Ben and Sue Day 55

Tuesday, October 30, 2007, Day 55

. . . Brrr it was cold this morning -- 38 degrees!  I can finally start wearing some of the warmer clothes I packed -- haven't had any need for  them up till today.

.  . As we drove today -- more mountain, flat, sagebrush covered land -- we came upon underground bunkers -- perhaps thousands of them on either side of the road as far as I could see.  Then a sign -- Naval Undersea Warfare Command.  I have always heard that Nevada had a   general reputation for:  secret work, UFO sightings, area 51, storing America's nuclear resources --  that sort of thin.  I wonder . . . I wonder. . .   We did see rather sophisticated looking antennas high up on one hill.  Also several signs to tell us Nevada was the #1  best place in  America to star gaze -- evidentially the stars are clearer here than anywhere else in America.

. . . And then . . . WOW . . . we were driving around a curve when what did we see but a horse drawn buggy -- a very old horse drawn buggy with three horses -- travelling very slow on  this 60 mph road.  The driver pulled to the right to let us pass and as we were passing I saw some words on the side of the canvas "sowing native flowers".  Well of course I was very curious and convinced Ben to pull over to a very wide spot in the road and to wait for that horse and wagon to catch up so I could hopefully discover more fully.  Poor Ben.  He said he was not at all interested in "discovering more" about a rather old women dressed in Indian garb and sowing naive wildflowers.  But he is so good to me -- has been the whole trip -- stopping often along the way to investigate  things -- I love Ben so much!

. . . So anyway, after a few minutes we hear the clop clop of the horses feet and here she comes.  Seeing us parked there, she also pulled over and I had tons of time t ask her questions.  VERY interesting.  Long story short:  she was American (Irish she told me) not born Indian at all but through her adult years began adopting more and more of the old Indian ways of life and thinking.  She had been travelling and living in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada for many years.  She herself, wherever she lived, planted gardens with native flowers and roots and taught others how to do so also.  Mostly she planted edible flowers and medicinal roots.  She seemed distraught about highways and buildings destroying so much Native American land.  She invited us to sign the canvas wagon which I did.  So if you ever see her travelling along . . . look for our names!

All through Nevada we have passed what I call shanty towns -- homes and buildings where people used to live and business used to take place but now all are abandoned.  Sometimes it appeared to be fire that partially destroyed the tiny community.  Sometimes it looked like people just one by one picked up and left town and left the buildings/homes behind to deteriorate by the elements as the years went by.  There  was never any sign of life -- no people, animals, gardens -- no signs of life.  Lots of times there were old junk cars all around.  Somehow I would not be surprised if Ben makes an "old car hunting trip" down here in the not too distant future.

Saw some funny road signs today:  Rattlesnake Drive, Mary's Lane, Soda Lake Road, Bottom Road. 

Made it to Culoso California tonight.

Sue