The story
Notice how the air just changed. A minute ago you had pinyon and juniper crowding the shoulders, that high cool green-gray you get above four thousand feet. Now the trees are thinning, dropping behind you switchback by switchback, and a dry warmth is leaning in through the vents. You're not just going downhill. You're falling through whole life-zones in the space of a few miles, the mountain handing you off to the desert one curve at a time. Keep your eyes on the road through these turns. The big country is coming, but it'll wait for you.
