On being footloose in the West...

"It should not be denied. . . that being footloose has always exhilarated us. it is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West."

-Wallace Stegner, The American West as Living Space

Returning to the quiet, habitual life is strange after living two weeks in the Southwest, high on mountain air and red rock. Our trip from New Mexico to Colorado to Utah to Nevada was wild. We hiked the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico and came across unexcavated Anasazi ruins, littered with ancient pottery shards. The back roads from Georgia O'Keefe's "Ghost Ranch" to Taos took us to reservation towns consisting of wind-battered general stores that sell nothing but hard liquor. In Colorado, we stayed in an old silver mining town and ascended almost 3,000 vertical feet to the summit of Twin Peaks. We scaled rocks. I complained that I would rather be poolside with a martini (It was a lie). The descent was so intense we basically just slid down. In Zion, we "hiked" through water knee-deep into "The Narrows" and searched for snails the size of pencil points that only live on Utah rocks protruding from the Virgin River.

We took the burnt-orange Tin Can On Wheels that we rented from Hertz to places we didnt think it could go: the Mojave Desert, the Rio Grande gorge, to uncharted roads in Utah, through the Rocky Mountain switchbacks in the rain, and then finally (when both the car and us were covered in dust), down the Las Vegas strip. Las Vegas was a stark reminder of the absurdity of unbridled American consumerism. Its a plastic city weighed down by smog. Every show promises "A Good Time!" and tired midwestern families will pay whatever it takes for a piece of it. Watered-down Las Vegas margaritas from foot-long glasses cost $20. But there are up-sides: In the Vegas airport I made 50% on my money at the slot machine! Of course, I only gambled $5-- coming out with $7.50. All the casinos and shops are indoors and air conditioned. In short, Las Vegas is where Americans go to be stimulated and refrigerated.

Compared to the West, Austin is humid, flat, and civilized. The brilliant book I read on the trip ("Into the Wild") has inspired future adventures. Its time for another trip-- but this time not a vacation. Im plotting an escape route that will take us somewhere far away for more than just a few weeks...