Sunset Road, Beyond the Road to Nowhere
Early morning 85-degree ride along
the Tucson Loop, with the sun sitting
just 15 degrees off the eastern horizon,
108 predicted for the daytime high
6 mile/hr tailwind helps drive us
north toward El Camino Del Cerro
‘the Road to nowhere’ and beyond
to Sunset Road, connecting
two north-south arteries, either side of
the dry riverbed, the water sprites gone
to ground back when I was still a child.
The cicada-symphony accompanies us
or is it merely imagination or tinnitus?
A falcon eyes us from the guardrail dividing
the loop from the dry Stanta Cruz and
skinks and larger lizards take turns relay
racing me, upstaging me, laughing from
the sidelines with their co-conspirators,
while mesquite, creosote, and sagebrush
eek out survival along the twisted banks,
the riverbed littered with debris from
receding monsoon floods a few days past.
Two and a half hours later,
the homestead finally reached,
dripping sweat from head to my
sandaled feet as the temperature inched
into the mid-90s with no relief in sight,
probably none ’till ‘Day of the Dead’,
we can commiserate, maybe even placate
the high desert gods of rain and heat
by burning some white sage and not
so flagrantly tempting fate, but alas
it’s probably already too late.
–LE
CynOp 
6 responses to “Sunset Road, Beyond the Road to Nowhere”
Thanks for sharing your writing. Anita
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Anita, I’m pleased you like it! Thanks for reading and commenting…; -)
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Well, that’s a steamy poem. 😉
I like your drawing…it would be interesting to pass through that arch and see what lies beyond, maybe someplace cooler than it’s been around here—and there—for a while.
There was a guy who rode a bike like the one pictured around my neighborhood; I used to see him about every evening when I walked except when the weather was cold. Until I saw your photo, I hadn’t thought about him this year. I haven’t seen him, and now I’m wondering if he is okay.
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Yes, in my dreams… The idea for this drawing came from an episode from the first (original) Star Trek, either season one or two. There is a time/space portal on an uninhabited planet that the ‘away team’ is surveying. The portal leads to the past on Earth. As they pass through and back, they change the future, and the Enterprise never existed. So, they have to go back and let history play out as it originally had.
The bike is a ‘tadpole’ recombent trike made by Cat Trike. There is also the configuration they call Delta’s, which are recumbents with one wheel in front and two in the back. They are a little longer with a fairly large turning radius. Tadpols can turn in a much smaller radius. I’ve ridden for many years and rode normal, diamond-frame uprights. My last one was a Trek. But a couple of years ago, I came off the bike for no good reason three times in as many months. So, I picked up and have been riding my tadpole ever since…; -)
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I remember that StarTrek episode. There were hardly any science fiction tv programs at the time, and I was devastated when it was canceled. That left lawyers and doctors for the most part. Years later, I was thrilled when Star Trek: The Next Generation came on the scene, and to date, have watched most of the franchise.
I have a stationary bike, and so far, haven’t fallen off it. But there’s a first time for everything. 😊
Is that you on the tadpole?
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I was disappointed when the original series was canceled. But I watched the reruns on late night tv over the years. Then Next Generation and several of the other franchises, though for me, the original and Next Generation were the best.
Yes, that’s me on my tadpole. That picture was taken the winter before last. I’d only had it for about 3 months at the time. So far, I’ve put 2700 miles on it. Got it secondhand on Marketplace…; -)
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