Mesa Verde:

Sleeping in Mancos CO tonight.  Rode into Mesa Verde National Park today.  The park includes 600 cliff dwellings. I rode out on Chapin Mesa.  The landscape is stunning.  A sense of place and harmony.  It is easy to see why the ancestors chose this area for their homes.  For more than 700 years they lived and flourished here. The Park provides a lot to think about.  Many lessons to be learned.

Interesting how I have been meeting people each day.  Met a man today who struck up a simple conversation.  In a few short minutes I discovered he lived in Florida...less than 20 miles from where our nephew, Paul Jr., is in the rehab center.

Beautiful ride today.  Shot some video to share with you.  

Click here to ride with me.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Kickstand Up:

Left Santa Fe at 9:30A on Wednesday.  It always seems to take longer to get on the road than you think it will.  Headed down I25 south to 550 north toward Cuba.(Cuba New Mexico)  Nancy and I had seen a new fire flare up in the Jemz mountains on Monday from Santa Fe.  As I headed north on 550 I could see the smoke building.

 

I have lost track of the number of trips made up 550 to Farmington over the past eight years.  I always seem to get in the Jeep and move across the country as if contained in a cage.  This was the first time I had traveled the route on the bike.  What a difference.  I immediately began to notice the curves in the road, the changing temperatures of the air from one area to the next, but most of all...the true beauty of being connected with everything around me.  It was a good first day on the road.  I spent the night with with my good friend Mike Eisenfeld and his family in their beautiful straw bale solar home.

This morning after several cups of Mike's incredible coffee I headed to Aztec NM to visit Aztec National Monument.  Aztec was built between 1000-1200 AD.  Known by the Native Peoples as "Place by the Flowing Waters".  One of the very special things about Aztec is the Great Kiva which was rebuilt in 1934.

In the Great Kiva the People celebrated the mystery of life.  They sang ancient songs timed to the beat of their drums...and hearts.  They danced in honor to the animals and plants whose life they shared.  They strove to establish a "resonance" with Mother Earth and the Cosmos.  They believed harmony in the Cosmos was essential to recreate in their lives, relationships, and community.  The People would "remember to remember" their relationship to the natural order of the universe.

As I sat in the Great Kiva I "remembered to remember" how important harmony in our lives, relationships, and community is.  It was good to be there.

It was almost noon as I turned the bike toward Mancos CO. Passing several of the usual fast food spots I simply longed for something more local.  Around a bend in the road I spotted the Vanilla Moose.  This just had to be a good "local" hamburger joint.  Parked the bike with a longing for a good greasy burger.  Much to my surprise they only served "World Famous" shakes, malts, and ice cream.  I was almost ready to ride on...then I thought..."why not try that World Famous Peanut Butter Chocolate malt".  As I finished the malt and walked out to the bike I felt a "tap" on the back of my leg.  I turned around to see a young Navajo girl holding a toy motorcycle in her hand and pointing at my bike with a big smile on her face.

Her mother looked over with a very friendly "hello".  She began to tell me the story of her daughter. She was born on the reservation with a severe birth defect. Her son was fine. The story was like many I had heard before. An extremely high rate of birth defects going unchecked in the Four Corners area.  Birth defects quite often caused by mercury in the environment.  As I started to walk back to the bike the young girl quickly reached out and gave me a warm and loving hug.  Her brother did the same.  I waved to them as I pulled onto the highway.  

Riding to Mancos I kept thinking how I happened to stop for a burger...but was given the gift of meeting a young child who made me realize why I feel so committed to the work I am doing and the stories I strive to give voice to. 

In Mancos tonight.  It was a very good and special day.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

 

Family:

During our Ride in Beauty workshop we had the opportunity to experience the meaning and strength of family.  In a few short days we were family.  Sisters and brothers, daughters and mothers, sons and fathers.  All one.

Last week after Nancy and I returned home from the workshop we flew to Tampa, Florida.  Our nephew has been in a coma since Christmas day.  Paul Jr. was in the simple act of walking across the street when a car hit him.  In a split second the lives of a family were changed.

