Yes, we live here. Colorado.
Saturday, July 12th, 2014"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. The most you can do is live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides.”
~ Barbara Kingsolver ~ [The Bean Trees]
“Freedom on Both Ends of the Leash” is now available autographed through us for $24.99 [$19.99 + $5 S&H, Continental 48 States] by clicking the above photo links. [PayPal accepting all cards]. It is also available through Amazon in paperback or as a Kindle download. All other electronic formats are also available.
You can also order from any Bookstore and also from Beemerboneyard.
If ordering more than one copy through us you will need to place each order separately.
The flat shipping rate for outside the 48 States or International is $15. Please e-mail me [e-mail me link above] for those orders as you will have to get into directly our PayPal account bypassing the normal procedure.
Thank You.
Spirit delivering some books…
Like a magnet this space called us back as we backtracked 175 miles or so. Typical route and often habit of ours. We left Colorado Springs the day after the wedding and it took us all the way up to Castle Rock to turn around from the pull felt. Crazy I think sometimes, quickly quiet down by the resemblance of the words "freedom" and "why not?". There were more reasons. At 9200 feet it is cool here while tonight wearing a winter jacket and a wool hat. It is isolated with the nearest next hide out being a couple miles away. Quiet and the skies have their own non stop show only taking a break in the morning hours with a new blue painted to perfection.
This is the kind of space which makes me want a winter "Oasis". Would I dare say I am getting softer? Not really. Just a desire to call it ours as in Texas, not for the sake of ownership, but for the knowledge that we indeed would have a ground to retrieve to when needed. Land is not $100 an acre anywhere near by and the same as far as Montana! To make the matters worse I would like a little creek to run by for a vegetable garden and as that enters my mind, another thought also does. A garden means "staying there" to take care of it. There goes the thoughts… Maybe some day!
Time has stand still again as mid week is approaching. The rides to nowhere have become of many with much freedom in the mornings as the afternoons change to a game of hide and seek with the storms. Short ones. They come and go moving fast and covering much territory. Sometimes within five minutes the almost black clouds are replaced by the brightest clear blue skies. I really just want to sit in my chair and watch the show even if with a book in hand reading is difficult. I am plunging slowly in my own eternity. Those moments of the now when I forget there is another outside world buzzing with people in a hurry as they forget this particular aspect of Life overlooking the Journey all so common to all of us.
Spirit likes it here also. His true self emerges as off the leash it is just him and I. Maybe I am selfish but I like it this way. Dogs are not meant to be on a leash. I often say in these situations he is the one having me on his leash. He is right with me every step of the way glancing non stop which direction I will go. Such a perfect companion. He is so often my eyes and ears while he will growl if anything or anyone approaches us. Yesterday were a few cows and their hungry calves as I sat and watch them wander. No one is going to get too close without his warning.
We had never ridden Marshall Pass. It use to be the main road before Monarch Pass was built. From the Salida side to the summit where also the Continental Divide showed up, the road was not so good. I would rate it medium as it was not so hard either only needing to go slow trying to avoid the protruding rocks. Dropping was in contrast like a freeway! Smooth and the sceneries stopping me every few miles. Colorado! What a State! Amazing that I am only starting to really discover it.
An even more amazing time happened. We stopped at the little gas station slash restaurant to take a break, the one on Highway 50. It is not a town. Just an intersection. The ritual takes place. Spirit’s water is first, a walk for the both of us, and as all this is happening this big young man comes out of the restaurant. With a strong accent he says he knows us. Curious me I always ask "where are you from?". "Moscow" he replies. He had been following our Journal for the past years and the last time he was in the States was 20 years ago! With his lovely wife they have rented a van and were touring the country for a month. They were on their way to California.
So what would be the chances for such meeting? Even if planned, from personal experience, I am sure it would have never happened. The icing on the cake was that he rode the same bike back in Russia. A 1995 versus ours which is a 1996. Of course with a 1998 RT engine which now has around 35,000 miles. We ended up having lunch together and chat and more chat. We had too much to say for that short time while we all got ready to roll on in different directions. Lena and Kirill. How about that! And yes, they bought one of our books which I now carry a few with us.
Last couple days here. The bad weather is finally surrounding us from all three sides. Only 140 degrees East remains open and inviting. It is time to move on. Really move on with no U-turn allowed. One more night in Colorado Springs and on to Snowy Pass Rd. We have never been there. New sights and experiences are always welcome.
Till then, it is good bye and stay well. Thank You for reading our book.
Ara and Spirit
