Kundalini and the Art of Being ... four days freezing cold in my tent through a snowstorm. And if I was
going to get out of there ahead of the storm, then I had to hurry.
An hour or so later, I was packed up and out on the road, with
my thumb out and a cardboard sign that read, “Joshua Tree or Death
Valley.” The only problem was that apparently everyone else in the
park (those with cars and thus radios) had been informed of the im-
pending snowstorm well before I had. There was hardly any traffic
leaving the park. I ended up standing there for hours, admiring Half
Dome in the distance, and the beautiful fall colors all around me—
but becoming increasingly anxious to get the heck out of there.
Finally I got a ride, but the driver was only going a few miles down
the road, and he left me in a worse position than before, since now
I couldn’t walk back to the campground if I didn’t get a ride before
nightfall. I started looking around for possible places to set up my
tent, in case I had to ride out the storm, which was starting to feel
like a real probability, as the clouds started pouring in overhead, the
temperature dropped, and it started getting dark.
Finally, as the last bit of evening light was beginning to fade, I got
a ride from a German tourist named Hans in a VW van, who was
headed all the way to Las Vegas to do some gambling. I was over-
taken with gratitude as I climbed into the warm vehicle, thanking
the universe for coming through for me when I really needed it. It’s
amazing how often it works out that way.
We spent all that evening driving over the Sierra Nevada via Tioga
Pass, just ahead of the storm. We slept that night warm and dry out-
side the van on the desert floor of Death Valley. The next morn-
ing, we continued on towards Las Vegas, arriving mid-afternoon. He
dropped me off near the outskirts of the city.
It took three rides just to get out of Las Vegas, the last of which
was with an older man honest enough to tell me that I ought to take
a shower sometime. I definitely wasn’t opposed to the idea, since I
was feeling pretty tired and sweaty from the past two days of driv-
ing. I changed my shirt, in hopes that that might help, and continued
hitchhiking. The sun was starting to go down, but I decided to keep