Nearly Two Weeks On The Road… I Think I May Need Another Week
The quiet pursuit of calm leads me to the mountains.
We didn’t plan this escape for very long.
In fact, we wanted to escape the valley and the heat of August that we planned poorly. We forgot our go bag, so we needed to purchase cables, chargers, and a few other necessities.
We brought jackets, but no long-sleeved tee shirts.
It was a short road trip up to the Dixie National Forest where daytime temps reach the low 70s… on a warm August day.
After months of oppressive heat, and living in the backroom of my daughter’s home, we needed to get away. Our new home is promised for December… I can’t tell you how excited I am to have our own place again.
A sexy Santa Fe with a separate 275-foot studio/gallery in the Arizona desert.
“Why don’t you live in the mountains instead,” I have been asked.
Well, I love the desert. The heat is just part of the desert life.
And we are working on a way to spend at least three months of the summer up in the mountains of Utah or Wyoming. Looks promising.
And, of course, grandkids. I love my grandchildren and being a part of their lives is pretty important to my wife and I.
So deserts from October to June, mountains for July through September.
At least, that’s the plan.
Up here in the Dixie, the mountains are high, the streams are flowing, and there aren’t very many people to mess up your day.
We take road trips from our base camp and return to the coolness of a mountain breeze and an afternoon thunderstorm.
We have explored Bryce Canyon, Highway 12 (the Escalante), the Pando Tree and Fish Lake, Torrey, UT., the Parowan Petroglyphs, Panguitch Lake, Cedar Breaks, and the lava hills near Mammoth Springs.
And each day we return to the little place we have rented for two weeks to laugh, share our images, cook dinner, and watch a baseball movie.
I love baseball movies.
We are due to head toward Phoenix on Thursday, with a short overnight stopover in Flagstaff.
This trip has taken me closer to a more limited social media engagement, having no cell service in most of the places we visit.
That has become liberating, and challenging as well.
I am not big on social media. I have a YouTube mostly used for videos for my mentees and the Project 52 students, but only occasionally post there.
I am not interested in Twitter, and if my P52 students were not on Facebook, I wouldn’t be either.
I publish on Medium, for free — no paywalled content.
I publish on Substack with special content behind a firewall. About 10% of the content is firewalled.
I have spent the whole morning sitting near a little creek with the coldest water you can imagine, trying to figure out what I want to do. I am not a ‘social animal’ and prefer the company of a few good, and intelligent friends, to having mobs of ‘fans’ at my feet.
I actively do not seek that.
But I need to figure out my next great adventure, what comes next, for me to be confident in what for me will be a huge move. A huge artistic and lifestyle move.
And in order to do that… I need another week, ya know.
I have decided to return to this area for one more week in September. Just me and my magnificent beast (V-Twin Cruiser), riding the roads, visiting the forests, and writing, planning, sketching, and charting.
It is time for change.
The world is telling me/us this every morning, every sunset, every time we access information.
Old dogs, new tricks is a myth. Not worried about age, but worried that I will miss an opportunity. So many of us do.
We make excuses like a kid In a writing class asked to present 20 excuses why someone shouldn’t with only three minutes to go before the bell.
The reasons we give are mostly illusory, not based in reality, but created with feelings. Feelings based on illusion, or other people’s expectations.
And I hate expectations for that very reason; based on feelings, not reality.
I try to have no expectations from others, until I do. And then they are rigorous and as varied as the people I know.
I just want to share a few images with you from this trip that I made today. All are from my iPhone as I do not edit images in the mountains. I wait for the office to do that stuff.
Not sure the name of this little creek near Cedar Breaks. We were mapping out campgrounds and wondered onto this little gem.
The lava fields west of Panguitch are incredible. They are less than a thousand years old, and are so rough that any thought of hiking would be a mistake. Twisted ankles are the least, since the rocks have razor sharp edges.
I am a sucker for Aspens, and this little cluster cought my eye.
Another Aspen portrait. So lovely in dappled light.
Nature finds a way. As dust and dirt fill the crevices between the rocks, trees and bushes take their shot. I love the contrast.
One last shot of the lava hills. These are about 3 miles west of Panguitch Lake and are huge mounds of hard, sharp, and rough rock.
Well, off to another adventure this afternoon. We are in search of a waterfall down toward Parowan.
Wish me luck.
Hi, I’m Don Giannatti, a photographer and mentor for up-and-coming photographers. You can find me on my website, Don Giannatti, and at my Substack site, where I also publish for creative people.
All photos were taken by the author on an iPhone 13Max.
