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Reflections

12/31/2012

What a year it has been. We have done so much that I can’t seem to remember all of it!

There were so many clinics and we traveled all over the U.S. for them in 2012. We were in CA, SD, TX, NJ, OK, TN, KY, and VA. We were at racetracks, high schools, football stadiums, hurricane stricken towns, Native American Tribal Lands, big cities, and small towns.

We managed to finally get a couple of outbuildings on our property in FL that will be the beginning of our “Skid Row” idea from many years ago. As each year progresses we do a little bit more down there.

We lost a grandmother, expected, but very hard nonetheless,

We lost a dear cousin unexpectedly. The shock, grief, and surprise of this, even now, leaves us reeling at unexpected moments.

We lost a very dear friend from our whitewater days to cancer. The earth lost a beautiful man, and I am sure he
looked up Jerry Garcia as soon as he arrived in heaven.

One of our wonderful nephews graduated high school, is now in college and on his way to adulthood.

One of our dearest friends moved to Ireland and is now happy in her ancestral home. We are so elated for her, although we miss her hugs.

We received a wonderful video of our son and his family on Christmas Day while we were in Santa Fe, NM. How incredible that you can do this over the miles nowadays. It brought us closer to our family.

We introduced one of our very good friends to my brother and he proposed to her at Christmas.

We got to revisit our friends from whitewater days in West Virginia. It was so wonderful to see them.
Thom even got one of them hooked on drumming.

On our incredible journey across the United States, we made new friends, got to see old friends and family, had many new experiences, saw lots of snow, and had an astonishing time.

We enjoyed an incredible journey that we will never forget.

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Tomorrow we will be Home

12/30/2012

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This morning, we left our motel and decided that we had been on the interstate for too long, so we headed out for a leisurely drive to Nashville. We went through many small towns that seemed to be sleeping lazily in the sunshine.

We are getting closer to home. Tomorrow, after many days on the road, we will be back in our own bed. It seems odd to be back in Tennessee. I look around and there is green everywhere, even though it is winter and many plants are bleakly waiting for spring to arrive. I have gotten so accustomed to seeing for miles at a stretch that it feels very constricting to only be able to see a short distance around me. I think it will take a while to get back in the swing of being in the mountains. I already miss the high desert.

At one point on our journey, in Arkansas, we came upon fields that were filled with thousands of snow geese. It was amazing to see and hear. We had to stop and get photos of what seemed like miles of birds stretching across the horizon and extending up into the air. After we took several pictures, we decided to leave them in peace and finish our trip to Nashville, where we planned to spend the night.

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On the Way Home

12/28/2012

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Today we finally saw temperatures above the freezing mark. I know that we travel with more than we should, however, it astonishes me to see how packed solid many of the vehicles are that pass us on the interstate. Are these people moving or have we become such a society of “things” that we want to carry everything we own with us when we travel? It makes me realize that we need to down-size even more than we already have. We seem to have become a nation of the “super-size”. It just makes you think.

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Get your Kicks on Route 66

12/28/2012

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Today we left Las Vegas, NM and headed for home. We woke up to snow falling once again. By now, we are becoming used to this and it doesn’t faze us as much as it did in the beginning. I guess we have learned acceptance on this trip. This is truly something that we all need to practice. It is a beautiful area here and we would love to come back and explore the area more. I know that there are hot springs nearby and plenty of forestry roads to explore. Canyons, hot springs, long valleys, and friendly people abound here. Our intention this morning had been to follow another road to Tucumcari past Conchas Lake and Dam; however the icy roads forced us to pick another route. Again, acceptance has become the name of the game on this trip, so we headed south to intersect with I-40 in Santa Rosa, NM.

After driving on I-40 for many miles, we decided to get off in Texas and follow Historic Route 66 for a while. It follows closely to the interstate, but has small towns along the way to visit and explore. Many of the road stops from Route 66 have fallen into abandonment; however they seem to tell a story of glamorous times of the past. We had heard of a small eating establishment in Adrian, Texas called the Midpoint Café. I had read about this café and is famous for its homemade pies. We were excited because we are pie connoisseurs and couldn’t wait to see if the rumors were true. As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw that the café was closed for the season and wouldn’t re-open until next spring. What a let-down! I believe that we will have to try and go here next year when we head to California in the big truck. After having our hearts set on a Route 66 restaurant, we moved east in hopes of finding something new and exciting to try. We found it at Roosters in Vega, TX. After passing it and then realizing it was open, we thought to ourselves, that’s it. We’ll go back there. I looked it up on Trip Advisor and found that it ranked 5 little circles, so we were expecting a pretty good meal. The waitress, Rachel, was cheerful and friendly. She told us to take a seat and she would be right with us. The special was chicken-stuffed sopapillas. We both ordered this and “Yum,” they were delicious! Covered with a spicy red sauce and served with your typical sides of beans and rice, this was a great southwestern meal. We were seriously full when we left.

