Sidetracked Charley

There is something about the road to Raton and back which makes me understand pilgrimages to Mecca. Though maybe on another level. It is not about Mecca. It is about the journey there, and back. I have written so many blogs here about the Revealed Truth that I have lost count so have decided to go to date notations. The road out yesterday was with a friend I love to have conversations with. And not because she agrees with me on all things. We are both centralists forced to make decisions between two parties we don't agree with. We see things differently some even when we are the only two in the cab of the truck sharing windshield time.  Most of the mountain west would be centralists if not forced to make choices in elections. I cannot be a conservative because I believe in a woman's right to choose. And I cannot be a liberal because I will absolutely not give up my right to arm myself. We believe in our land and the independence to keep it pristine. But as all settlers to a...

There was a television show of the same era as the original Twilight Zone I used to watch. The basic theme was an event in each episode which changed drastically the direction of the characters and the plot. I became obsessed with defining those events in my past. I had some big ones. There was my mother's breast cancer, the art teacher coming after me with mat knife and then inviting me into he storage room for me to apologize, and being struck by a skier while teaching. But not all turning points in our life are so clearly defined. Sometimes we continue on our planned route without realizing we must have taken a turn because this is not where we thought we would be. As my sister would say in our off road adventures, "Not lost but just unsure of how to get back to where we started." To which I would ask, "Is that what we want to do? Go back?" It rarely was. We sort of enjoyed going beyond the limits of the GPS. Note: in the mountain west that is easier ...