Bound for the Promised Land

"I'll see you tomorrow!"

And with that I stepped out of my bosses office as he turned back to his computer. The race was on and I bounded down to the parking level taking the stairs two at a time. Why the rush? Because tomorrow the boss was getting on a flight: DC to Albuquerque, and I had to be there in time to pick him up.

Night fell as the Blue Ridge mountains slowly gave way to the central plains. Getting out of DC is always a nightmare and I expect to make better time as the hour grows late. Coming down out of the hills I push the pedal down a little harder and the vehicle growls beneath me into the darkness.

Late at night the vehicle seems to hang outside of time and space; a time machine drifting in a dark void, the stars hang unmoving overhead. No matter how fast I try to go, I seem mired, progress impossible in the vastness of the universe. As I pass through timezone after timezone I straddle midnight. Like a time traveler trapped by my own invention I pass through one day only to be set back again to repeat the cycle.

As the sun begins to rise behind me, I cross the border into New Mexico. The world has changed around me, the bare hills and rocks of the desert are not familiar. In the distance I can just see the white tops of mountains. This afternoon my boss will land, having completed the same trip in just a few hours. We'll load the car with all the supplies it can carry and strike out further, always going west, always chasing the sun at the horizon's edge, and never catching up.

-2016-
bayou goula towhead

-2015-
the sea test

-2014-
the circumnavigator pt5
the circumnavigator pt4
the circumnavigator pt3
the circumnavigator pt2
the circumnavigator pt1
falling dream
the darkness
one hell of a mile 3&4
he will return
the believers
the horror pt2
the horror pt1
traces
death valley
whiteout

-2013-
paradise of outlaws
the mountain climbers 1&2
brought to surface
one hell of a mile 3
primordial
the lost world
inner gorge
a ghost story
the riddle
slaying the minotaur
heart of darkness
bayou
public lands
organ music
two sought adventure
the virgin river
the road north
preparations

-2012-
steal the world
the end of the world
el dorado
the valley of the kings 2
the valley of the kings 1
one hell of a mile 2
one hell of a mile 1
the mountain climbers rr4
heroes rr3
rainy roadtrip 2
rainy roadtrip 1
the transgression
sandstorm
sinister 2
sinister 1
dehydrated
anatomy
sleepwalking
new chapter

-2011-
like sedona?
torn in two
blink
bridge to nowhere
the door
hitting the wall
elusive 2
elusive 1
harquahala
hole
pick up lines

-2010-
revisited 2
revisited 1
which way?
lost mines
chute
monolith
freeze
slice
in their footsteps
a dance with death

-2009-
goodbyes
undercurrents
casting the bones
mountain thief
the deer hunter
strange temple
sanctuary
burial pt. 3
burial pt. 2
burial pt. 1
the apparition
return to hell
forsaken
the lower depths
underground lake
stretch sewer
the hidden lab
shadow movements
meager rations
sw8: the conclusion
sw7: lost gold mines
sw6: the big tubes
sw5: gold!
sw4: el calderon
sw3: redondo
sw2: ghosts
sw1: westward bound
leviathan
formaldehyde dreams
the underdark
in the beginning