Ode to Segment 4

A light tapping on the tent at night becomes a 3 inch snow blanket by morning.

My eager traildog “slED” arrives with a harrowing tale of his 540 degree tail-chasing approach.

We begin loping through a white, untracked landscape on an old logging road frequently blocked by blowdowns.

A tumbling TUMBLEWEED skids over a treacherous slab of powder obscured ice.

The intrepid duo trudges into an eye-stinging wind along the edge of a never-ending valley of dormant brush.

Our ravenous appetites eventually drive us to a Coney Island oasis where we jam chilidogs, elk burgers and deep-fried onions into our gaping faces.

I blissfully share this turbulent spring adventure with a roving coyote, several grazing pronghorn antelope and bighorn sheep, many calm roadside deer and dozens of elk in large and small clusters.

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The migration of TUMBLEWEED

When conditions are favorable, TUMBLEWEED flies with the wind

Across the arid desert plains and broad river valleys

Occasionally getting entangled by obstacles that halt forward progress

Eventually breaking free to roam misty mountains and enchanted forests

Crossing the rocky spine of the continent segment by segment

TUMBLEWEED traverses from east to west along the Colorado Trail

the ascension of rob ensue

mid year 09 a time:space shift occured

from the green canopy of cascades to the red rock canyons adjacent to rockies

rob ensue gamble for the bold and new

 

six months of struggle for ego and ergo

perfecting the patience of scanning for salvage

rob ensue resolve to live leaner and meaner

 

upgrade to phone book delivery delights

move paper from wharehouse to auto to apartment to rebundle to insert to reload to transport to deliver to record to recount to wait to receive remittance

rob ensue suffer ache of dreams rudely ripped from the heart

 

seasonal rotation brings discarded debris blowing against concrete banks

sudden call back from academic coordinator; cordial interview of mutual satisfaction; confirmation of inclusion to rec center ranks

rob ensue drench in tsunami relief, celebrate the end of an erra horribla

AT tokin’ tales cont’d

mellow fellow hiker The Burnt Herbivore / a raconteur of buzz-worthy tales to quench my intellectual thirst for appalach drug culture

he confided to me / getting high on the trail was easy peasy japanesey i.e.,

Bad Buoy Bob & his turbulent temperament

B Herb came upon Bad Buoy Bob sitting on the side of the trail / four empty beers at his feet / one in his hand

he had an oddly bulging pack & he wore basketball shoes / soles split open / sockless toes exposed

a glazed expression as baked as an overcooked noodle casserole

he offered his last beer / Herbi dropped his dorsal load / stretched out on the grass

tried to keep up with the erratic waves of rambling monologue

beers were drained / out came the colored glass pipe / get high? sure / pass glowing bowl back & forth / argue the logic of inevitable duct tape foot-wear repairs

mutually grateful burnt offering of rescue for sympatico ships passing towards polar termini

The hero of Fullhardt Knob

the group was collected at the shelter for lunch / bitching & moaning / poor pitiful selves

along comes cool couple with glittering smiles / can we help? the man asks

any herbal analgesic? Burnt Herb dares to bark

you wanna get high? no worries he chuckles / he proceeds to roll fatties / they are handled  in rapid cycles of pursuit

another afternoon of glory for the herbal-eye eagle

The Gamers of Hidden Lake Shelter

outrunning a banal mob of herding pretensions / TBHerb discovers the nirvana of The Gamers in session

time just to share sacrament while watching the flow of cards / hand to wood table to reshuffled magic

the lemmings arrive with a cacophony of cackle / the bherb visually contacts the huddle of gamers

mahalo he waves / escaping the discordant chaos for the bliss of serenely amped ambulation

Cookie Monster / merchant of damascus

obligatory intoxication at the magnetic stew of town’s trail days festival / a fusion of scruffy characters with a common obsession

Cookie Monster emerges like the cheshire of alice / offering baked goods with the promise of starship

a dozen for bringing sunshine to the afternoon saunter / patient dosing of delicous treats turns to awareness of failure

caveat emptor on the journey NoBowhere

UNIFICATION THEORY

CDT PTSD — Continental Divide Trail Post Traumatic Stress Diary

Dermagraphology — History of the art that is fit to ink on skin

Dulcet Tomes — The Soft Underbelly

Enigmatic Corporatic — Reworked content from THE CORPORATION at large

Hip Histrionics — Riffs on Pop Culture

Insipid Manifestos — Ode to the Lobe

Maudlin Missives & Mellow Musings

Mental Laxatives — Brain Drano

My Narcissisms — Its all about ME, MY, MINE!

Rancid Recollections — The stories of my life

Snark File — Rated H.T.O.C. (High Tolerance for Offensive Content)

Trail Tales — The Long Strange Trip

Trivial Lists — …and a 1 and a 2 and a 3…

Uncatagorized, Declassified, Substandardized

Zealous Illucidations — Supernatural Ding Dong

Pathos @ Pike’s Peak

the old tejas gang reunited at the Divide watering hole

seeking to climb, drinking to rewind, twas August ’09

there was Boddington McGinnis, horseshoe wit of Barr Camp

Backside birthday boy on his virgin conquest

Mooch Papoose busted out the Buffalo bourbon

 

they were joined by the Drunken Sailor who beat the gang off               Zebulon’s shoulder

a judgment was flaw, a nerve was raw, alert the law

The cowboy king and animal print queen of small town saloon trivial pursuits

don’t forget two guys patiently cruising the byways on their                    Segways with trailers

peculiar Peggy Pepto in her pink jumpsuit pumping her pretty striped coolers with vigor

 

at last there was the minister of Denny’s in his long draping blue suit of silk

tending his flock, preaching his fashion

an earpiece of electronics in his left; an equal size hairpiece in the right

Love Song for Sue

you keep the heart fires burning

you satisfy the lust

you yin, i yang; two cycles in synch

you do everything for me

 

you enable the fun

you keep my ego in check

you pick me up and put me together again

you do everything for me

 

i walk and walk and walk and walk

but i always come back to you

a lifetime of searching for a heart that was never lost

i will do anything for you