The Giant Invisible Ocean

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

My body floating in the clouds above Death Valley

The desert is a giant invisible Ocean, there are fossils of fish, crabs, sea worms, in shades of green, darker, and darker, until it all fades deep inside the Earth like an old memory slipping away.

My Mom was the inspiration for Desert Road Trip.

A memory forbidden, unspeakable. My mom would tell me her thoughts which morphed into my thoughts. I embraced her passion for the unknown and the mysterious. I feel connected in our passion for things that once were, the images conjured in our minds. Blue covering the red soil, ancient fish in wild shapes, prehistoric. My body floating above this landscape changed from red to blue. I had to get there. I thought and thought about the road trip I would take to Death Valley someday.

Dream Realized

I was living in Richmond at the time my dream came true to take a road trip to Death Valley. I had a neighbor who I convinced to take the trip with me.

My solo traveling Peak Period

Before any thought of getting married and settling down I was a free spirit, a traveler, an adventure seeker. I always had a dog for protection, but on longer, more risky journeys I often took a man with me. Someone who was a bit crazy but loyal and trustworthy, and willing to go along my wild adventures!

I packed my clothes, my sleeping bag, and some food. I took my dog Wiggly for one last walk before our big adventure. We were walking down 23rd avenue when a little dark brown with light brown patches like a German Shepard mix started following us. I could never turn my back on an animal in need.

I believe someone probably dumped Zappa and since we were scheduled to leave soon, I took Zappa on the road trip with us. We headed off driving towards highway 5. Windows open, dogs panting, dry air blowing in the car. The first leg of the journey was mostly driving, but we saw some cool relics in the vastness of the California Desert. We stayed the night in Bakersfield in a small Motel. Zappa took the chance to sleep!

The next day we continued on our journey. It was hot at 6am in the morning. I was so excited, the roads were desolate, it was July, the hottest time in the desert.

When we arrived in Death Valley National Park https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/visit-the-furnace-creek-visitor-center.htm

We stopped in at the visitor’s center where the park ranger warned us of two things:

1. You’re on your own out there. It’s too hot to send rangers out to save you this weekend. Make sure you have enough water.

2. Watch out for flash floods, be mindful of where you set up your tents.

We were cool with these warnings, it added to the adventure. It added to the haunted feeling of the vacant businesses along the way. what happened here in these places along the way? I imagined many scenarios. I wrote in my journal and sketched. I wish I had my sketchbooks and journals from before. They all got wet, Grost, and moldy from the places I lived in in Oakland. This is the first house I have ever lived in that doesn’t leak! I digress, back to my road trip to Death Valley!

I stood on that peak looking out the window of my soul. My me, my whole self-stood atop that mountain looking out over Death Valley National Park. A dream comes true. An imagination realized. A memory I will always have somewhere inside.

My biggest hurdle going forward is not trying to hide the memories that are mine. To have the courage to write about them and talk about them if I feel like I want to.

My trip to Portugal, my sick leave from work, and feeling like I was going to literally die from my head and face pain, that’s not an exaggeration, I have Trauma from feeling like I was having an aneurism, but the break from work and having some alone time has connected me back to my roots.

Closer to my moment floating in the clouds over Death Valley.