Flying Without Wings

I have a longing right now for wide open spaces. For a long, lonely road and a deserted highway …

Photo source

When I first visited the US we drove from Salt Lake City (Utah) to Las Vegas (Nevada) via Moab and Bryce Canyon. The drive was long but the scenery was fantastic and ever-changing. At times, ours was the only car on the highway. We drove through sleepy towns straight out of a Western, a seemingly never-ending forest with the quaint name of Dixie, parched desert landscapes and canyons the colour of terracotta. I could never have imagined such diversity. Nor can I explain the sensation of a close to unbearable lightness of being that took hold of me – a feeling that I was as light and transparent as the air we were passing through.

In retrospect I have come to realise that that euphoric moment of self-discovery was none other than the realisation that I had experienced freedom. Not the type of freedom that we take for granted, like freedom of speech and freedom of expression and so on, but the true freedom of the soul – untethered, with no restraint and no ties to Earth. Yes, I do believe that in that moment in time I came close to flying without wings.

So perhaps that is why I have this intense longing right now for the wide, open spaces and the long, lonely road to an unknown destination …

Please excuse the rather poor quality of these photos. These were not digital photos. So, since we do not have a scanner, I had to take photos of hard copies with my camera.