Was this
evidence of time travel? But then, it was next to a medical marijuana
center.
Not much
farther down Highway 87 we grabbed some rocks near a large,
abandoned NEED WATER sign.
Later we
spotted some roadside datura. I've read a number of stories where
hallucinogenic drugs are used as a catalyst for time travel.
Sometimes
there's science fiction scattered around. All I have to do it pick it
up – like the rocks we were gathering for Em's garden – and
assemble it into an workable composition.
But
then, is this sci-fi, or is reality just stranger than we'd like to
believe?
Soon we
came to Forest Road 300, the Mogollon Rim Road Scenic Drive -- monster
country. It's unpaved, and twists through a lush forest of ponderosa
pines with an undergrowth that gives it a prehistoric look. Monsters
could be lurking there and we would never see them from the road.
I once read an article by a reporter who thought that the Mogollon monster was a guy from his high school. I've heard Arizonans talk about how they can't deal with civilization, and just want to get away from it all. It could happen.
El
Troque performed like a champ, but ATVs and one strange,
unidentifiable vehicle whizzed past us.
“None
of this stuff is on the map,” said Em.
Terra
incognita. It's still out there. And not far away. You just have to
be on the look-out for it.
Finally,
the road began to skirt the rim, giving us a spectacular view through
an apocalyptic landscape of dead trees -- some standing, others chopped down and piled high – of miles of green, forested hills.
Not what people usually think of as Arizona. Plenty of room for
monsters and humans-gone-wild.
By the
time we were headed back to Phoenix, El Troque was loaded down with
all kinds of rocks of a fantastic variety of colors and textures. The
next manifestation of the Venusian Garden will be impressive: an
inspired construction of odd pieces of Arizona.
. . .
with some sci-fi and weird reality thrown in, just for the hell of
it.
No comments:
Post a Comment