STEP FOUR: The Great Doubt
Then, inevitably, just as I would zip up the suitcase, I would see the leftover pooter or sextant or 4x telescope and think of a scenario such as a woodpecker soundscaping for which I would need the seismoscope and then I would rethink the entire trip and also my entire life.
I made it here! And I fit all I thought I would need into one carry-on sized orange suitcase. I deserve a medal. So far, though, all I've needed the equipment to do is hang around, drive around, walk around, drink margaritas, visit friends, and go swimming. And if you wanted to be reasonable about it, all that could've been done in only two outfits. Ah well - I take my victories where I can find them.
It's neat to be in this place again - and for more than a few nights! It is just Denver's bad luck that it is so centrally-located in cross-continental roadtripitude. But this time, it is my destination and my temporary home. Part of me was disappointed to be leaving Portland when I did, because I could smell the spring coming. I could feel it in my thighs rubbed raw with the cold. I could see it shining out from the clouds. Those gorgeous days when the mountain is out. Ah, friends!
But Denver has given me a taste of its own pleasant climate. Sunny, 50s, breezy. I don't know why I can't keep it in my head, but every time I visit it surprises me again: the golden light of this place. The dry grasses pay homage to the sun. The thin air makes it seem so much closer, a naked light that heats the skin like a blanket fresh from the dryer. True, nothing is budding here. Snow crouches in patches under trees and next to fences, turning all the would-be shadows light blue. But on a walk (my walk, the walk of last August* and every time I visit) hidden deep in a breath, I smelled the mud. And the grass stretching out from under the ice. And the yucca stalks rubbing against each other (they have them here!) sound like a drumroll, and everything is waiting, waiting.
Thanks to the people here, and this place that can make my fingers tingle and my head swim a bit. My nose run a bit in the cold breeze, my breath scour out my lungs. My face turn pink. My heart happy.
*Meta!
