease, murky mud paths will turn back to their dry cracking desert curves, and the boulders will begin to dry. We'll descend to the gorge and in caves and overhangs discover the extent of damages done by this wretched weather. It watches and listens and drowns out the dark by drumming a steady cadence on the cab roof. It has wrecked attempts at drying anything and discouraged our regular outdoor cooking routine. The reality of what's wet and dry is as blurred a line as the distant Bishop light-specked horizon, seen through a heavily fogged front windshield. I wonder what the american majority would do if plucked from plush couches and crudely placed into this predicament. Perhaps nothing different. The drought of their living room made most definitely more apparent and an acceptance of another lifestyle forced. But the future won't have me comfortable in the suburban, nor will it have them carrying on in my footsteps. For this life, this wandering existence, this everyday on the outskirts of society, and operating on the edges of a “regular” routine, is not for everyone. Yet everyone should at least extend an arm, an ear, an eye into the worlds of the others. Because without being witness to both contradicting and corresponding views, we could loose our very grasp on the importance of life. There's lots to experience, even never ending amounts, and if eagerness to indulge is lost then also is everything. Everyday becomes a meaningless monotony if not made the most of. Finding and focusing on the beautiful differences of every day, on a daily basis, is essential. Always embracing change, both the major and the miniscule, because there's more new in today than time in the universe, take hold and enjoy.