It took several days beyond the Birthdays to get back up to the Steps…

as even though the weather cooperated

the legs and feet remained recalcitrant,

but finally after some Sunday Facetime with Vancouver,

I did, aided by ducks,

make it

all the way up and back, memories of doggies past

and weather still happily cooperative even

unto Tuesday when we

eventually ventured

into Gardner to meet Desireé Dallaguardia for much needed medical massages at La

Clinica during which a crazy rainstorm blew through…and was gone. In all my years in the Valley I’d never been inside the building, but it was as if the staff had just left, all clean and intact despite many years on non-use, patiently waiting for rural medical to return if only they could.

Afternoon brought treasures from rural Pennsylvannia while on the mountain

we were wet.

Wednesday one could still see the Volvo-inspired damage below Dean’s, worse, if one is to believe Dominic Tinio, than anything they’ll have to deal with in the aftermath of BM

although word from the playa, at least from Lee Saloutos who was there a week after “Ex-odus” [his photo, below], seemed to differ*.   For our part we made a quick and efficient run to

Walsenburg encompassing dump, gas, Safeway

and home for lunch with time in the afternoon for a last churning of Trig’s six cylinders before

buttoning things up until next year when, with more gas [and some stabilizer] in the tank he ought to run steadily a bit more readily…sturdy postwar engineering ‘n’ all.

After yet another two days away the Steps Project was turning up some strange bedfellows

and anyway it wasn’t until Friday that the Inkies and I made it again.

Coming down I paid the sorefooted price, though after an afternoon of studio a pleasant walk

around the block was swell and in fact the weather and whatever just couldn’t be better…

so Saturday we made it again, wandering back by a slightly different route on

a last day, hey.

*from Lee; ” The second of those trips was to Black Rock playa maybe 7-8 days after BM was done. I got a lot of good photos of the remains being cleared off.  It’s amazing.  I think if you wanted to rent a semi tractor, a tele handler, a forklift, or many other large pieces, well, you’d have to go to South Dakota to find anything.  It’s all out there for the duration.  The playa itself is a wreck…the rain and a million feet and wheels did a number on it…the center of “camp” this year was very roughed up in muck that then solidified…I wonder how many shoes are in there.  If BM really wants to flatten it they will have to get quite a few road graders.  It’s sad”.  [They usually do bring in more than a few graders every year to blade it back to “left no traceness” but given the desert’s transpiration effect we may be in for years and years of emergent footwear.]

“The Playa Said NO!”…Elder Futhark runes by Ann B. Miller. I would concur.