the beginning

Leaving my home, the densely populated San Francisco, and entering a landscape so broad, so richly devoid of MY commonplace, is at once inspiring and utterly frightening. All expectations fly from my head, out the window, into the Sierra Nevada range; echoing from peak to peak, only faintly returning when an encounter with another soul involves more than eye contact. Often it's a smile from an older couple, noticing the car packed for a move, its driver moving forward, forward, not looking back. One can cover hundreds of miles in this space; driving through the Alkali Flats of western Nevada is a fitting representation of this in-between place of thought and personal composure. White spans of salt, an ephemeral surface, contrast and add to the mystery of its intriguing beauty. White and blue, asphalt and infrequent highway signs, miles and miles-the beginning.


Photograph: Alkali Flats,
Nevada.
© Michelle Jorgensen

Yes, that is the name Eric spelled out in rocks or spraypaint; regardless of the method, still quite strange.