As we drove along, the ground was still snow covered from the Christmas day snow storm that had run rampant across the country. The sun was melting this and the roads became quite wet. We decided to stop for the night in Sayre, OK because as the sun went down, we realized that the temperatures would freeze the water pretty quickly and turn the roads to ice. We have had enough of driving on ice to make us pretty cautious this trip. We were fortunate to choose a motel chain that we had never stayed in before, the AmericInn. I went in to get a room and found out that they also offered suites with Jacuzzi tubs. I promptly decided that this was exactly what we needed after many days on the road. We have ridden almost 4000 miles at this point and our backs are starting to complain. What a good decision to have that Jacuzzi. To be able to sit back and relax with those wonderful jets of warm water streaming on the sore muscles in your back and legs was truly a heavenly delight. The bed was the most comfortable that we had come across so far and we slept like there was no tomorrow.

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Leaving Santa Fe

12/27/2012

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Today we checked out of our motel and explored more of historic Santa Fe. On Christmas day, two of the places that we wanted to visit were closed. Thom was very interested in seeing the Loretto Chapel and I was itching to go to the Georgia O’Keefe museum.

We started off at the museum. Inside were many works of Georgia O’Keefe, plus many photographs of her taken by her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. They had an exhibit that contained the camping equipment she used when she would go out to paint in and around New Mexico. Since we are big campers, we were astounded at the type of equipment that was used in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Georgia O’Keefe was a very interesting woman who knew what she wanted and went for it.

After her husband died in the mid-1940’s she decided that New Mexico was the place for her. In an interview that we watched she said that New Mexico felt like home to her the first time she visited. She hadn’t known that she was looking for a spiritual home until she found it there in northern New Mexico.

I can understand this feeling. The state of New Mexico is like no other that we have visited. It is bursting with color, from deep ochers to violent purples, yellows, and reds. The contrasts of the landscape are heart-stopping and almost violent in their extremes. There is something about the air that makes you breathe deeper and fuller. The sky stretches endlessly while the earth rises and falls in dramatic drops into deep canyons and up to elegant mountain tops that seem to always be swathed in white.

After we left the museum, we saw a gallery right next door that was exhibiting Ansell Adams prints. Of course I had to go in there! The two people who have influenced my art the most are Georgia O’Keefe and Ansel Adams. To have them sitting side by side made me think I had died and gone to heaven. Inside the gallery was photograph after photograph done by a genius (in my opinion). To be able to see the famous Moonrise print in several variations was astonishing to me. I left both of these exhibits feeling rejuvenated.

As we began to walk to the Loretto Chapel a few blocks away, it began to snow lightly. I guess this was a precursor to what Santa Fe could expect that evening. Thom had been talking about seeing the Loretto Chapel for months before this trip. He was very excited to see that it was open. Upon entering the chapel, we were drawn to the famous miracle staircase. It was astonishing and unbelievable. The silence and solemnity of the beautiful, ornate little chapel was awe-inspiring. The staircase was made of some of the most beautiful wood I had ever seen. It wound up and up into the choir loft as gently as an angel ascends to heaven. The staircase has no center support and almost looks as if it were floating on air. Since it was the Christmas season, it was decorated with festive ribbons and bows which made it seem even more special. Even though I am not of the Catholic religion, I said a small prayer for my little brother, who was. It was a wonderful, peaceful, moving experience.

After leaving the chapel and heading back to our jeep, the wind began to pick up and it was getting more frigid by the minute. We headed for a Starbucks to get something to warm up our innards! It was late afternoon and we were headed for Las Vegas, NM.

Having never been in this part of New Mexico, we wanted to be sure and drive there in the daytime so that we could see the area as we went. Nearing our exit, we noticed a large rock outcropping with the sun beaming down on it and making it glow with a golden brilliance. We decided then and there that we would find this area if at all possible. After looking at our maps, I determined that if we went northwest on Hwy. 65, we could find it. We checked into our motel and I inquired on the fastest way to this highway. We headed out toward the Armand Hammer United World College and came to a road that said “no center line for next 10 miles”. Of course, we went there. As we climbed up and up on this narrow, twisting road we could see for many miles as the sun began to set. After reaching the top and beginning the slow descent into the next valley, we finally saw the “rock mountain”. It was beautiful with the sun shining on it warmly. In the end, we had to turn back because of the time. We have made a pact to come back to Gallinas Canyon and do much more exploring in the future.

