I was going to title this "my thoughts", but they are always "my" thoughts, that is the essence of this Journal after all, isn’t it? I get caught up with the intricate path of this Blog sometimes, only to realize a while later that there is nothing and should be nothing intricate about it! There are just words that I write since we left a while back, some pictures documenting it all… that is it! Thoughts, actions, feelings, complex or as simple as Life itself can be. My relationship with many readers is the "icing on the cake", has been, and I do read the e mails and comments with seriousness and follow ups. So why is my mind still on this one e mail that I received a while back expressing bluntly, and I did appreciate it, that "I harp too often…" I never thought I did… I did forget who it was, even though I know who it is! And this made me think about "what in the world am I doing!". My answer has been known to me for a while but I tend to maybe forget it. The simplicity of the above. When a while back I dedicated this one sad Anniversary day of my Life, the one day worse than others, Lance’s passing away, as I did not know if I should publish it or not, more concerned about readers than myself, of course my close friends said… It is your Blog, you can do whatever you want with it… leave a blank page, write one word on it or a thousand! And that was my answer to this gentleman that wrote to me, as constantly I have to remind myself that this context it is a personal Journal that I hope to read in ten years or more while hopefully still on the road… I know it pleases some and I also know it displeases others… If it is by some perceived as "harping", well they can come and try to wear my shoes some days…

I am writing this because at times I stray away from the purpose of this Blog itself, and I have to realign my thoughts for these pages to be a mirror of the days and nights spend in my space, as you do spending your time in your own space. We are back in Moab, maybe the few hours it took to get back filled me with too many thoughts and too much introspect. Nothing truly could have gone smoother. The needed part met us at the shop and 72 hours later we were all fixed up, and that is properly. A great shop it is, I can only say good things about it even if Ron apologized for the fact that it took a little longer, this is their busy time everyone getting the cobwebs off their bikes, it was all good. I like the sticker!!!

As dark as the skies were that day, amazingly not a drop of rain touched us. Dark gray, like a winter blanket coloring the browns into a darker shade, the clouds rested above us never breaking down as I thought they would with a deluge that might hinder the road. Smooth hills all along were in our company approaching Moab again, after climbing up hwy 6 and down through Soldier Pass at 7400 feet. And suddenly on the horizon the first silhouettes of red rocks made their appearances. How amazing this area is! For miles and miles this has been an incredible workshop for Mother Nature and even though everyone comes here for different purposes, above it all they see "beauty" all around.

My National Park Annual Pass cards expires at the end of this month. In another couple years I will be able to purchase a Lifetime one for $10! But even now, $80 a year has saved us hundreds of dollars in entry fees as some Parks are up to $30! It was a cloudy after noon again the next day and photography starting to play a big role in my Life we went ahead and entered the Arches Park again, as I am sure it will not be the last time.

I have categorized pictures now in 3 categories. What I call the "documentary" pictures, just a picture showing where we have been, a good picture but nothing too artistic about it… Then comes the "nice" pictures, some that I am real happy with them… and finally the "WOW" pictures, and again as subjective as they are, to my own taste something that I would put on my walls (some day maybe!). How many of those "WOW" pictures I have taken since?… at the most maybe a dozen amongst thousands of shots!

Luck has a lot of play into this, being at the right time at the right place, sometimes waiting and waiting for just the right moment. I know of a photographer that has waited 5 years for this one shot that he took of a full moon through some Arches! I am finding myself searching and waiting for those moments. When I saw the clouds yesterday before sunset, my first thought was to go to the Park for the intended purpose of snapping some shots. I like the clouds and blue skies effect, even better if the sun at times can shine its rays through an opening on those red rocks, but that was not the case yesterday. I still like the pictures, they have given those rocks a certain mystery as being muted in the shadows.

I try to take good pictures as I do not have or use Photoshop. Would probably take up a few hours of the day if so. I do bracket most of the time, meaning the camera will take three consecutive shots with three different exposures, as the exposure can change within seconds of a cloud passing by, a shadow, a step to the right or the left. I keep the best one and the other two are discarded. All my settings are manual, it has been a long learning curve which will never end, every day is a new lesson.

The pictures are only frames of what the eyes can see and the senses feel. They can never replace being there with the freedom of a 360 degree panoramic view, but they are the next best thing! The ride in the Park was getting colder as the sun was setting behind the clouds and even through their transparency I could tell that darkness was not too far in parallel with the loss of heat. We walked around a bit, keeping the lens covered on the camera for the sand not to blast on it as also the winds picked up, and suddenly the roads became deserted with the last tourists probably already sheltered in their warm motel rooms.

The town has been pretty much empty since Jeep Safari week has been over and so has spring break. I am starting to recognize the locals which some of them stand out as not having turned the page since the 60’s. With every seasonal towns such as this one, same in Terlingua, Tx, the locals have it hard, it is always wealth or famine as much as they seem to be enjoying the quiet times such as now. I think the next big event will be the car show sometime in April.

For the first time I feel as winter is going back to rest for another 9 months. We are not thinking about yet moving north! Wyoming and Montana will probably be for the months of July and August trying to find cooler temperatures. We will move away most likely from Moab about 100 miles in either direction for some time, trying to see the southern part of Canyonland and visit other Parks while living there versus commuting. All feels calm since we have been back, quiet, peaceful, taking Life one day at the time.

We even went to town today and took some pictures of it. Before arriving to Moab I always pictured the town to be a bit different being such a destination for 3 million visitors a year. I will let you be the judge of it next time when I post the pictures. All is well… and will try to keep it that way for a while…

"Throw the Dog a Bone!"… T-shirts… Mouse pads… Photography…

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Ara Gureghian   853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245   Naples, Fl 34108

You be well and stay well…. Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 10:19 pm and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.