On the Road with Neo-Cotton Mather

BULLFROG MARINA, Utah, Oct. 8, 2018—Today marked the first time since May that I have worn long pants, a fact that I noted with a twinge of sadness as I pulled on my trousers before heading out of our comfortable room at the Defiance Lodge at Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area.

Waking up on a cloudy day at Lake Powell

Looking out from our balcony at the drenched landscape this morning, you’d never know that Lake Powell had dropped some 32 feet during the past year. A week’s worth of rain from Hurricane Rosa followed by a newly minted cold front had left the ruddy sandstone cliffs and dunes saturated to the point where the entire landscape was oozing clear fluid that reflected the gray light, substantially muting the scene and our mood. Temperatures this week were 20 degrees lower than previous weeks, necessitating another layer of warmth and full-length trousers.

It did not escape us that this new chill settling over the land coincided with the U.S. Senate’s decision to confirm Bret Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, clinching an ultra-conservative majority.

A flash flood at Bullfrog Creek impeded our access to the back-
country

Though temperatures likely will rise soon enough and winters will become a fading memory, according to a new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it’s probably fair to say that the United States will continue to be a cold place for women. The bizarre gas lighting displayed during the Kavanaugh confirmation process—in which a graying horde of male senators were able to declare with straight faces that women had successfully victimized men as part of an ongoing war that is using allegations of sexual misconduct as its primary weapon—ensures that nearly any rape or sexual assault charge by a white man will be playfully dismissed as “boys being boys” and women being hysterical creatures with memories that falter during stressful situations.

Snow in Utah's high country on Oct. 8 must prove that global
warming is a hoax, right?

Maine Sen. Susan Collins confirmed her belief in just such a narrative while explaining her decision to support Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Oh well, the waters of shame will recede soon enough, I thought to myself as we sat on the banks of a swollen Bullfrog Creek, waiting to see whether we would be able to drive the scenic backcountry Burr Trail or be banished back to the main highway. The water won out this time.

Earlier we had driven through the southeast corner of Utah, skirting tribal lands that are peppered with archaeological sites and geologic wonders. A small herd of wild painted ponies joined us at one point, even as natural gas derricks dotting the landscape continued to bob up and down, like hungry locusts feeding on a fragile ecosystem.

Fracking: Out of sight, out of mind; and necessary to
Make America Great Again

If you doubt the hold that Big Energy has on this country, you need only to visit this area. New natural gas leases have led to a new era of wildcatting. Fracking will ensure that every drop of natural gas will be extracted from beneath the Earth, regardless of the consequences. Gas lines are draped across the landscape like poisonous vines. Energy companies gain access to fracking areas via the main roads, but they set up shop behind bluffs or natural contours so as not to alarm the people who live here. Behind one hill, we saw a fracking operation that spread as far as the eye could see. Waste water tanks and pumps dotted the landscape nearly to the horizon.

It’s no wonder humanity will see increasingly lethal temperatures across the planet by 2040: Our addiction to fossil fuels is more powerful than our common sense. Moreover, with guys like Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, corporations will continue to call the shots, and more and more wealth will continue to be concentrated into the hands of the already wealthy. Education and social programs will continue to dry up. The United States will be headed toward a new version of the Dark Ages that ravaged Europe, and nationalism and superstition will rule the day.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away

It’s only a matter of time until people like Sens. Collins and McConnell will team up to declare that witches are responsible for the climatic calamities befalling our species and ritual burnings and public executions of all types will entertain the masses as lengthening brownouts and blackouts render our televisions, cell phones and other electronics largely useless.

But we’ll worry about that road when we get to it.

Meantime, we will continue our travels west and join the ranks of the rest of the world who will continue to run full speed ahead until the wheels fall off.

See you on down the road!

Denial

Somewhere in the Mohave Desert, Calif., June 8, 2017—Sometimes a traveler can find the Truth lurking about in the most unlikely places. The Truth these days has become more and more of a subjective commodity—an elusive eel darting about unnoticed in the miasma of public opinion and murky agendas that are slowly but surely asphyxiating our Democracy. Though Truth is known to have a Stentorian voice, it is downed out these days by the din and clatter of a badly divided nation, forcing those of us who are interested in seeking the Truth to withdraw into isolated and quiet spaces, which is why I am guiding my vehicle into the wilderness along crumbling stretches of asphalt that harken back to the glory days of the American Dream.

Denial lies at the center of our crossroads

As I hit the road, the "Big News" of the day was that former FBI Director James Comey was concerned that our President, Donald J. Trump, is some kind of Serial Liar who may or may not be trying to hide his presidential campaign's, and maybe even his administration's, ties to Russian hacking of our last presidential election. In the wake of Comey's three-hour, deadpan testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, news organizations assembled panels to determine who had more credibility: Our Orange-Haired, Daddy Warbucks of a Commander-in-Chief, or the towering well-spoken Boy-Scout of a man who had served tirelessly as our nation's Top Cop for almost four years before being fired for "creating a distraction" about possible Russian Collusion by key players of the Warbucks Administration.

It's too bad that Comey's words were boiled down to mere platitudes that could be argued back and forth by pundits and focus groups on the evening news shows, because the real story is being largely ignored: Russia directly interfered with out Democracy—an act of Cyber-warfare, a virtual assassination attempt fought with weapons and tactics that are mostly unfamiliar to our mostly uneducated masses. The former FBI Director tried to spell it out for the panel, saying there was "no fuzz" around the issue, but most members of the panel were more interested in protecting or propping up their own political positions about whether our President was obstructing justice.

Out in America, opinions about the hearing seemed to coincide with whatever side of the political spectrum a person's ideologies happened to reside on. Chit-chat over red Enchiladas in Gallup, New Mexico, revealed a distrust of government in general, and our president in particular, tempered by a great reverence for Democracy and a love for our Republic. In Needles, California, a young fellow and an old timer at a gas station argued in the shade of an awning, presenting and defending the predictable "liberal" versus "conservative" sides of the argument. On this sweltering day there was more heat than light in their conversation, though both heartily agreed that "all politicians are crooks" and that our nation is in deep trouble and probably on the brink of collapse. In Twentynine Palms, California, sun-faded and wind-ravaged Trump/Pence campaign signs were displayed proudly above ramshackle encampments at the edge of the desert and the edges of society.

Our nation pines for a return to the days of "Happy Motoring"

It's clear that most people know there's something desperately wrong with our nation right now, but most seem hesitant to vocalize what that "something" really is. The polarization of America seems complete now. Both sides have squared off, and neither side seems interested in compromise or giving an inch. On one side, Donald Trump has become the perfect symbol for everything that is wrong or unjust about our nation; on the other, Donald Trump represents the hope that White Skin, money, and the home-court advantage will restore honor and dignity to a nation that seems to be moving from the big leagues to the bush leagues. Despite the differences between both points of view, each side does seem to be noticing the increasing irrelevance of the Little Guy.

Our nation sits at a crossroads like the one I came across deep in the Mojave Desert. Every signpost and set of directions has been ravaged and vandalized, yet one graffiti artist managed to provide a glimpse of The Truth—that we remain in terrible denial as a nation. While wealthy Oligarchs sitting a continent apart parse out our nation for sale to the highest bidders for their own enrichment, a divided rabble hurls words and punches toward one another in an ineffectual display of rage that can only get worse as the summer wears on.

It was 108 degrees at that crossroads, and it is only going to get hotter. It can only be a matter of time until something ignites, which is why the desert isn't a bad place to be right now.

See you on down the road....