24 hours

Dust devils can reach far, far, FAR into the sky. I didn't know that. I watched them dance (once there were seven at one time), and it was literally one of the most graceful things I have ever seen. They flitted across the Arizona and California deserts. Deceptive things, dust devils. Beautiful and hypnotising from a distance, but they throw your vehicle around should you run into one.

I saw blobs of rock. Put there by a God who has the most amazing imagination, they sprang from nothing. Their beauty caught in my throat, then they were gone, and the sand remained.

108 in Phoenix, 104 in Palm Springs. Dry. Dead. The air was filled with grit. The people unkind.

So many lessons, so much time. The trip was 24 hours one way. It will live in my memory for much longer.