Horizons and ghost towns

 It was a very long, grueling day today, nearly 600 miles in one stretch plus a day of facing one of my fears, driving in the mountains. As soon as curves, height, and visuals of an edge come into play, I am in trouble and it becomes very difficult to keep pushing on. One can argue, why go on a trip where mountains are involved if this fear is in place? The other side of the coin is, why let fear stop one from doing something, but rather,why not learn to face the fear? No, my fear was not conquered although there were definite strides of 'better', which is enough.  Still, I'm VERY thankful to be in a flat space for now... and will think about the next part of the drive when I'm on the road again.

In driving just a small portion of Route 66 it was kind of sad to see how dilapidated some of the towns were... nearly ghost towns... yet there were glimpses of what once must have been thriving business along the road sides. Descending into Albuquerque was as amazing as when I traveled by bus 33 years ago. As I continued on,  between the mountainess parts when my eyes weren't glued to the lines on the road only and silently praying for the nerve to not let my surroundings get to me, the horizons are what struck me the most... I didn't think the sun's rays could span out any further across the skies while I was in Arizona, and the clouds in the west just seem to have a completely different quality than in the east. The terrain kept changing and it was always a pleasant surprise to see the new landscapes. I don't know if I could ever get tired of seeing so much spread out in front of me while driving.

I am with more family now, and look forward to spending time with them, before heading on out again.