Trees

Prose, including snippets (mini-memoirs).
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mnaz
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Joined: August 15th, 2004, 10:02 pm
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Trees

Post by mnaz » May 14th, 2006, 3:59 pm

Halfway up another beaten granite corrugation, another Nevada moon-scrape, I pass an odd Forest Service sign-- "Entering Toiyabe National Forest". Naturally I anticipate trees. The road goes higher, the engine strains. Still no trees. But I trust the Forest Service; surely I'll spot a juniper near the summit. Candidates approach on the bleak granite-- forms and lumps, which turn out to be more bleak granite. Still climbing-- 6000 feet, 6500.... Could this wind-ravaged, forlorn mountain ever taste a warm day? I've crawled west on Highway 6 for days. I stray onto Nevada's bereft corrugations, where I might settle down some day.

But where is that advertised National Forest? Where are the trees? In my drizzled youth they were unstoppable-- they even grew through concrete. I expect too much. Still though, at least one tree seems a prerequisite to the title of "forest".... Still climbing-- 7000 feet now, summit ahead. I see only more bleak granite. Some sort of Forest Service swindle is afoot.

It is only two more beaten corrugations to Tonopah, where everyone stops because they're exhausted. After the silver mines expired, that is Tonopah's economy-- exhaustion. The town sits halfway between Reno and Vegas, and no one makes that drive properly in one shot. I stop for an eventful beer at a saloon next to a crumbling historic hotel. I want someone to explain why they choose to live here, on bleak granite. The guy next to me has a theory-- something about inner peace. "When I leave town, I want to leave town. Seriously. When I'm out there, I don't want to see another human, especially some gun-toting Forest Service goon asking for a goddamned permit".

He goes on.... "I looked around, believe me. This place is two-hundred miles from anything. The nearest National Park is on the other side of the state, and I hope it stays that way...." He sounds familiar now. He's traversed my favorite roads. He's vexed at the sight of other humans in stark desert majesty, incensed by rules and fences which defile the realm. He is my mirror image. He sits next to me and preaches, on his bleak granite, in this exhausted saloon. It might be a nudge. It might be time to go home.

(edited for grammar, clarity, etc.)
Last edited by mnaz on May 16th, 2006, 2:41 am, edited 4 times in total.

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stilltrucking
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Post by stilltrucking » May 14th, 2006, 4:23 pm

Road trips are important too
when writing like yours is inspired :D

happy motoring
keep up the good work
a sweet feeling to be headed home.

Thank you for the serries, I feel like I been there to.
"The federales say they could have had him any day, they just let him slip away our of kindness I suppose"

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mnaz
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Post by mnaz » May 14th, 2006, 6:32 pm

stilltrucking wrote:a sweet feeling to be headed home...
Yes-- if I could just figure out where home is....

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stilltrucking
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Post by stilltrucking » May 14th, 2006, 6:48 pm

I got the metafiscal metaphysical blues again.

The Seventh Solitude,

The Seventh Solitude : Metaphysical Homelessness in Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche

I suppose home for me all ways comes down to boots on the ground,
These days it has come down as a senior citizens housing complex. I suppose my metaphysical home is the Ocean, or at least the boundary where water meets land.

If I could afford an RV that would we the best wheel estate I could have.

Image
Click to englarge

Have you ever read Blue Highways? by William Least Heat Moon


http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0316353 ... eader-page

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mnaz
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Location: north of south

Post by mnaz » May 15th, 2006, 1:31 am

No, I haven't read it.... but I'd like to....
.... wheel estate....
I love that. I'm going to steal that one....



You know, I think I may have just written the end, last chapter of a ramble....

(As good a place as any to stop).

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mnaz
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Joined: August 15th, 2004, 10:02 pm
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Re:

Post by mnaz » December 28th, 2015, 8:42 pm

stilltrucking wrote:Have you ever read Blue Highways? by William Least Heat Moon
I got that book for a Christmas present last Friday. Cool ...

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