wind power

this is the first tier of the mesa, ethan is crouched because otherwise the wind would use him (and anatole) as a kite. i was not at all worried about them falling off the cliff because i had every faith that they'd just be pushed right back up. my sunglasses got blown off my face right before this shot. the peppering of pebbles in the background is the city of rocks, all that tan stuff in the air is dust. much dustier than that, and you can't see. the southwest has all these quaintly illiterate roadsigns that say things like "dust storms may exist" and "zero visibility possible." these signs are very mysterious to the non-resident, and for all future travelers, this dust (and sometimes the rain) is what they're talking about. if you concentrate (or click on the picture to enlarge it) you can see a faint line of mountains in the distance: that, ladies and gentlemen, is Mexico.