By now, it was an "outlaw" event. It could not be advertised in official club publications. Individual postcards had to be mailed out to anyone who might be interested. Despite that, even more people had even more fun and ate even more "Desert Deer". Sherry Harsh read even more and better poetry. The varietal wines got even better and more plentiful.
But there was still one more to come. The Eighth Annual Argus Peak Climb, BBQ & Poetry Contest was held with participants asked to share in the expenses. A somewhat smaller group met in April 1990 to share desert fellowship and truly, the final Argus event.
So many memories remain from this long-running event on the edge of Death Valley. One such was the evening after we had unearthed the BBQ and were sitting down to eat, when a string of wild burros topped out on a ridge above us and stood and watched as we devoured their comrade. Another was Ole Cuno, standing, swaying, in Ron's living room in Crow Canyon, reciting "Rindercella". And how about the trays of huge strawberries which Emil Pfeiler brought from his farm in Oxnard each year. And above all else, the wonders of the vast, lonely, wonderful and beautiful desert.
Lou Brecheen
MORE FAVORITE DESERT BOOKS

In case you have missed it, you might enjoy a small book from Edward Abbey, published shortly before his death in 1989 by St. Martin's Press. Here are a few quotes from:

A Voice in the Wilderness
(Vox Clamantis in Deserto)

Every moment is precious. And precarious. ** When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about. ** There is no force more potent in the modern world than the stupidity fueled by greed. ** Trout fishing. One must be a stickler for proper form. Use nothing but #4 blasting caps. Or a hand grenade, if handy. Or at a pool well-lined with stone, one blast from a .44 magnum will bring a few stunned brookies quietly to the surface. ** In social institutions, the whole is always less than the sum of its arts. There will never be a state as good as its people, or a church worthy of its congregation, or a university equal to its faculty and students. ** In a nation of sheep, one brave man forms a majority. ** Reason has seldom failed us because it has seldom been tried. ** When the biggest, richest, glassiest buildings in town are the banks, you know that town's in trouble.

(From BRE Newsletter, January, 1992)


My favorite Desert book is Tracks by Robyn Davidson; the account of the author's 1700 mile, solo trip across the Australian outback. It's sort of a "Woman Who Walked Through Time" story with all the day to day details of her trip. She's sort of a loner, adventure curmudgeon who was motivated to make the trip as a statement of independence. Besides the adventure/travel story, there is, of course, the inevitable personal awakening and transformation. Besides the obvious point-of-view difference, I like it because it's so well written. (I wonder if she's written anything else since?) My copy is a 1983 Pantheon paperback from Random House but I don't know if it's still in print.
Christine Mitchell
 
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