Returning to Fruita

In the morning Stevie and Daniel expressed themselves as the birds do with the guitar and Native American flute. It was hauntingly beautiful listening to their song filling the canyon, mingling with the voices of the winged creatures.

 As they played music, Brandon hung out in the back of the cave, carefully sewing a bag. He also made the green flower of life bag sitting in front of him. He creates many other beautiful things, including a basket, a rack for drying sage, a dream catcher, and rock art.

 Some of Brandon's creations (above and below).

 Daniel and Freebird prepare elm flour waffles for breakfast, which fell apart but still tasted delicious nonetheless. Other ingredients include:  oats, hemp seeds, bananas, and apples.

After filling up on the "not-so-awful waffles", we walked with Alex back to his car. He returned to Fruita that day, after many fun nights of us camping out together. Before leaving town, he dropped us off at the library.

We stayed at the library until they closed, and then we walked over to Pete's house for some dinner. On the way, we checked out some dumpsters (my first dumpster-diving experience!). As society had imprinted on me before, I thought that digging through trash would be disgusting. It turned out to be quite contrary to my expectations; instead of losing my appetite, I was able to stand by and eat a granola bar we found. We encountered quite a surplus of food, including even a whole rotisserie chicken!

This experience really changed my perspective. Knowing that America wastes about half of its food is disturbing, but this fact struck me more once I actually looked in a dumpster. There's so much edible food there, still safe to eat! We have millions of starving and struggling people in our country and all around the world, yet we throw out our excess, rather than sharing with each other.

We took the two large boxes that we packed full of food and walked over to Pete's house for dinner. We had "free bird" for dinner, along with food that Pete got from the local schools. He plays a huge part in reducing the food waste of the schools, passing it out to others around town who are in need of it.

Stuffed with lots of scrumptious free food, we left Pete's around 11 PM and walked for the canyon. Guided by the moonlight, we walked past flowing streams and fragrant verbenas, listening to the songs of nature all around us. We reached the cave at midnight and peacefully went to sleep.

Shadows in the morning that look like Native American faces to me.

Sage, another delightful smell that fills the canyon.

After waking I walked over to Cottonwood Cave to do a photo shoot for Freebird and his parents, meeting him at the nearby stream.

Columbines line Cottonwood Cave and the area where Freebird sleeps.

A campfire circle that Freebird set up in front of the cave, where we ate the other night.

S'more sticks.

Freebird's sleeping/relaxation/reading area.

 After the photo shoot, Free Bird and I walked back to the Guest Cave to meet up with the others.

Cullen, who just drove in from Fruita, found us up-canyon. He brought his camera and filmed us for his documentary of Daniel. Cullen, Stevie, and Freebird went off to film some more of the canyon, while Emily, Daniel, Brandon, and I made our way into Moab. We would all convene at the library later, then join Cullen on a journey back to Fruita.

Emily's car was parked just outside of the canyon, and she gave me a ride into town.

We stopped at Pete's, who was about to make a food run, before we went to the library.

Posing in the library's bathroom :)

Everyone eventually made their way to the library. I got plenty of time to write a couple of blog entries and make many calls back to Fort Wayne. We went back to Pete's for some snacks, and then we left for Fruita.

 My first sighting of virga - rain that dries up before it hits the ground. Taken just outside of Moab. Interestingly enough, Free Bird was just telling me of this phenomenon earlier today!

Pronghorn antelope along the road!

Driving through the ghost town of Thompson...

Our driver and tour guide, Cullen.

Passing through another ghost town, Cisco...

At night we arrived in Fruita, CO. We stayed the night with Daniel's family again, and of course they were very hospitable as always. It felt wonderful to sleep on a mattress and take a shower again, little things that we often take for granted.

Tomorrow, we go to Boulder!