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I Feel Happy in my Belly

12/25/2012

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The drive to Red River is spectacular. We were going to visit Jenn and play Beverly, our Awakening Drum. This will be our second visit with Jenn and I am more excited this time because of being able to share the experience of playing the Drum; something we were unable to do on our first get together. Although the experience we had at the hot springs were unforgettable and have a very special place in my heart, there is nothing like opening up your heart to the spirit world with people you love through the Drum. We arrived at Jenn’s and she had prepared an absolutely out of this world tortilla soup and tamales. We then took a walk around to the fly fishing store where she and her boyfriend work. We had never met Bobby, and liked him immediately. He and Jenn make a
great couple. After a pleasant chat with Bobby, who is a very nice young man, we wandered around the small ski town of Red River. We met the local deer herd and spent some time talking and just enjoying one another’s company.

After making our way back to Jenn's house we got the jeep and the Drum and headed over to the town park to play. When we arrived at the park and set up the Drum I was excited and I think Jenn was too. While we were setting up Beverly, Jenn said something that describes playing this Drum completely. “I feel happy in my belly,” she said. This seemed like a great place to feel happy to me. After all when your belly is happy, then the rest of you is happy too. We played, laughed, and Jenn even sang. The thing that really amazed me was the fact that every place we have taken the Awakening Drum people have always gathered. Some want to play while others are happy to just stand and soak in the sounds coming from the Drum. The only reaction we got was a shuttle driver that was waiting to pick up a group of people to return to their various locations. He got out of his shuttle van with some kind words on how good we sounded. It was nice that someone recognized what we were doing. I had the impression that the gentleman was Native American and knew the whole meaning and purpose of the
drum. I really do not have any idea how long we played because when I play I lose total track of time. I do know we had played until it had gotten so cold our hands were turning purple and we were having a hard time holding on to the drum beaters. After we loaded the Drum and got into the jeep and headed back to the store to say our farewells to Bobby, I noticed the Town Marshal driving around the park. I’m not sure if he was arriving to tell us how well we were playing or to ask us to leave. My guess was the latter of the two. As we walked into the store Bobby had some very unsettling news. Someone had come into the store to get a few things and when he went back outside to get into his jeep, it was gone. This is something that never happens in this quiet little town. So as we talked for a bit it was really hard not to just keep looking to make sure our jeeps stayed put. We talked and then realized that it was getting late so we said our good byes and took Jenn home. As we were saying our good byes to Jenn, Bobby called to let us know that the Town Marshal had picked the fellow up that was
missing his jeep and drove just a little way down the street where they found his jeep. It was exactly where he had parked it. We all got a good laugh out of this. After all, haven’t we all done something equally as embarrassing at one time or another in our lives? We realized that we felt wonderful that the town remained the same quiet little town it was when we arrived that morning. After big hugs, we climbed into the jeep and headed back to Santa Fe.

I was happy in my belly.

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The Story of Beverly

12/25/2012

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For those of you who have followed the web site from the beginning, you may have wondered how the Awakening Drum got the name Beverly. With this being Christmas Day, I felt this would be a good time to share the story.

I have been drumming for many years. As many of you know the type of drumming I do is not the entertainment type but more the spirit and healing drumming. This is the only way I know how to describe it. When Judy and I lived in St Petersburg, FL, I got my first opportunity at a drum gathering on the beach. This was something that really moved me in a way I could not explain. While we lived there we would go to the gatherings every chance we got. After we moved to the panhandle of Florida we were unable to attend drum gatherings very often so I would sit by the fire on our property in the Blackwater State Forest and play. I found that drumming would take me on journeys in unexplainable ways. When I was finished I felt good and I really love to play. Many times I had no idea what type of sound was coming from the drum, I just knew it felt great. When I was transferred to North Carolina, Judy and I were in Cherokee and heard drums playing at a coffee shop. We went in to listen and ended up staying and playing. After everyone was finished we talked with the lady that was leading the group. She was an awesome person named Beverly. She explained that she did drumming to help bring the spirit of living back into lives of people. She shared her philosphy about drumming with us. She believed that that the Drum has been used around the world to heal, awaken spirits from within us here on earth, and the ones who have left this world to meet their Creator. She told us there were many uses for the Drum but the best use was to heal and improve one’s way of life and to awaken and teach others. I was allowed a short time to learn from this wonderful lady. After a few short years in NC, a job opportunity moved us to Knoxville, TN. Even though we were only 2 hours away, it was far enough that we could not attend many of the Drum gatherings and we slowly lost contact with her. Time passed and I would play the drum every chance I could.

