Sunset at Travertine Hot Springs in Bridgeport, California.
A Particularly Special Gift
Although it feels much longer, I’ve already been on the road for over a week now. I’ve done a lot of driving in that week and California gas prices have been brutal, but I’ve seen some beautiful (and new-to-me) places, taken some nice photos, and have already learned a lot about traveling in a van.
The first few days I spent on my own, but on April 27th, my birthday, I met up with a couple friends—who are also living on the road—in a remote desert canyon in Southern California. They cooked me a delicious birthday dinner, followed by a short hike through the canyon, after which we enjoyed brownies and ice cream back at camp. It was a fantastic 40th birthday.
But there was still an unexpected cherry on top waiting to emerge…
Our neighbors, who were camped about 100 feet away, turned out to be incredibly talented musicians (possibly even professionals), and while we never ended up meeting them in person, as the right opportunity never presented itself, they unknowingly blessed us with their hauntingly beautiful music as it drifted from their camp to ours.
It’s such a curious thing, because the wrong music played late into the night might have felt abrasive and inconsiderate, yet their music fit the scene perfectly; slow and ethereal, sung in harmony, sometimes even in different languages, and often subtly accompanied by a variety of musical instruments. Her voice was pristine and confident, while his was a calm, low harmony to compliment hers. They could have played all night for all I cared.
It was the type of experience that's impossible to put into words; a soulful, spiritual, connected sort of experience. And for it to happen on my 40th birthday, while out in nature with friends, felt like a particularly special gift. A night I'll likely never forget.
“Music has touched the human soul across all boundaries of time, space, and genre. … Perhaps, in its vibratory nature, music opens us to a greater appreciation of our essential connectedness to the cosmos, our oneness with all that is.” – Balfour M. Mount
P.S. This is a mega-longshot, but what the heck: I’m dying to know more about these musicians and would love to let them know how special their music was to us. So, on the extremely off-chance that you know who I might be referring to, or know someone who might, I’d be thrilled to connect with them. While I never even saw what they looked like, they were a male and female couple camping at Painted Canyon, just south of Joshua Tree, in late April. They were living out of an older model brown van, and in addition to a multitude of instruments, they had a smallish black dog and a gray cat with them. I won't be holding my breath, but far crazier things have happened!
