Let freedom ring

I am staying these few days over July 4 in the Town of Ward, Colorado, in a small but perfectly appointed “cabin” (shed) with an outhouse. Ward, population around 150, used to be the richest town in the state, apparently, ‘cos of the gold rush; but I can’t see any sign of that now.*

I was a little alarmed when I first saw this wolf watching and then following me. But it turns out she is tame. In the Town of Ward Colorado, dogs and wolves are allowed to roam wherever they want, none wears a collar thank you very much, they are everywhere and they are FREE!

And it turns out that human beings are allowed to roam free as well – my Airbnb host Adriana has her 91-year-old mother living with her now, and she wanders the mountains from 10am to 5pm every day … on her own. This is notwithstanding the moose, bears, mountain lions, cliff faces and, get this, the fact that she has full-on dementia. When Adriana asked the local doctor whether she should be concerned about moose attacking her dear old senile mother, he replied that we all have to go sometime.

Haha! I am intrigued by small towns in the Wild West and their spirit of independence, however misplaced. I have been going to the Ward Exchange for one of the best burritos ever – you have to time it just right, though, as there are no obvious opening hours, it just depends when Shaz the Man is done with any other business.

I got the timing wrong this morning, even though it was the same time as yesterday, so I just got done eating breakfast in Gold Hill instead – got here via Lick Skillet Road, whose very bumpy surface reminded me more of an unlicked skillet to be fair. You have to drive very gingerly along some of these roads (plus avoid looking at the edge in case you drive over it), and this is the summer – this place must be even wilder in the snow. There is an endless parade of fit cyclists from Boulder, 20 miles away, no body fat in sight. Helps me understand this painting I saw in Ward.

Of course, none of us is actually free around here, this still being samsara.

And I have just had a long chat with Amy, my other Air BnB host. Turns out that Ward is home-ruled, libertarian, and lawless. Although Aurora is old now, and no longer a threat, she and her offspring, wolf hybrids, have been aggressive, a problem for other dogs; but no one will ever do anything about it. Seven years ago she and two of her offspring attacked Molly, the dog of Adriana and Amy, who needed 80 stitches. The “owner” of Aurora didn’t even apologize.

And does this sound free? Adriana and Amy are the only EMTs in town and get 200 calls a year, 80 percent of which are addiction related (half the town of 150 is alcoholic, there’s a lot of drugs, and there are therefore accidents etc). Three women died recently – one of fentanyl poisoning, one in what may have been a domestic, no one knows, and the other in the middle of the night, shot in the chest, bleeding out on the highway with her dog standing helplessly by. She may have shot herself accidentally protecting him from a moose, a few were found nearby. No one will ever know as the last law enforcement person here died two years ago and there are no plans to replace him.

Declare your independence—from misery

The Declaration of Independence asserts our “unalienable right” to the “pursuit of happiness.” But as George Washington wrote to his mother:

Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind—than on the externals in the world.

Apparently for the Founders, as I just read in this interesting and helpful article Declare Your Independence—From Misery (with the subtitle America’s Founders knew that the pursuit of happiness involved personal liberation):

the independence we seek as people with a God-given right to pursue our happiness goes beyond freedom from an external tyrant such as King George III (Ed: keeping my accent under wraps today]. True independence involves release from the subjugation of personal urges and weaknesses.

This is a useful reminder for our current political times: we need both types of freedom, outer and inner.

I have been doing a lot of meditation and reading up here, it is a little break for me. Nothing makes me happier than spending time with Dharma – the more you do, the happier you get, funny how that works! Doesn’t work for anything else, even the fun stuff, including cycling, or hiking in these stunning surroundings, or driving the Peak to Peak Scenic Highway, or eating a fat burrito.

Is he the exception to the rule? … I met the Moose Whisperer at Brainyard Lake today, and he never seems to tire of “moose’en”. He told me to be careful as I was about to walk in front of a cow moose, and then he pointed out two impressive bull moose (yup, that’s correct, not mooses nor meese). A retired biologist who specialized in moose, he has personally known thousands of them over the past 30 years, can go right up to them, some even following him around. He has never been attacked by one and told me how I could avoid being attacked too. In his retirement he is still by his own admission obsessed by moose and happy to share his enthusiasm – his wife objected, but he replied, “Would you rather I spent my whole time at the bar or moose’en?” Sadly, however, as he said, there are a lot of hunters around here who would rather see a dead moose staring at them from their wall than munching peacefully in the wild. (Check out his Facebook page, Moose Lovers, my post on him has garnered some warm appreciation for him!)

Talking of harming animals, I often wish fishermen and women would be content just sitting by the river, which is what they want after all, it’s pretty much why they go fishing, to get some peace and quiet. Why do they need to ruin everything by torturing fish and creating terrible karma? When I pass them, and we smile, I make the silent prayer, “I hope you don’t catch anyone.” (Sometimes I say it out loud, depends on the circumstances.)

The other thing I am aware of today, July 4, is how far from independent we are. For example, I am realizing how much I take plumbing for granted – it’s not just my hut, even the restaurants have outhouses. Also, although I came up this mountain for “solitary” time, I don’t think I’d survive a day around here if I was actually on my own. (Here is an article about that which I wrote last July 4: The illusion of separation.)

The July 4 parade through Ward just now took one minute and 47 seconds. I tried to share it with you but the video’s not taking. It did feature a wolf.

I got to watch it from Ward Exchange. Shaz the Man, having turned down about 10 hungry cyclists (for despite the huge Open sign he is closed for the Parade), took pity on me and just made me a huge lunch burrito because “you’re staying in town”. Yay! I’m a local. Having said that, I am under no illusion – for despite the fact that Adriana and Amy are the only EMTs and have been here almost 20 years!, and did I mention they are both firefighters! the good ole boys in Ward still consider them to be the strangers here in town, and resent their money. I was wondering why there are so many junked cars all over this area and, now I’ve been told, they apparently keep all the people with money away.

For this July 4^th, in these strange times, I am just going to say Happy 4^th to any of you who feel like celebrating it. While I am at it, Happy Election Day to those of you in the UK. Happy narrowly-avoided-Beryl-total-catastrophe day to those of you in Jamaica. Etc.) May we all get out of samsara asap, gain the realization of interdependence, and experience the actual freedom of enlightenment.

Comments most welcome!

*Found out that Ward burned down in 1900, which explains why there are no fancy houses left from its heyday with 5,000 inhabitants. Doesn’t seem to be stopping the town folk here from building a huge bonfire today. And the fireworks have already started, startling like bullets, deafeningly ricocheting off the mountain. “Just warming up,” I heard one townsman say, for the firework “war” that comes later (as the name suggests, people will be letting off fireworks at each other, yup). The town’s grand display is this evening, I will be going as far up the mountain as I can, to look at (and hear) it from a distance.

By the way, I love it around here. I can be hiding in plain sight—neither a townsfolk nor a Boulder cyclist—and no one pays me any attention. I’ll be back.

Last but. not least, the Moose Whisperer just sent me a picture of the same moose in the video I took above, with this message:

I did find mama moose with her calf later that evening!

Bye now for real.