Baa

Baa – Water

Baa’ottsa is the word for water vessel in the Shoshone language.  These vessels were made of tightly woven grass or pottery to carry this precious resource.  The Shoshone and Paiute lands spanned the high deserts of Nevada, where we crossed, with great expanses of gypsum, hills of sagebrush, and alluring salt flats that proved to be the biggest challenge for “settlers” crossing the California Trail.

(The California Trail Interpretive Center in Nevada)

This landscape was the bridge between two lakes, a starting point and an ending point, Lake Tahoe and the Great Salt Lake.  This landscape heightened our cravings, our thirst, and our level of dehydration.  The landscape of the Shoshone people created a mirage both literally and figuratively for our desire and yearning.

For Henry, he mentioned home.  He mentioned his friends, the trees and the cooler temperatures.  He said, “If I could, I’d jump on the first plane home.  Can we?”

For me, it was all about Baa, water.  As we were already dehydrated from our previous days, I only craved water more.  I could see my skin flaking.  I could feel my lips chapped and my mouth dry.  It became a dramatic craving.

Before leaving Seattle, I had thought and worried about water.  In fact, I brought along 6 water vessels.  Two for Henry and I, they were both insulated keeping the hot, hot and the cold, cold.  The HydroFlask and the S’well bottles worked exceedingly well, when we had them, as they were often locked in the back of a Bear Box, which meant we weren’t often drinking with breakfast or dinner.  Not the best way to start a journey through the desert, we were already dehydrated.

Also, I brought along four Growlers by Klean Kanteen.  These were for drinking water, cleaning water, boiling water, but mostly emergency water, as I am constantly reminded that we are alone out in this country, this barren land.  Hill upon hill, without civilization in site, without help just around the corner, it is ever present, the dangers of traveling alone with a child.

I wonder about the Shoshone people migrating this territory, always staying together for help and precious resources.  Did they share?  Do we share?  Do we share our resources when we dam up rivers and pump water out of lakes?  Does one benefit from this great resource as the next is harmed, depleted, dehydrated?

Imagine intense heat emanating from your pores, imagine a dry palette that cannot be quenched, no matter the amount of water, you cannot quench your thirst.  I was feeling this.  After showers, and drinking water, I could not quench my thirst.  So what do others feel, knowing there is not enough clean water for our billions of people around the world?  Not enough to quench their thirst?  No clean baths to soak in.  Not enough for sanitation.  Not enough for healthy brain development…

Water – Baa – there is enough for us all.  And this journey has me incredibly aware and concerned for those without clean water.  When attending the Global Washington Conference, a summit for non-profits, last December, one man shared that India does have enough water for all of their civilians.  But the territories are not working together to mitigate and share their resources, allowing all access.  We covet and harbor our resources, but the question is always about balance.

When you experience the dangers of the lack of water, the cravings for such a primal resource, you feel intensely, one dry breathe after the other.  I felt it, and am still feeling it carrying around these fancy stainless steel Baa’ottsa which have been unable to quench our thirst.  And then you ask, what are you thirsty for?

To discover, Henry and I will look forward to another source of Baa, as we drive to the rivers of Colorado.

In the meantime, check out a great non-profit concerned with water issues:  Splash