One year Judy and I went to visit Michele in Montana. While we were there she introduced us to her friend Jim Tree. Jim had been gifted a ceremony pipe which in itself is a complete story. While we were at Michele’s Jim offered to do a pipe ceremony for us. This was something we had never experienced. After some talk and understanding of what was involved, we accepted. Jim went to prepare and as he walked away he told us he was not sure which pipe to use so he would need to ask the spirits. There are some of you who already know the power of the pipe and understand how it is used. For those who have never had a chance to experience a pipe ceremony and may think because of the way it is used there would be some sort of drug involved, let me assure you there are no drugs used in a true pipe ceremony. After about 20 to 30 minutes Judy, Michele and I were standing on the front porch on a wonderful bright blue sky kind of day and out of nowhere a large clap of thunder rolled through the sky. Jim has his personal pipe he uses for many things and he is also the keeper of one very special pipe that found its way to him. This pipe is the Thunder Pipe. Just after the thunder rolled you could hear Jim say, “Well, I guess I know what pipe we are using. This will be very special.” During the ceremony the vision of the Awakening Drum was given along with the Drums intent. This was something I had never experienced before and it was taking some time to process it in my head. The one thing I knew right away was who was to build this drum. I had met him at the drum gathering in Cherokee. His name is Bob and the drums he had made for us to use at the gatherings had part of Bob’s soul in them. So ,we went in search of Bob. After some time we found him and explained what we needed and asked if he would build it. Bob agreed. It took almost two years to complete the drum. There were many things that happened during the time of building that could not be helped. In the end we know the Drum was completed exactly when it was supposed to be.

Sometimes things happen that you never expect.

We went back to Cherokee to find Beverly, the one person that we knew who could help guide us with our new Drum. With endless time spent searching and having no luck, Judy went on Facebook to search and found her there. A message was sent. When we received an answer it was not what we had expected. The message came from her sister informing us Beverly had recently passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease. We were shocked; we also knew that her spirit would live on through drumming. She loved Mother Earth and wanted
everyone to be aware that if, we, as the human race did not change our ways we would push her to a point that she would destroy us before we would destroy her. Beverly loved drumming and life and used drumming to awaken people’s spirits. She taught them that they should live there life in love and kindness and to protect our Mother Earth. Her spirit will live on and her passion for drumming will be known through this Awakening Drum.

We take drums with us everyhere we go. They are taken on our vacations, on our trips in the semi truck, and on our day jaunts. We have been allowed to play in many special places. We try to share Beverly's philosophy with everyone we meet. Wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone had a drum to play?

Thank You, Beverly.

We love you.

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Taos Peublo

12/24/2012

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Today, there are no pictures.

Today we are going to Taos to meet up with
Lynn. During the planning of this journey, I was looking for places to play the
Drum in the Santa Fe/Taos area. In my online search,
I found Sweet Medicine Drums. We
corresponded for a few weeks concerning our visit to her area, so today we are
excited to finally meet her. She wasn’t sure of places to play the Drum, however
she invited us to go to the Taos Pueblo as her guest for the Procession of the
Virgin on Christmas Eve. We were
very excited about this invitation and unhesitatingly said “Yes.”

We met up with Lynn just outside of Taos,
where we followed her to her house. We ate a wonderful soup she made for lunch.
After lunch, we followed her and her “gang”(as she called them) to the
pueblo.

We arrived at Taos Pueblo after following
Lynn (in her VW camper van) down a muddy, snowy road that was the back way into
the parking area. The Taos pueblo has been around for over 900 recorded years.
As we entered the pueblo area by the church, we saw many small piles of wood
stacked into a lattice pattern that made squares. All along the route where the
procession would walk, the piles of wood got higher and higher until the last
pile that was approximately 8 foot square and 20-25 feet
high.