We spent time at the rehab center where Paul Jr. is staying.  He is not yet awake.  With his family gathered around him, we knew he was aware of the strength of family.  All one.  Together.

Paul and Paul Jr., father and son.

On our flight home Nancy and I looked at each other knowing we both were having the same thought. Paul Jr. has been riding motorcycles since he was 13. For many years now he has ridden across the country on his Harley.  Ride in Beauty, which I begin tomorrow, is dedicated to Paul Jr. I will be riding with our love for him.  For strength of family...all one, together.

be strong, be safe, Carlan   

Ride in Beauty Workshop:

The Ride in Beauty workshop presented a rare opportunity to explore the rich culture of the Navajo People as they shared their history, their homes and their magnificent landscape. I have spent over seven years in this area photographing and recording the Dine' as they continue to fight to preserve their land and way of life under the shadow of two coal-burning power plants and coal strip mines.

Special thanks to our workshop participants, or I should say workshop family, because that's what we were by the end of the week.

To see the workshop participant's photographs please click here.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Sheep's Graves:

Last month Sarah called from Farmington and said we need to drive out to Cynthia Dixon's and do a story on her lambs.  "What about her lambs," I asked.  "She just buried twenty-seven."  I hadn't seen Cynthia since Desert Rock seven years earlier.  At first glance she appeared as strong as I remembered, but her eyes couldn't hide her great loss.  She showed me twenty-five graves, each one marked.  Two of the graves had twins buried together.  Like Dub's calves in Oklahoma, they couldn't stand or nurse.  And like Dub she knew the culprit was coal.

To see and hear Cynthia's story click here

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Monuments and T-Shirts:

I received an invitation to join Barnett Harley-Davidson from Las Cruces (our corporate HD sponsor for Ride in Beauty) for a group ride through the beautiful desert landscape of New Mexico this past weekend. Part of the ride was a planned stop for the semi-annual "open house" at the Trinity Site. 

July 16, 1945 - Trinity Site New Mexico. "The effects could well be called unprecedented, magnificent, beautiful, stupendous, and terrifying."...Brig. Gen. Thomas Farrell

The story as we all know it began in 1942 with the formation of the Manhattan Project.

In 1953 the first visitors were allow to visit the site.  The Trinity Site was declared a national historic landmark in 1975. For two days a year, the first Saturday in April and October, the site conducts an "open house".

Trinitite, a green glassy substance, found in the ground zero area contains several radioactive elements.  When entering the site visitors are handed a brochure, which states: "Although radiation levels at ground zero are low, some feel any extra exposure should be avoided.  The decision is yours."

The ground zero monument marks the location of the tower that was used to hold the bomb.  The tower was vaporized in the blast.

It is a Federal offense to remove radioactive Trinitite from the site, but t-shirts can be purchased.

Hans Bethe one of the contributing scientists wrote, "it looked like a giant magnesium flare which kept on for what seemed a whole minute.  The white ball grew and after a few seconds became clouded with dust whipped up by the explosion from the ground and rose and left behind...a black trail of particles."

The stop at the Trinity Site was short...the memories long.  It took another 300 miles of open road for my thoughts to settle.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

The Cowboy Life:

When I first met Herman Talbert (also known as Dub) in Bokoshe, last year I knew I was talking to the real deal, as they say in Oklahoma. Born and raised on the ranch his grandfather homesteaded around 1890, he's raised cattle there since he was 16. For 40 years Dub's lived the cowboy life, which when explained to me, was living with the land, his animals and raising the next generation of cowboys.

Four years after Making Money Having Fun LLC (real name) began dumping coal ash 1/2 mile from his ranch Dub began losing calves, 4 the first year, 6 and then 10. They looked normal, but couldn't stand and struggled to breathe. In January 2011 Dub sold his herd.  "I couldn't take it, seeing those calves die." He'll stay and tend the ranch with his daughter and grandchildren, but their cowboy days are over.

Click here to see and hear Dub's story. 

be strong, be safe, Carlan