When I look back to the weekend near Twenty Nine Palms, California there’s a surreal feeling attached to the memories, almost as if I entered into a different dimension for a few days. I had never visited the desert before, aside from a scruffy drive near Tijuana, Mexico and certainly hadn’t gotten out into it. Part of it was almost alien - to realize how little I actually knew about the desert. What kind of snakes are there, what are their habits, would I see lizards, would there be birds I hadn’t encountered before. There’s a magic almost frightening about the landscape, as if a strange charm will suddenly lead you miles away from the point of origin. As if… the Pied Piper actually exists and might compel me to follow his siren’s song, to whence I do not know.

I landed in Palm Springs mid afternoon, just before my sister Lorene, and we had plans to meet up and drive out together. Initially all us sisters were supposed to meet to drive out, but the storms I barely escaped in Texas caught two of my sisters and flight after flight was cancelled. It ended that they would not have been able to get a flight until the next day sometime, and with our time limited as it was they opted to drive the 20 hours from Oklahoma to California. Eby does it, but I still shudder at the night time drive they made. We Eby women are not squeamish about long drives and doing things by ourselves, but it bothered me for a reason I was never able to place my finger on. All I know is, I was glad Lorene and I made it to California, but I didn’t fully relax until Myrna and Charnelle showed up the next morning at 6am.

OUT INTO THE DESERT

After some Five Guys, because we had to go grocery shopping and one does not do that hungry, we found an Aldi at the edge of the city. For all that we ate before we went, we didn’t govern our food buying very well, picking up enough to feed twice our stomachs for an extra day or two.

Oh well, sister trips.

The drive out was about 45 minutes and there was plenty to gawk at so it didn’t seem to take much time.

We loved the house. Of course, Lorene picked it since it was her birthday trip and she has exquisite taste when it comes to lodging. When I book I’m always on tenterhooks because it seems I always miss something. She doesn’t; it was perfect.

We probably walked around a good hour or two acquainting ourselves with the lay of the land, and since we both love visuals, we took many photos as well.

Then, true to our our personalities she went to the house to settle in and I dumped my bags in an available room and went for a walk. There was music playing and I followed it for awhile, but discovered sound moves differently in the dessert. I’m not sure how many miles I would’ve had to walk to find the source, but I gave up so as not to get too far from sight of the house. The desert is a trickster. I also discovered that Birks are an ideal shoe for the terrain. Also, whomever thinks the desert is hot, clearly hasn’t been out just after sun sets.

Lorene came out to join me just before sundown, and we had a bit more fun with photography.

As the twilight was upon us, we went back to the house. The pool looked beautiful, but it was cold already, and windy. Oh. So. Windy. I loved it, wind always makes me feel truly alive in a way that almost nothing else can.

One of the sacred memories of my life will be a hilltop in California, cold desert wind exfoliating our faces while bubbles bubbled and the stars came out by the millions. To the east a waning full moon was rising and turning the landscape to nothing I’ve ever seen in my life.

I wish I had better words to describe it. Perhaps there are times when we are so near to heaven as to feel it a little bit, because it was an evening of deep, calm gladness. Thought, feeling, sense, sight, emotion and spirit united in a sort of beauty which surely doesn’t happen often to mortals. It was the gift of the desert.

L. Raine

P.S. I woke up probably 4-5 times that night, thinking of my sisters who were driving through the nothingness of night hours. My dreams were not positive despite the sweet good night the desert gave us. Joy comes in the morning.

They made it! Hang around with us, there’s more to come.