Desert Scale

The desert is a magnificent place because scale is so often inconceivable, everything is sparse, especially things made by man and the sounds that come along with those things. In some parts of the Mojave I would stop and place my bike next to the road. There would be no sound save my own breath and the rustling of my feet. Sounds would return when when Shane and Elspeth would begin to get closer and I could hear the noises of their bicycles. Mountains 30 miles away would appear easily approached afoot and trains could be heard through the silence but only appear as little glimmering boxes in the vast landscape. Sometimes stars would become nauseating. The few things that humans have build are startling in their presence because they are almost always obtrusive to the landscape and built solely for function.

We stayed in a rest area one night in a small town called Trona. The town was basically the infrastructure for a potash plant and its workers. The smell was horrible and there were sounds of explosions all night but the place was somehow beautiful.