Creativity: On the road and horizon guardrails

We'd been on the road for a couple of days and it had not been easy driving. Some people derive inspiration and solace from the dessert. I just imagine what a horrible death it must be to die from thirst wandering around sand dunes trying to find a way back home; the terrain seems specifically designed to kill you. The area above Denio, NV, around Blizzard Gap, took my breath away both from terror and the simple stark beauty of deep valleys and sheer rock meeting a dark and turbulent looking horizon.

Blizzard Gap is a steep, sheer drive with the horizon acting as a guard rail. Whether driving up it or down, and I've done both, is to operate against all instinct of self-preservation.  The drop offs are immediate and unforgiving. I think there must have been some higher good or spirit because I did not encounter another approaching car. I'm not sure my lizard brain could have coped with accommodating another metal canister trying to traverse a thin ribbon of asphalt in the sky. One of us would have had to get out of our cars and simply continue the journey on foot.

The horizon shines blue and then reaches out white, blue and then finally storm clouds that darken the sky. Of course, I'm only now able to fully appreciate the colors and the sky and the land. At the time, I clearly felt the right lane was too close to the edge.