12' in back and 20' in front to the edge

Well, I hope everyone made it OK into 2011.
As I wrote in my last post I spent the night atop a mesa not too far from town. I arrived at my spot just in time for sunset which was a great way to bid farewell to 2010.
It just felt right to me to spend the end of the year in nature which I have come to appreciate more and more over the past year. I had hoped to be surrounded by total darkness. Unfortunately, the lights from Overton were not far enough away and the sky further north was a glow by the town of Mesquite and down south Las Vegas left its mark in the sky. Nevertheless, I was able to see the Milky Way. I didn’t know if I would stay awake until midnight, so after dinner I climbed up on the roof of my camper with a cushion and a warm blanket and I stared into the stars. I was lucky, I saw two shooting stars. The first was short with an orange tail. The second shooting star came down at 9 PM, or midnight New York time. It was really fast and long, and no, neither were satellites. I don’t know much about our solar system, but I just love gazing into the stars. There are some really bright stars I dubbed “LED” stars and some appeared orange. When I stayed at an Arizona State Park back in October the ranger arranged for an astronomy evening and it was just fascinating. They had two big telescopes and a pair of 80x binoculars. I just loved scanning the sky with the binoculars. Spotting and following satellites and getting a closer look at star clusters.

First sunrise of 2011

I didn’t make it quite to midnight, but I woke-up just in time to witness the first sunrise of the year. I didn’t even have to get out of bed, only had to turn my head. After I took some photos, I turned my head in the other direction and went back to sleep.
After breakfast I went for a three hour hike through the foothills and canyons of the mesa that I had camped on. I felt like an explorer, climbing over mud hills, walking through muddy washes and stumbling across hills sprinkled with rock gypsum. I was just happy that I did this in the winter and not during the summer months when temperatures around here easily reach 110 F.

Rock gypsum

I have been on the road now for over nine months and I can’t see myself giving up the life of a vagabond by April. When I talk with people they usually say that they envy me and that they always wanted to travel cross-country. All I can say is: Don’t wait to make your dreams become reality. Do it now, you never know what tomorrow brings. We too often say “oh, I’ll do that tomorrow.” Or “I’ll travel when I retire.” And we never get around to doing any of it. I have driven past things I wanted to photograph and I said, next time. There might not be a next time. I have lost three friends under the age of fifty in 2010. Make it your New Year’s resolution to make your dream reality.