i just returned from the great basin desert in nevada… i took dirt rounds all through the mountain ranges, approximately 300 miles of dirt roads, to ‘kyle hot springs,‘ just outside of lovelock, nevada, which is where o.j. is being held…

on the base of an eastern facing hill sits a 10 feet wide, blue, plastic, cow trough, and a pipe spewing hot water laced with sulfur… when i’d sit in the trough, i could see the 40 mile wide playa at the base of the western mountain range, and could see the sun dropping on the backside of the same mountain… all this while sitting in 104 degree water and wild rabbits scurrying around looking for food… until the hawks flew in, that is… the rabbits then darted into sagebrush, hoping to shield themselves…

buena vista valley isn’t on your travel map as a place to go… why?… because few know how to get there and if they do, the conditions can be unforgiving… on my last day, temperatures dropped below 32 degrees, cold enough to make my hair hard…

you are also usually alone when you visit these distant places in the nevada outback, though i did have visitors…. gus and sharon from colorado… they drove a red, dodge ram pickup truck with a metal grill that had a hunter carved into the design… that was cool.. no problem there though they did love to leave their truck idling for hours… yes, hours…

gus and sharon came to visit their kids in battle mountain and visit their private gold mine in northern nevada… sounds impressive but from the sounds of things, the gold mine hasn’t been too golden… ‘we almost went broke, trying to get that gold out outta dare’ mentioned gus… with gold at $1400 ounce, gus and sharon are now prospecting again, thinking it might be wise to fire up the mine again…

ralph waldo emerson also visited me.. okay, so i took him out there … i haven’t picked up emerson too much since completing my dissertation on him at purdue university in 2003… he fills the blood with energy… each line is an aphorism… i found myself drawn to two essays–”the over soul’ and ‘circles’… both essays pierce the cultural veil of cause and effect… i think i know what i know, yet when emerson sticks his stake into my mortal consciousness, i surrender to the mystery…

about the facebook contest, meagan woodard from pennsylvania was the first to name emerson as the author i took to the desert… congratulations meagan… send me an email at lightandright@thewildself.com and i will send you an autographed copy of ‘binge thinking’… put ‘winner, winner, chicken dinner’ in the subject line…

may the wild be with you,

gino