Standing Deer, a medicine man and friend of
Lynn’s, had invited her to his family pueblo and she was gracious enough to take
us with her. We knew this would be a very special experience for us. While we
were at Standing Deer and Marti’s pueblo, he did a blessing song for his parents
who had passed away two years ago. This was the first time that the pueblo had
been opened since that time. Before the blessing song, Standing Deer took a drum
down from the wall and asked for his beater to be handed to him. When we saw the
beater, we had to laugh because he had forgotten to bring one with him and had
fashioned a makeshift beater out of a piece of wood and wrapped one end of the
stick in duct tape. He made a joke that it was a modern beater and that, when
all else failed, there would always be duct tape. It certainly brought a sense
of levity to the group that was there at his invitation. Near the end of his
blessing song for his parents, someone’s cell phone began to ring. You could see
people surreptitiously checking to see if it was theirs, only to find out that
it was Standing Deer’s. He calmly
finished his song, answered his phone, spoke with the person on the other end,
hung up and made a comment about it being his nephew and family being very
important. We enjoyed meeting everyone and the fact that we were allowed to be a
part of this was quite a blessing.

As the sun sank lower into the horizon, it
was time to go back to the center of the pueblo for the ceremony. We gathered on
a small hill near the last and largest wood pile in order to get a good view of
all of the proceedings.

Since no photographs are allowed during the
ceremonies, all we have are the memories of everything burned into our minds. It
is frighteningly cold on this Christmas Eve evening. There has been plenty of
snowfall in the previous days. The river that runs through the pueblo is frozen
solid enough to walk on without fear of falling in. Everyone is bundled up and
eagerly awaiting the beginning of the ceremony. The sun begins to set with a
burst of purples and golds. Imagine the solemnness of the people as they start
the first fires. Each fire is started from the top and as the San Geronimo
Church bell tolls, the procession begins. First are the boys carrying the
fire-lit torches made by enormous bundles of kindling bound together, followed
by men carrying rifles and intermittently firing them into the air. Even though
you are ready for it, the gunshots make you jump because they are very loud.
Next are the men playing drums, singing and leading the procession. Then, the
Virgin Mary is carried on a platform covered with pine boughs and a covering of
white material over her head and following her, everyone who wants to be in the
procession follows after the Virgin Mary. Sparks are flying, guns are firing,
drums are beating, and people are singing. By now, all of the fires are burning
and the flames are growing larger and leaping into the sky. The air is thick and
acrid with pine smoke. The hiss of
the fires turns into a roar. The wind is swirling around in many different
directions and as we stand and watch the procession move around the plaza, we
notice that all of the smoke moves to the center of the plaza and then up into
the sky. The largest of the piles tumbles abruptly to the ground, falling
sideways with a crash and scatters flames and sparks around in a glorious way.
The pyre next to this one suddenly bursts into larger flames and then the wind
grabs the smoke and sends it to the heavens in a twisting, swirling whirlwind.
At times there are two or three of these twisting whirlwinds catapulting
themselves towards the heavens all at once. As they rise, they begin to vanish
into the night sky. We watch this phenomenon until they are no longer visible.
We breathe in the atmosphere and hope to carry the sights, scents and the sounds
back in our minds and hearts. We watch as men walk up to the blazing fire and
then walk back, as if to prove their courage.

If you ever get the chance to go to the
Taos Pueblo for their Christmas Eve ceremony, please do it. You will not be
sorry you did.

As the fires begin to burn down, we
reluctantly returned to the jeep to make the 1 ½ hour ride back to Santa Fe. The
weather has been calling for heavy snow and we hoped to get back to our motel
before the big storm hit. As we drove into the small town of Taos, the snow
began to slowly fall. By the time that we had driven to the other end of town,
the snow had really begun to fall hard and heavy. We had to stop and clean off
the headlights and fog lights and hope that we would be able to get back to
Santa Fe. The road from Taos to Santa Fe is a long, winding, dark highway that
runs past the Rio Grande Gorge. After about 20 minutes of driving, we were down
to 15 miles per hour and locked into 4 wheel drive to help keep us from sliding
off the road. As you looked out the front windshield all you could see was big
white flakes pounding straight into us. This was our most intense driving yet.
Judy told me that her job was to pray and my job was to drive. At many points we
rode with the side windows down so that we could turn the defroster up on high
in order to keep the snow and ice from freezing to the windshield. This also
enabled us to be able to hear if were still on the road or not. In about 2 ½
hour we eventually made it back to the motel with white knuckles and sore hands
from hanging onto the wheel. I admit, I was ready for bed after that drive.

