Wilderness Quest 2011 - Part 5

It is highly recommended that questers fast during their 84 hours of solo time.  Only water is taken.  There sure are a lot of hours in a day when you're alone and you can't even distract yourself with the preparation, eating, and cleaning up that meals require!

I fasted during my previous two quests, but before I left for Utah this time, a couple of different health practitioners had recommended that I not fast, suggesting that I take along some snacks for sustenance during my solo time.  That seemed right.  I didn't have any extra energy or weight to be giving up.  And the advice turned out to be very prescient, since unbeknownst to anyone at that time, just one month later, I would be fasting for six days while recovering from gut surgery.

Ahhhh... life is such a trip!

My first day in my temporary home included housekeeping chores - setting up my tarp, creating an outhouse (you'll just have to wonder...), and setting up a prayer circle.  As I usually do, I made a circle with different colored rocks that I found.  Each rock represented either another quester or someone from back home who I wanted to remember.  Every morning and every evening, I talked to each rock (the desert sun will do that to ya) and wished all good things for the person represented by that particular stone.  I sent supportive energy to each quester, seeing him or her actualizing the word that he/she expressed before we headed our separate ways.

Even though I was alone, I always felt a connection with the other questers - knowing they were out there alone like me.  I truly felt no separation with all of life.  Things are quite simple while sitting alone in the desert and the interconnection is very apparent.

Besides setting up the Barrow Homestead, I unexpectedly napped in the strangest position, draped over my rolled-up sleeping bag.  And I took stock of the flower garden that surrounded my home.

If you walked through my homestead as a means of getting somewhere else, you might not have noticed that almost every step would land you on the tiniest, most delicate flowers of yellow, white, pink or purple.  At first look, it appeared that all was sand, except for a few pieces of greenery.  But I sat A LOT and the more I sat, the more teeny tiny flowers I saw, all snuggled down close to the red dirt.  I could never have created such an immense and varied flower garden myself, but here I was, living in abundant, colorful finery.




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