It's Time To Take A (Di)Stance

Folks,

I biked ten miles today and the time went fairly quickly.  I am sticking to flat, level roads to get some conditioning before hitting the back country. I went out on what is called Potash Road - it follows the North side of the Colorado River as it meanders between high cliff walls in a generally southwest direction away from Moab.  It was 4C and partially sunny - some wind - generally a good day for a ride.

My butt hasn't been this sore since that Gyro convention in Arkansas - but I am trying to forget that .... find a happy place ..... find a happy place ....

As you are biking alone like that you have time to think - it took 28 hours to drive from Peterborough to Moab.  But as a kid in Saint John I could never imagine that.  My parents never had a car - I went everywhere on public transit or by the grace of another parent - or on 'shank's mare' as my uncle used to say.

I remember in July 1969 reading about the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.  It wasn't that far from Saint John - but to a shy teenage kid it was both a lifetime away in terms of distance (time) and philosophy.  Had I a car then my conception of that distance (time) would have been a lot different.  I purchased my first car in 1974 and I have not stopped driving since - I love the fact that given time, I can cover any distance.

I was chatting with a friend recently and I suggested that the car was the 20th century greatest achievement.  It was and is a time machine - distances shrank and time along with it.  With the advent of Eisenhower's Interstate System and the Trans-Canada Highway, all of a sudden there was nowhere in the US and Canada that the average guy and gal couldn't get to in a hurry.  This freedom spilled over into and formed the attitudes of youth in the 50s and was the genesis of what was to become Rock 'n' Roll - take stock of the rock songs of that era and check out how many feature cars as a direct or indirect element of the lyric - Maybelline, why can't you be true - Ike Turner beating on his piano (instead of Tina) and belting out Rocket 88.

What the car started, rock and music music picked up on - the car gave us freedom of movement - the music gave us freedom of expression - the car freed our physical bodies - the music freed our minds - and the baby boomer generation never looked back.

I often wonder what the next step is in this freeing of mind and body - I am not sure but it might be something like this:

As I was biking along Potash Road, taking in the petroglyphs I couldn't help but think of the parallel between those images and the graffiti images of today.  When the petroglyphs were created it was the native people who were nomadic but it is today's boxcar and freight car images that are nomadic - moving from freight yard to freight yard all over North America.

Obviously I think way too much!!

Oh yeah - anybody who has followed my past blogs know that there is a raven crow beast that has followed me around Utah in the past.  Well - IT'S BACK!!  In Arches National Park today it caught up to me once again.  Well it's Mono et Crowo - one of us won't be leaving Utah alive this year - stay tuned .....

To quote verse 53 of the Krome Koan,

'4 of the 5 voices in my head say go for it!'

Phil