Climbing up the hill
Oak trees dry with dust
Old cars and farm machinery
Dissolving into rust
Roadhouses closed, no travelers need to stop
Progress drives us faster, then said Tacitus
In the dessert, leaving us
When reaching destinations
Concessionaires display
Most things that we could have bought
Cheaper, two hundred miles away
We wonder at the dry air
The big trees wide and tall
The views across to mountains
Raw peaks encased in snow
Still hanging there in Fall
Into our tents and trailers
At night we go
Water hides in meadows
The deer drag in the darkness, but slow
Snow water creeps down
Steep ravines, collaborates in valley streams
Do we ride?
Our tired feet decide
The road is only open
For half a year we're told
The other half the altitude
Is piled high with snow
Returning down the hill toward home
Our mood descends with us
Progress driving faster
Then, said Tacitus
In the desert, leaving us.