Learning what 'Life' is all about... Pheonix - Denver.

Hey everyone,

So I am in Denver, Colorado right now. We got in yesterday evening after a very long, very silly rideshare with a man named Life, a slight misunderstanding about where we were going, and then a nice busride from Colorado Springs. We decided to go to Colorado rather then Texas as planned at the last minute for a multitude of reasons including but not limited to our inability to find a suitable ride east, and the fact that the heat seemed to be making us expand. As in, our calfs and ankles had joined into cankles. Maybe it was just our imagination, but regaurdless, the heat was getting to us.

So we found a ride for three up to Denver with a man who's real name was Bryan, but had somehow been deemed "Life" at Burning Man, and from then on had referred to himself as such. "Hello Life, so nice to meet you." He told us that he would be leaving Tuscon around 8 pm, so we should expect him to pick us up in Pheonix about an hour or two after that, but, he warned, he wasnt the best at estimating these sorts of things. Five and a half hours later, 2 hours after the coffee shop we were waiting at closed, he arrived, wearing a 'Life is Good' t-shirt, rearrainging all his drums in the trunk to make room for our backpacks. He had just gotten his PHD in sociology from ASU, and taught African American studies. He had dreadlocks and a fake sunflower dangling from his rear view mirror. He listened to electro-Hindu chants when he drove and talked about collective consciousness, oneness, energy, and how he was the spiritual avatar of the hindu concept of creation. He would respond to questions by saying "no, thats the CAPITALISTS way of thinking... " but then had us pay for ALL of the gas on the raod. He meditated at gas stations. Like, full on "Saluting the Sun" yoga move meditation. He was going to colorado to meet with his spiritual brother, who was an avatar of the hindu concept of destruction whom he had met at burning man for his 42nd birthday. He was excited about it because "42 is the meaning of life!" Get it? like hitchhikers guide to the galaxy! We talked about religion, science and philosophy. When he talked about Plato and his theory of forms, I imagined 'Life' being Plato's perfect form of the North-American-Eco-Hippy-Stereotypeous who had just decided to decend from heaven to give us a ride to Denver. "Denver? actually my spiritual brother just called and said he was in Colorado springs instead... so I'll get you guys to a bus station or something? Maybe you could get someone you know in Denver to drive down to Colorado Springs instead? Its only like 45 minutes! (AAA guide: Colorado Springs-Denver: 80 Miles, 1.2 hours) It took us about three hours by bus.

In the end, I would say we enjoyed our 15 hours of Life-time. Despite his gross underestimation of how long anything took, his sudden changes of plans, and the whole us paying for all the gas thing. He was smart, fun to talk to and a good enough driver. He danced in the drivers seat and and sang along to the Dave Mathews Band and Spearhead and everything you might expect a guy named Life to dance and sing along to. And despite the fact that we made him buy us the bus tickets to denver since we had just filled up his tank, he gave us all goodbye hugs and good wishes.

When we arrived in Denver we all jumped with delight at how NOT scortching hot the night air was compared to Pheonix, and contimplated putting on sweaters, just for kicks.

Instead, we decided, in celebration of our last few hours together before Leslie left us to see her brother in Central City and then head back west, to get dressed to the nines and have a nice, quiet dinner together. Now, you have to understand that since high school, the three of us have practiced the sacred ritual of getting ready to go out together before any special occasion, which was especially fun in the cramped underground bathrooms of Denver's central bus station. We used the reflective surfaces on the hand-dryers to put on mascarra and eye shadow, and dug our classiest outfits out of our giant backpacks in tiny bathroom stalls. Despite having driven all night and all day, not having slept in the Arizona/New Mexico heat, I dont think a fancier-looking group of people have ever been seen wearing backpacking gear before in history. You should have seen us trying to find a place to stash our massive packs, sleeping bags and all, in the fancy little italian place where we decided to eat.

So we said goodbye to Leslie at the casino-shuttle stop and went off to find my first cousin once removed, who seems a lot more like an unkle, so we've taken to calling him my cunkle. He is everything a cunkle should be: kind, generous, and funny funny funny. we talked for a bit, checked out his amazing new house, and then he showed us to what he called the "freeloaders room" and we were sound asleep about five minutes.

Tomorrow we are off to the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota. It's a 15 hour drive. Till then!