Goin' Out To Cally – Part 17, Starry Night, Confusing Night

Sunday, Tim, Beth and I sat around the campfire as the blanket of stars began to shine overhead and Tim read aloud the legend of Tucumcari. Tucumcari is the Comanche word for “to lie and wait” and was so termed as Tucumcari Mountain was used as a scouting point for the surrounding plains.

The Tucumcari legend also has its roots in a tragic love story, very similar to a Shakespearean masterpiece. The legend has it that two warriors, Tocom and Tonopah, were both in love with the same maiden, Kari. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Tocom and Kari were already secretly in love. When Tonopah found out, he killed Tocom. When Kari discovered Tonopah was behind the death of her lover, she first killed Tonopah and then herself. The tribal chief, Wautonomah, distraught by these devastating and tragic events also kills himself. As he lay dying he uttered with his last breath… “Tocom-Kari.”

And it was said that their bodies were buried on Tucumcari Mountain… forever in love, lying and waiting. As with the well known tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the Native American version was very romantic.

As the fire began to die out, Tim and Beth, genetically morning people, soon retired for the night into the tent. Sunday and I, theatrically night people, had hours ahead of us before we could drift off to sleep. With the legend of Tucumcari still fresh in our minds we strolled under the star-filled sky with a half-crescent moon shining down on the desert landscape.

We walked passed the various RVs and campers, including a micro-tent with two ten-speed bikes locked to a tree near the tent entrance. I immediately thought of my brothers, John and Stephen, and their bike trip to Florida. I wondered who the two adventures were resting their weary legs inside that very small tent and where their bikes would lead them next.

Eventually Sunday and I made our way to a picnic table near the restrooms on the far end of the campground. We sat on opposite ends of the long table and laid back, our heads next to each other, facing opposite directions, staring up at the infinite number of lights in the sky.

You truly cannot comprehend the grandeur of God’s creation, and our very small place in it, until you have lain under the twinkling canopy of a starlit desert sky. With so many stars, so many suns and so many worlds above you, you quickly realize that your life on this small planet, near this small sun, in this average galaxy is not nearly as important as you once thought.

We chatted for some time about life and humility and the legend of Tucumcari. Then we lay a while, silently absorbing the immensity of the light show surrounding us. We stared and dreamed and Sunday looked over to me and said, “It’s romantic out here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” I fumbled.

Suddenly, we found our platonic relationship getting cloudy. We looked at each other with momentary mixed emotions. Our trance was broken as Sunday bolted up.

“I’m heading back,” she said as she quickly hopped off the table.

“I’m going to stay out here a while,” I said. “Have a good night’s sleep.”

“Okay,” she said as she dropped her head and silently thought to herself for a moment, before turning and heading back to our campsite.

I focused my attention back to the stars above me, wondering if I imagined or misinterpreted or over-reacted to the something or nothing or whatever that did or did not almost not happen.

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Goin' Out To Cally - Part 17, (Text, Audio) Starry Night, Confusing Night
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 16, (Text, Audio) Three Beds + Four People = Oh Crap
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 15, (Text, Audio) Masculinity At Stake
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 14, (Text, Audio) Texas: Latin For Shoot Me Now
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 13, (Text, Audio) Cars, Crossroads and Cosmic Convergence
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 12, (Text, Audio) Tumbleweed Dreams
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 11, (Text, Audio) Wet, Rinse, Repeat
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 10, (Text, Audio) Divine Misdirection
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 09, (Text, Audio) Getting Nowhere Fast
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 08, (Text, Audio) The Cock Crows Nine
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 07, (Text, Audio) Is Jackass A Sign?
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 06, (Text, Audio) Leftovers
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 05, (Text, Audio) The Kiss Of Friendship
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 04, (Text, Audio) Scholastic Intimacy
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 03, (Text, Audio) Space Invaders
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 02, (Text, Audio) The Fourth Wheel
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 01, (Text, Audio) The Seed Planted