Nomad exploring life wherever I am
I spent last weekend in eastern Arizona at a family reunion. The oldest of us in attendance were mid-80s, the “youngest” one just turned 60 last year. We were mostly first cousins and second cousins through our grandparents (Kempton, Colvin, and Gilliland), and most of us had met before but not often enough. After it was over, I got to thinking about the importance of family and of knowing your place in this world as you go through the stages of your life.
The southwestern desert is a vast expanse, whether you’re driving through it, hiking its myriad trails, or simply staring out across the distances for miles and miles. I did a lot of that last one my first week at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. And then serendipity brought me to a little shop in Ajo where a photographer had a case of lenses for sale. Sitting there on a shelf, calling my name was a beautiful old Minolta lens, a 100mm sibling to the 58mm lens I had inherited from my Dad several years ago.
So much going on in the world today, the news is full of war, shootings, slaps, and other violence. I can’t change all of that, but I can post what brings me peace at the end of a hard day: sunset scenes in New Mexico.
When it’s 95,000 degrees in the desert and you’re camping without electricity, survival techniques can take a weird turn. Like driving a scenic loop on washboard gravel for three hours mostly so you can blast the air-conditioning as you cruise along at 15 mph. Well, that was my strategy last week. You might pick a different one.
Of all the state park campgrounds in New Mexico, this one is my favorite. It’s been two years since I was here and things have not changed one iota. And I am totally fine with that. It’s exactly what I expected, and all I needed.