saw Linda out standing in her field one last time among “Grey Matter” [above] and

“Cloak of the Motion” [below] before, 10:30, she headed for the pavement while I, somewhat

later, took off down De Desert on the Smoke Creek Road,

over Smoke Creek at the Smoke Creek Bridge,

down

beyond Bonham, over Sand Pass and the RR*

to Fish Springs Road,

Doyle,

395 to Hallelujah Junction

70 to Vinton to 49 to Dyson Lane and back to 49 again.

Then it was 89 from Sierraville** to Truckee, the Interstate and

over the hill into the Valley of the Densely Packed and

Benicia by 4:30 for exhaustively partial unloading, small collapses followed by…

Mai Thai!

Next morning the dogs, after their first leashed walk on pavement in six months, jumped back into the Taco at their first opportunity to communicate we’d all made a Terrible Mistake…

too late, too late. There were, however, cryptic messages left both by locals and Izel to be decoded…

*by now all that remains of the RR buildings at Sand Pass are cement foundations and “Surprise Valley Road” is still a google fiction for the actual Smoke Creek/Sand Pass Road.

**The flashing stoplight described in the link is [again!] no longer there.