Long and Lonely Views – A Train to Nowhere

Where are those places in which you feel at home, feel like your true self? What do the landscapes that tug at your heart and anchor you look like? Have you found mind-expanding inspiration in a particular environment?

I never expected to feel so inspired by the wide-open expanse of the desert areas in the American West. The vast open area stirs something deep within me. It’s as if the big sky reaches down to the horizon line, follows long-runnin’ tracks across the Earth, up through my feet and straight into my heart.

long train tank cars rice california

As someone who fears dark water and not being able to see what lies beneath, at first blush I thought perhaps the scrubby desert-scape is the antithesis of that. Everything is out in the open and available to be drunk in by your eyes.

yamaha fz07 on californai route 62

But this is a trick your own mind plays on you. The dry range holds many secrets in the ripples and folds of its surface. As in so many things, we need to learn to see beyond the way we think something is, to the way it really is.

yamaha mt07 on route 62 near rice california - train cars

These photos were snapped along California 62, near what the map said was the “town” of Rice. There wasn’t much doin’ out there – just some train cars, tracks, and a few other odd remnants of humanity. While short on the trappings of society, it was big on thinkin’ room.

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

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5 Responses

  1. Mike says:

    “We need to learn to see beyond the way we think something is, to the way it really is.” Well said, sometimes it takes a while to learn these things.

  2. Wuzzie1 says:

    I can imagine the trains rolling through…breaking the silence and serenity of the town of Rice. It’s sad to see things dormant, but there is always a good side to it as well….love your reflections.

  3. Shybiker says:

    This environment reminds me of wide open, flat land in the Midwest. On my first motorcycle trip (to North Dakota), I rode through Minnesota and saw plains of farmland stretching endlessly in every direction. So different than the over-developed suburbs of our Island.

  4. Ken Haylock says:

    Did you miss the ‘Rice Shoe Fence’? In my minds eye I see a chain link fence in the middle of a ghost town in the middle of the desert, with 70 years of decaying worn out or lost footwear laced to it. I don’t want to look at any pictures in case it’s just a rotting fence named after a dude called shoe…

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