Did you ever see the 1985 movie Brazil? It was a Kafkaesque dystopian story of a cog caught up in the gears of a hyper-bureaucratic society. I don’t remember much of the story, but I do remember the end. Sam, the main character — the cog — being tortured for some reason. He is strapped down in a tall, cylindrical room that is open to the sky. The big cheese and the torturer are there. Then suddenly ropes come down from the top of the circular wall and resistance fighters rappel down them. They release Sam and carry him out. Someone drives him away from the torture chamber and eventually they enter a secret sanctuary that is very Eden-like. Sam is happy.
Then the scene switches back to the torture chamber. The big cheese and the torturer are looking down at Sam strapped to the table. The cheese says, “You went too far. You’ve lost him.” They leave and Sam remains on the table, a small smile on his face, his mind obviously gone.
Well, I feel like Sam sometimes. Therefore, today I will take us on a brief pictorial trip around the western U.S. with little commentary.
Oregon:
California:
Nevada:
Utah:
Arizona:
New Mexico:
Colorado:
Wyoming:
Montana:
Idaho:
Washington:
Alaska:
Hawaii: Even though this is one of the western states, I have no pictures. I haven’t been there since I switched from film to digital and don’t want to root through the boxes of prints in the closet. And perhaps this is already enough of a break.
Unlike Sam, I expect to be back in the real world soon.
– Kate
Travels with Kate 
Terrific, Kate. You really know how to stoke Mary’s and my wanderLUST!
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Brazil is one of my favorite movies…it has sly, witty re-stagings of many of the most famous scenes in cinema scattered throughout on top of everything else that makes it wonderful. Thanks for shots of many places in the west that I have never been to!
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Kate, I had mentioned to Andrea that you needed to publish your pandemic travels. When she said the cost of publishing with all your photos would be prohibitive, I said your prose is descriptive enough and can stand proudly on its own. Unfortunately, you will not be able to include this post. Plus, I’m sure you just wrote this because you were suffering from a case of wanderlust, perhaps it could be called… COW-99?
Jan Wainscott
Sent from my iPad
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Thanks for sharing all of these pictures!! The one with the “bike” and the Chaco National Historic Park makes my teeth rattle!! lol
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Good to hear from you Mary. That road got a lot worse long before I hit pavement again. I was glad to be on the bike instead of in a car.
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