Hwy 94 skirts the side of a mountain on top of which you don't want to be afoot, lost & out of water.

(Photo copyright by Adrienne Rise)




Footprint Forty-One


So I backtracked

on that

son of a

   son of a roooooooad ~


Upon which I

become

so

   Edgar Allan Poe-ed ~


That I yearned

for

the kiss of

   my Annabel Lee ~


But mostly I yearned

for

the sight of

   a tree ~


Under which I

could sit in shade

and die

   and be freeeeeee ~


Of thee almighty

sun's

happy

   weeny roast ~


And then

alas!

I spied

   the post ~


The post
that
marked
   ye olde trail ~

That wound
around
hill
   n' dale ~

Ye olde trail
that
I'd
   done lost ~

Ye olde trail
that now
up
   n' crossed ~

This
God
forsaken
   roooooooad ~

Hippitty
hoppitty
went I
  like a toooooooad ~

Like a toad
like a rabbit
like a bouncing
   snail ~

Like Hop-o-long Cassidy
escaped
from
   jail ~

Hippitty
skippitty
stepped
me down the trail...



Footprint Forty-Two

So
whadduh
yuh
 think?

Is
there
a
   link ~

'Tween the voice
in my head and
the trail
 finally found?

Or am I
 jus'
 foolin'
 around?

Where do voices
like
that
 come from?

Dippitty-do-dah
de
dum
   dum ~

Let's just
let
the candle
   burn ~

And skippitty-do to
the mission
the mission
   of No Return...



U.S. Marines heading out on a mission of no return...



Footprint Forty-Three


Each

and

every

   tramp ~


Had

the world's

best

   camp ~


Somewhere

'long

the

    way ~


Of which he

had

 somethin'

   to say ~


Under

a bridge

or in

   a stranded boxcar ~


Beside

the Colorado

or behind

   a bar ~


With other fruit-pickin'

'bo's

in an orchard

   by n' byyyyyyy ~


Somewhere

anywhere

under

   the starry skyyyyyyy ~


There was

es-

tablished the

world's best camp ~


Where

the world's

most honorable

   tramp ~


Got drunk

with

his friends

   or stoned ~


Or just sat

there

boiling coffee

   all alone ~


Or with his gal

built

a leak proof

   hooch ~


With a tin fireplace

before which

they'd

   hug n' smooch ~


But that which

was

truly

   best ~


I mean

better than

all

   the rest ~


That camp

from which all the

others

   had somethin' to learn ~


Was the mission

the hole-y mole-y mission

in the desert of

No Return...




Footprint 44


Go ahead

Old Tramp

tell me

all about it!


How you found a

mule with wings

and a human face

   n' caught it ~


In Deep Desert

when you

 were lost n'

   almost dead ~


 You flew this laughin'

jokin' critter

to the edge of the

   nearest town, you said ~


Which was one

hundred

miles

   away ~


Ah

well

a

day!


They found you

ass-up n' naked

with your head buried

   in the ground ~


They plucked

yer head out n'

yer eyes, you said,

   were spinnin' all around ~


You're

quite

a

   guy ~


Tell

me

anudder

   lie ~


I like that one

about

the comet in the

   Deep Desert sky ~


How

when it

sped

   by ~


Flying

so

close

  to the ground ~


It lit yer

campfire

n' then

  turned around ~


And lit yer

cig-

ar-

   ette tooooooo ~


And

this

was

   when youuuuuuu ~


Were without

a match

 a-shiverin'

   in a cold night dew ~


Go ahead

Old Tramp

tell me anudder one

that ain't no way true!




Footprint Fourty-Five


The wanna-be

monk

sighed

   tenderly ~


Gazed upon

thee

abused toilet

   and sincerely ~


Thanked

Our Lord

for

   this opportunity ~


To scrub it

clean

un-

   to Eternity ~


There

at

the rowdy howdy

   mission of ~


He did it

with

elbow grease

and Love ~


He kept

the

raggedy tramp

   latrinnnnnnne ~


 Shine-

y

and

   glowing halo cleannnnnnn!




Mission of No Return