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“Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.”
~Â Rumi
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Day 6 – Victorville to Twentynine Palms, California
The earliest hint of light finds me wheeling my bike out of the hotel in Victorville. Following Highway 18 east into the little town of Lucerne Valley, I stop at what will likely be my last available water supply for 50 miles. Here, I leave Highway 18, and head further east on Old Woman Springs Road. (It’s also called Highway 247, but that’s a boring name…)
With no shoulder on the highway, I’m thankful for the very light traffic early on this beautiful Saturday morning. A fickle wind swirls in the mounting heat of the morning.
The wildlife along the road has changed with the landscape as I’ve moved further into the desert. For several miles, I pay close attention to chirping along the side of the road, assuming it must be some sort of ground bird. Eventually, I come to the conclusion that the chirping comes from small lizards (or maybe geckos) dashing across the road from one scrap of vegetation to another. I suspect they hole up in the shade as the day heats up, but here in the early morning, I can barely see them as the scurry across the pavement.
I also notice something less. Less noise. It’s really quiet. A mesmerizing quiet.
I pull over to have a little snack in the deepening quiet. A fierce and piercing sun scorches the desert floor around me, pushing the temperature upwards. I can see for tens of miles all around me, and it feels like the quiet reaches out across all those miles of baking desert. The light and silent wind swirls around here and there, playing across my skin, swirling dust in the road, hinting of a big wind to come.
Out here in the wide-open desert, with the barest of vegetation spread sparsely across the wind-swept sand, there’s no instrument for the wind to play, no grass to whisper through, no leaves to rustle.
I lean against my bike in the stillness for a long time, appreciating the silence. It’s a rare sense of quiet so deep it’s almost fragrant, and I find myself tasting the air for the scent of this wonderful thing around me. Savoring the tranquility, I’m reminded of a scuba diving experience from years ago.
It was a night dive. Moving along the top of a reef, enjoying the nighttime creatures, I noticed the occasional hunting shark, a large octopus now and then searching for prey. Coming to an open sandy area, I settled down to suspend just above the bottom, and turned out my light. The darkness enveloped me completely. The silence was breathtaking. I lay there for a few minutes, slowing my breath and heart rate, enjoying the silent primordial darkness. I was alone in an environment that could rapidly turn mortally hostile, and I temporarily shut down my important sense, my sense of sight. I surrendered to the environment around me, allowing myself to soak inside the vastness, the only sound that of the bubbles from my relaxed breath through the regulator.
The memory of that silent reef returns to me out here on the bright, silent surface of the desert. What attracts me to these moments out on the edge of comfort? What is it that wandering alone with the quiet unlocks within me? Basking in the solitude. Feeling a glimpse of something greater than myself.
Climbing back in the saddle, I pedal down the road, feeling the growing wind in my face. I gear down and notch my speed back. How quickly a smile can flip into a frown with the shifting of the wind.
With each passing mile, the traffic increases. A narrow highway with no shoulder, I’m feeling pressed to the side of the road by drivers clearly angry that I’m riding on their road. My frown over the wind now mixes with real fear of the impatient drivers flying past me with inches to spare at 70 miles per hour.[/fusion_text][/three_fourth][fullwidth backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”0px” paddingright=”0px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” class=”” id=””][one_fourth last=”no” spacing=”yes” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” class=”” id=””][imageframe lightbox=”no” style_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”https://neilhanson.com/pilgrim-wheels” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””] 
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Pilgrim Wheels Excerpts This post is part of a series of posts, representing excerpts from Pilgrim Wheels, a story of a cycling journey across America. Pilgrim Wheels will be released in early March, let me know if you’re interested in doing an advance review.
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