Back in the Lazy Lizard Hostel in Moab I watched the documentary “Dust to Glory” which Guy gave me to watch. Guy is the owner of the newly opened Cowboy boots store in the center of Moab and one of the climbers I met on my visit a couple of weeks ago. The shops name is Lonestar Boots because Guy is original from Texas, the Lonestar state. So due to his ancestry it’s no surprise and since I spend most of my days in his shop, watching his motorcycle videos and selling some boots from time to time, he presented me his bag full of guns. It’s one of these crappy plastic bags and it was literally full of guns. A 22, a 380 and a 9mm, or two 380ies I don’t know because my full attention immediately turned to a futuristic looking Beretta semi-automatic rifle with holographic sight. And you can bet it was really exciting the other Saturday morning to lick some bullets out of it. It was the first time ever in my life to shoot any kind of a rifle and I can assure that even with this fancy holographic red dot thing the opponent’s chances would have been sky high to slowly walk away without catching a graze. Despite losing my hearing for three days it was a fantastic All-American experience. It’s appealing to me and I always think of it with a smile when prejudices come true.

The time not selling boots and belts or shooting around, I’m reading books and make my mind about what I shall do when I return to good ole Europe. This is a consequence of not being able to run a bike yet. After Dr. Weeks pulled out the two pins out of the left hand and saw on the freshly made x-rays that the right foot actually was fractured four times instead of only three times, I tried to sit on a motorcycle the following day. Though mechanically I can pull the clutch, accounting that it takes all my concentration and an elaborated motion sequence it’s a no-go on public streets. This was indeed a big disappointment when I found out. The solution came quick and it was Jim who rescued and stored my bike meanwhile who had it: An automatic clutch! The other day I read a quote “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without we go nowhere.” (Carl Sagan) Imagine you ride through a big, big country with one of hundreds of different types of motorcycles, one that is not even very well known in this described big country and the part you are looking for is very uncommon. How big are your chances to find this special part, one that fits exactly your vehicle? And now I mean within 3 days and not 3 weeks preferably. It took Jim one phone call and the seller on the other end not only had the right clutch but also made a very good offer.

Watching “Dust to Glory”, a movie about the incomparable, in any means, off road race Baja 1000 in Mexico, was like watching into a mirror. Not that I think of myself as race driver, not by far. The drivers’ comments sounded familiar though. It was like listening to strange people I never met before and I have not much in common explaining me why I came back to Moab. It’s about life and the source that makes you living it, about not giving up or as one guy put it, about chasing the rainbow.

This blog I want to end with another quote: “Nature is not a place to visit, it’s home.” (Gary Snyder)

PS: When I sat in Anna’s car, on the way back to Moab, a bag of ice cubes on my foot, the radio was playing Green Day’s “Boulevard of broken dreams”. The refrain goes like this:
“My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
‘Til then I walk alone
I walk alone, I walk alone”

In this moment I shed my first tears. Not because of the pain of the broken bones but because I was overwhelmed of just about everything. Especially that it was not true. I was not alone. In this moment of my biggest, hm, I don’t want to call it defeat but you know what I mean, in this moment life made me a priceless gift, it gave me hope.