Random Thing About Me #2

I love the desert. Don't get me wrong, I also love Ohio, the change of seasons, the family and friends. When I first visited the desert in 1989, I immediately developed a love for the place. It's part of the reason why I took a job in Vegas a year later.

It's hard to explain. Maybe because its an extreme environment and life takes extreme measures to adapt and survive. And there is plenty of life in the middle of the Mojave. You just have to know where to look.

Maybe its because for the most part, it's vast and empty and untouched. Mother Nature moves very slowly out there. It's the opposite of so much of the modern world where change is constant and incremental. When change comes to the desert, it tends to be in reaction to a catastrophic incident, like a flood or a landslide -- sudden, violent and awesome. The change wrought by that sudden incident might remain the same for another ten, fifty or one hundred years. You never know. There are still wagon tracks in Death Valley from when the pioneers headed west in the 1850s. One day, in a matter of seconds or minutes, they'll be gone when that change comes along.

The desert demands respect and demands that you pay attention. The consequences for failing to do so are extreme. Maybe that's what I like best about the desert --you have to pay attention. When you pay attention, you get to soak up the beauty of it all.