Keep Running, Or They Cover You with Rocks


The other morning on my usual pre-dawn training run, I discovered another great FoY trail. With just a bit of sunlight and a few chirping birds to guide me, I managed to run along the narrow single track without stumbling on rocks. Then suddenly out of nowhere, this came into view.

Frink CA roadside graves
The graves are across the highway from Frink, a gritty settlement south of Fountain of Youth.

We see plenty of pet cemeteries in the desert, but until now I’ve never come across a human grave. At least, one that was marked. 

Frink CA roadside graves
Just who were the Levius family? Are all three members buried here?

It’s an odd place to bury a human.  It’s on quasi-public land with no nearby homes. The view isn’t too spectacular, and there are no significant landmarks. Did Piroska and Laszlo want to be buried there? Was the family too broke to pay for a plot? 

Frink CA roadside graves
The tag is from a crematorium in Westminster, CA, about 100 miles away.

After my run I did a search for California obituaries with the Levius  name, but came up with nothing. We will never know how they ended up there. The only certainty was that the Peek Family Crematory is in Southern California. And it’s for humans.

Weird stuff happens out here. Keep running.

“One mile farther and I come to a second grave beside the road, nameless like the other, marked only with the dull blue-black stones of the badlands. I do not pause this time. The more often you stop the more difficult it is to continue. Stop too long and they cover you with rocks.â€
― Edward Abbey, Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside

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