May 29, 2010

I, I, I, I just can’t fathom these vast prairies! Think of standing in the middle of 100,000 football fields linked together, then looking down and seeing that you are an ant! The Badlands were remarkable in their oddness, towers and jagged-edged rims rising up incongruously out of the green vastness.  Surreal.

I’m getting a little edgy with the vastness. Being awake isn’t that different from being asleep, in my unbounded dreams, sometimes allowing me entrance to territories that frighten and thrill me, and make me grateful for the waking moment when I return to my known self and my self-imposed boundaries. Alone in the vastness of this land, I’ve questioned myself:  Who am I without my usual boundaries? Can ego sit happily in the back seat and enjoy the journey? How vast can I grow? Who do I see when I am my only mirror? (Stay tuned, as answers develop.)

I drove 219 miles east today in a steady south-north crosswind. I could not take my hands off the wheel for a moment! When I finally turned north, the wind literally propelled me uphill! What a treat for the Motherload, poor tired darlin’.  We’re camped for free right on the confluence of the Bad River (which is brown) and the Missouri River (which is blue). This is an historic site, where Lewis and Clarke and the Corps of Discovery met with local Teton Sioux to trade gifts in exchange for being allowed to proceed along the Missouri river. A quarrel broke out, due mostly to language barrier, and almost came to arms. It was mitigated and resolved by quick-thinking and cool-headed Chief Black Bull. It’s SO GREAT to place my feet on the very exact spot where this event transpired, and think of my heroes, Lewis and Clark and Co. and their epic journey. A journey of such magnitude, such courage and faith, in which so much was discovered and learned, and so much shared upon their return. That’s why I was inspired to dub my own journey, “The Core of Discovery” a play on words and a tribute as well.