I'm in Taos now. I left the Rainbow gathering 2 days ago. Remember, I was reluctant to go. Now I'm totally glad I did.
I hitched to the gathering from Moab, getting there with 5 rides in 1 & 1/4 days. A Navajo I rode with brought me to his house & gave me a cold drink, & then loaded me up with some tie dyes for the gathering (Tie dyes don't suit me, so I put them in the free box at the gathering & they vanished quickly). I spent the night before the gathering in the middle of nowhere in Navajo land on a mesa. It was obviously a sacred spot, with 2 rock shrines on top. The wind was whipping all night & I had intense, revealing dreams. I came to new insights, in fact.
My last ride was from a kid also heading to the gathering from Moab. Though we had never officially met, we recognized each other.
Funny, I ran into my friend Grace immediately upon entering the gathering (she's a friend I traveled with last year). I camped with her & her friends from L.A. near Kid Village. I was also pleased to run into other old friends from all over.
The 4th of July prayer-for-peace celebration was splendid as usual. It's always miraculous, in fact. It rained, and that added to the splendor. Later in the afternoon, the brightest, most perfect & spectacular double rainbow I had ever seen appeared, and people all over the gathering roared & even cried tears in delight. So did I. Everybody I talked to said they had never seen one like it before. Talk about confirmation, in flying colors.
Grace had to leave back to LA with her friends & I stayed on a couple more days. I usually like to stay longer & help clean up, but I was feeling ready to go this time.
The night before last a guy named Otter invited me to a service at the Hanuman temple here in Taos & I camped on the grounds. A lot of travelers were there. Lots of Rainbow folks are wandering the town. Last night I found a vacant house & camped on its lot, amidst an orchard of cherry trees! I might stay there again tonight.
There's a Peace House here I want to hook up with, but it's been closed the times I've gone. They do Food Not Bombs, as well as lots of other things out of there, including Quaker services.
I think I'm hanging out in Taos until I have to head down to Albuquerque to meet a new friend there at the airport, Insh'Allah.
I could write more, but am out of library time.
Infinite Love
PS
My friend Sara just sent me this link to Details magazine from that interview I did with Chris Ketcham months ago. The article is published!
http://men.style.com/details/features/landing?id=content_9817
