"We both know that what you mean by ‘something to do’ and ‘good restaurant’ don't exist until we hit Chicago." "It's not even hot, for God's sake! You said it would be hot!" And with that she launched into our familiar sequence of arguments and shortcomings, like two old shoes shuffling through a dance step long after the music has faded. I noticed that, indeed, it was cool, the cause being a sequence of cumulus clouds, putative thunderheads casting long shadows, solar heat beginning to boil up through the thin desert air. She rubbed her goosebumps and wrapped her long legs and arms around herself in her best imitation of a thick-shelled egg. "What else can I do. It's the third week in July and we're in the desert." Nine hours to go to Silver Creek, six of it through desert, interesting if you know what you're looking at. I began pointing out the shoreline remnants of the prehistoric lake; warm, reedy, teeming with birds, insects, and fish to sustain prehistoric indians, the Sandal-makers, which evolved with a drying climate into an immense landlocked playa, part of the Great Basin system, and eventually to the alkaline mud cum dust which surrounded us. I spotted and named the ever-present raptors circling in the thermals under the clouds. Turkey Vultures, Red-Tails, Golden Eagles, Sparrow Hawks, and a Prairie Falcon. From the sage itself could be read recent history, the jig-saw fitted, sharply margined patterns of grass, sage sprouts, medium sage, and mature, crumbling sage bushes proclaiming the fifty year history of fickle-burning prairie fires. "Stop patronizing me." She was about half way through our dance of misery, which would end with "the abyss". There were to be no distractions. The cloud shadows followed us east across the desert, demanding the heater. I down-shifted the van ascending a long grade and read the marker at the top. "STINKING WATER PASS" How apt, I thought. Coasting down the east-side grade we passed it's complementary "STINKING WATER CREEK". Beyond Burns, nearing Juntura, she reached "the abyss".
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