Over And Down Into Desert

After the dot com bubble burst to set me foot loose and fancy free for four short months, I wintered through on the front range near the base of Pikes Peak pursuing lifelong dreams roaming far into the Colorado Rockies as weather permitted to more throughly see and feel them in that season than ever before, performing at various wonderfully intimate venues where connection with audiences was easily achieved, returning and relaxing at home beside a nicely crackling fire, savoring favorite dishes self-prepared perfectly, and leisurely reflecting on each adventure. As interview requests finally began rolling in during early summer before high roads thawed, those kept me engaged between springtime roadtrips until summertime heat finally helped high passes of the state's primitive roads to open. Thanks to lighter snowfall in the southeastern reaches of the state, one of the first cleared was the Medano Pass Primitive Road. The drive up from Wet Mountain Valley and over that pass was pretty typical high country travel, but emerging from the forest on the western-facing slope opened up to a delightfully different vista. It was my first time driving out of mountains into desert.

Arriving at Great Sand Dunes National Monument via Medano Pass Primitive Road ~ July 5, 2001

Camping there that night was equally delightful under a full moon with crisp, cool air making venturing out onto the dunes more comfortable and free of other people romping about on them. A fan of George Herbert's DUNE novels, I recalled passages from them and my mind wandered back to days living in Tehran, yearning to venture into deep deserts of that place. Walking in far enough to find a dune unmarked by human activities, the full moon appeared.

A couple of weeks after that trip, several job offers in New Mexico arrived in the mail, marking the beginning of the end of a wonderful year-long residency on the Front Range and the beginning of several years of high desert living while my professional career working as an employee wrapped up. I haven't returned to the dunes since starting my own company six years later, but the future holds more opportunities for such fine experiences, still to be enjoyed at an even more relaxed pace.