Last night I returned from the desert to NDE in Las Vegas to drop off some equipment and bring our friend, Kelly from Food Not Bombs home. Food Not Bombs provided a fabulous meal consisting of a green salad, rice, beans and baked potatoes along with a sweet bread for desert. (Thank you Kelly, Charles and Gail for all your great work!) Eating in the desert at sunset, after a day of walking is one of those sublime pleasures earned only through hours of walking, as walking in the desert transforms consciousness and tends to improve the appetite too. Some of us walked part of the day while many in our group completed the entire 14 miles. Strong and gusting winds blew the entire day making it hard to carry our banners but fortunately the wind was at our backs. It was a rare south wind as we headed north.

To most of us Las Vegas has a surreal quality about it, proud of its gambling and show girls. It is garish and opulent and loudly proclaimed as Sin City. It's founding fathers were gangsters, who legend has it, had far more heart than the heartless corporations and banksters who now run this town. This is an often heard lament spoken here by locals who dislike how the casinos are presently run.

Our walkers are now far removed from the city and casino, well out into the wilderness and are doing very fine in spite of the wind. The magnificent expanse and beauty of the desert helps to transform consciousness and aids our peace walkers to commune with the Self, bringing the individual within and putting each in touch with the wonderous forces of nature. For Rumi " the desert was an allegory for a spiritual quest of the Soul journeying into the infinite." Walking in the desert (when it is relatively cool) is breathtaking. I can not tell you of the peace, and joy and quiet you will find here. You must come and discover it for yourself.

"Oh that the desert were my dwelling place,

With only one fair spirit for my minster.

That I might forget the human race,

And hating no one, love her only."

                                         Lord Byron

"For your sake, I hurry over land and water:

For your sake, I cross the desert and split the mountain in two,

And turn my face from all things,

Until the time I reach the place

Where I am alone with You."

                         Al Hallaj

And in this western desert you will find the Nevada Test Site, central to the development of nuclear weapons, old and new. How deeply and profoundly disturbing. How very sad.