Texas

Dear Anthony,

Texas has been great. After leaving Breau Bridge, I drove straight into the night stopping at a Howard Johnson near Lake Charles, Louisiana. I woke up, got myself a few cups of coffee, and hit the road. Before I left the hotel, I got myself centered by writing in my journal and reading a few poems by Kahlil Gibran. Today, he spoke to me on Beauty...

Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?

The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle. Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."

And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread. Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."

The tired and the weary say, "beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit. Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."

But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains, and with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."

At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."

And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, "we have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."

In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills." And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."

All these things have you said of beauty. Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.

It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, but rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.

It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, but rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.

It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw, but rather a garden forever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.

Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

I decided that this would be a nice piece to share with someone, so before I left the hotel.... I gave the book to the hotel clerk to read...

She opened right up. We had a nice conversation and she invited me to call her and her husband when I pass back through and they would show me around the indian reservation.

On so I went,

I made it to Houston by mid-afternoon and stopped at the Fountains in Sugarland. I saw a woman sitting by herself on the outside patio of this restaurant. I asked if I could join her and the next thing I know, ten more people showed up, including her husband, and we were having a party. One of the older men sitting at the table, had done a similar trip as me in the '70's. Treking his way through Mexico to Acalpulco.

This was a momentary stop along the way. A temporary solution to my lonliness. This is a lonely road sometimes. I take the moments as they come. I appreciate the togetherness for as long as it lasts and look forward to the next encounter with humankind. And the space in-between, I simply reflect on the bright moments and the brighter moments yet to come.

And as quickly as my company came, they also left...

I hit the road and drove until I couldn't drive any more... I rented a hotel room and ate some breakfast. I was roughly two hours away from Rockport Texas where I would rendevous with my friend Craig Webb's mother, just in time for Mother's Day.

It was a nice visit at an opportune moment. I had met her once before when Craig and I visited New Mexico together. What a great trip that was!! I'll have to tell you about it sometime.

The visit was short and sweet. She showed me around this little town which was rated one of the top ten best retirement places in the United States. On Sunday, she took me to her Church and everyone welcomed me with open arms. It was really nice and I appreciated the love.

I took down a few email addresses of people that wanted to stay in touch and then I left the next day when the weather cleared.

I passed the city of Corpus Cristi and kept going. Not much to say about Corpus except the oil money runs deep... Halliburton owns an offshore oil rig worth about 1.3 Trillion dollars and they had it in for repairs. 1.3 Trillion dollars... can you believe it?

I made it to the Mexican border before sundown and breezed right through, stopping only to pay the toll. It was like the wild wild west in the town of Reynosa. And I was having a hard time finding the main road heading south.

I finally did and I was on my way only to be stopped abruptly at a guard post sixteen miles in-country. They wanted to see my motorcycle permit, which I didn't have. They turned me around and I reluctantly headed back to the States.

This may be as far as I am going to get. We'll see.

Warmth and love,

Dad