Spring sunrise comes early to northern Wyoming. That’s been around 5:30 lately, but today that’s when we first heard raindrops whacking the Airstream. The sound was so good we rolled out after 9:00. The rain didn’t stop until noon. I didn’t know climates this dry got six hour rains … or as the day wore on, ten hour rains.

In a few days the wildflowers will bloom. Meanwhile we enjoyed the scent of all those evergreens, sages, and other fragrant greenery that live here. Think of the variety of aromas in a big Asian grocery: dried fish and seaweed, dried mushrooms, and a hundred unknown spices. There were no fish, seaweed, or mushroom smells, but we had a hundred different spices. Rain brings life to the desert. Spring and full-time RV-ing bring new life to us all. The road north has meant spring for us since February.

This was a fine day for introspection, if only because the slow rain made walking a drippy proposition. Kat checked our tape library and pulled out a Prairie Home Companion tape from 1985. I’ve been a Garrison Keillor fan since first I heard him 30 years ago. We still catch his show when we have good Public Radio reception.

That News From Lake Woebegone was based on a plane crash back in February 3, 1959. Killed in that crash were Richie Valens, J. P. Richardson a/k/a The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, and the pilot. In Lake Woebegone young Garrison played in a band called The Pharaohs of Rhythm. They specialized in Buddy Holly tunes. Upon hearing the fatal news the Pharaohs drove to Mason City, Iowa to pay homage at the crash site. Nature called Garri just when the band met some girls, and he had to hike a quarter mile to the tree line. On the way back he spotted the neck of Holly’s blue guitar poking out of the snow. He wanted it, but knew that if he took it he would incur the ultimate in bad karma. He left the guitar where it lay.

I was nine when their plane went down. I heard the news the same way ten million other kids did: listening to radio getting dressed for school. We all thought the loss of these three stars doomed Rock ‘n Roll. But like everything else alive, the music has proved far more resilient than anyone would have imagined.

And here’s a thought: “everything else alive” includes you and me. We are all resilient beyond imagination.  Let’s get out there and live!