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Ojo Caliente and meeting a good friend

12/22/2012

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Today we went to the hot springs in Ojo Caliente. The waters at Ojo Caliente are a group of small hot springs that were delightful to soak in. The weather was beautiful and you could sit in one of the many springs, look up at the burnt sienna cliffs above with their little patches of snow and relax. We met up with Jenn, one of our long time raft guide family. It had been several years since we have seen her and we had been looking forward to this day for many months. There is no way to express ones feelings of this type of reunion. It goes beyond words and travels deep into one’s heart. I could not think of a better place to come together.

The monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery had been asked to perform a Blessing of the Waters Ceremony. Having seen these monks previously, we knew we were in for something extremely special. Although I was unable to play drums today, the experience of listening to the monks throat sing, and play drums, cymbals, bells and horns had a wonderful, healing effect.

During the blessing, as I listened and watched the monks bless the waters, I found my own zen place. I received the message that all types of religions have a way to their own form of heaven. Each person’s thought of how their afterlife will be is different from their neighbor. I realized that if you have faith, love unconditionally, and help to take care of others, this will make God smile. Then I was returned to the ceremony.

The rest of our time at the springs with Judy and Jenn was wonderful as we spent some more time soaking up the warmth of the water that had been blessed. As the sun began to set, we went for showers and got back into some warmer clothes. After a walk around the labyrinth, we followed Jenn to a small restaurant for a bite to eat.

This has truly been a blessed day that will remain in my heart forever.

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Sometimes you don't need a Drum

12/20/2012

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After spending the afternoon at the hotel the day before we got some rest and were ready to embrace the day. Judy had our ride planned out so off we went. After a short ride on the highway we turned off on an AZ primitive
road that wound up into the Coconino Forest. We knew it wasn't a terrible road because we had been told the 3 digit numbered roads were passable with a high clearance vehicle. We were sure we were high enough. A short time into the trip and a road runner darted across in front of us. Because we are avid bird watchers this was a great treat for us. We knew this was a sign that it was going to be a great day. After all if it was “the day the world was going to end” we were going to be enjoying every minute of it. The one thing I know for sure is God is the only one that knows when the world will come to an end. When it does, you don’t need to be prepared to stay here in this world, you better be prepared for your life in the next world. We know we are ready, so we planned to enjoy the day given to us by our great Creator. Judy started her day off with a headache and it wasn’t getting any better by lunch time. We found a nice spot by the river and stopped for a bite to eat. As we sat by the river and ate, we laughed and talked, and soaked up some sun. We took some photos and by then she was doing a bit better so we continued our trip.

As we drove along Judy spotted a hawk way up on the edge of the cliff. We are still not sure what type of hawk it was other than it was very large. As we moved along slowly looking for any type of animal to see, soaring way above us, Judy spots a large black bird. We watch it circle for a couple of minutes trying to get photos of it. At one point I was pretty sure it was a condor. After some research we discovered it was a black hawk that is fairly common in the area. Our goal was to make it to the waterfall trail so we began our journey again. We came to a spot where there is a bridge crossing the river and we couldn’t believe our eyes! The water reminded us of the water in Mexico at Aqua Azul and Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica. It was incredible. After taking a few photos from the bridge we went back to the jeep and went to see what else we could see. It was not long before we found a pull off with water rushing over all these travertine drops. I could only stand and listen to the beautiful sound of nature. I wanted to go and get the Drum so badly and play. There was no way I was going to try to join in with this remarkable symphony of nature. If this was my last day on earth, this is where I needed to be because from there the veil between heaven and earth was thin and an easy step to heaven. As we pulled out of the parking area there was a small deer in the middle of the road standing and looking curiously at us. As soon as Judy tried to take a picture, it bounded off into the woods. “Guess it didn’t want to have its picture taken,”we said, and we continued down the road. A few miles later, we had to turn around because the road was completely blocked by a rock slide. As we headed back and rounded the curve where we had seen the deer, Judy said, “Stop! Now!” As I quickly put the brakes on, a small deer came running to the edge of the road right in front of us. We had been on a collision course with this deer. Then, it just stopped, posed for a picture, and walked calmly to the other side of the road and disappeared into the wilderness. “Thank you,” we said as it leaped off into the woods. As we enjoyed our ride we saw a couple more road runners. These guys are fast and they were not interested in having their photos taken. We did finally get one to hide in a bush long enough for a
“Where is the road runner in this picture shot?” however, that was about it. All in all it has been another day
blessed from above.

Thank you Great Creator.

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