The Desert, Utah
Water
Yes and No
The sign reads “Next Services—83 Miles,”
just outside the village of Hinckley.
The message conveyed is just a sampling of what is to come. There will be practically zero human population. No water.
No convenience stores. No
water. No gas stations. No water.
We are entering hard-core desert.
A woman came out of her car with a bag of
iced water. And in the course of the
trek today, with Marshal and Curtis joining me, another motorist pulled
over. “I think you’ll need water,” he
said and handed over some H2O, in one of those infamous plastic
bottles. We really do appreciate such
gestures.
I found out that this stretch of highway
really is the ‘road less travelled’. As
an opportunist, I could now call almost anyone on the phone and not be
disturbed by roaring vehicles. The road
was my office.
There yah go. 15 miles were covered and then it was time to
break fast at noon. The fast was to
honour Balaram, the divine brother of Krishna.
Before our crew took to eating, I just put the question out there to the
boys, “What is it that you like about Balarama?” Different answers came and then Hayagriva
mentioned, “He walked a lot.”
“That’s right, he was a genuine pilgrim and
covered much of India’s mainland going from one sacred place to another,” I
said. “He went to the Ganges’
mouth.” Oh–water!
Fortunately our break was in the town of
Delta. We back-tracked via vehicle to
rest under trees, and then went for a swim in Gunnison Bend Reservoir. Heavenly it was. Water.
Then the rains came, a wish came true for water, but it wasn’t
necessarily the way we wanted it to come.
It’s just not in our control.
May the Source be with you!
20 miles
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