Yesterday was the 14th occurrence of being notified that my husband had died while I was out of state to bring my first grandchild into the world. There are years that this passes with just a ripple. Then there are other years that the pressure in my chest becomes unbearable, a weight I am dragging…
Oof. Working. Driving. Doing. These things leave little time for reading or updating as I’d like. But the trip is going well, if a bit slower than anticipated initially. When you stop to see and try to do as well, or the weather decides to become an obstacle, things change. Thankfully, there is not a…
This will be my fourth opportunity to cross our wonderful country. The first three times were pretty harried and hurried – the first a true unknown adventure full of break downs and roadside kindnesses in a dilapidated van (I didn’t know it at the time of purchase, but it had a blown head gasket!) which…
Shabbat is always good for a lazy, reflective, do-nothing-much day. Today it has rained on and off. So I fired up some wax tarts (Cinnamon Roll and Orange Spice), took out the sketch book (if you can call what I do at this stage ‘sketching’ lol), and connected the phone to the laptop. Yes. I…
Today’s trip to the lake was simply sublime, and a perfect post- work unwind. I love woods and water, especially the rocky shoreline type. So I was primed for some zen rock sitting, watching the water do its thing. I got so, so much more! First off, there is nothing like occupying a waterside picnic…
In order to reinvigorate my writing activities, I thought I’d once again attempt a post a day. I did this once, several years ago and it led to both good and bad. Good, because I was thinking like a writer again, and bad, because I got burned out. This time I start with a 30…
Ah, I can remember when sixty was a distant thing, and how wise and patient I’d grow to be by that age – if indeed I’d live that long. Now that it’s here, what is it really like? Am I wiser? A life of ashes and rebuilding teaches one a great deal. Things like: Nothing…
She’s damp, dark and cold, with dead leaves scattered in and around doorways and windows that don’t quite shut all the way. But she stands just as I left her – in disarray from hurried packing. Freshly decorated rooms with art both purchased and created hanging on the walls, candles arrayed on platters waiting to…
When I went on the road, I had no idea one amazing benefit would be dark skies by which to grow much more appreciative and aware of celestial happenings. Over the last fourteen months I’ve seen dozens of meteor showers, gobsmacking full moons, lunar eclipses and now the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Last night…
I’m poised once again for take off, but first a little backtracking. After a couple of days at Caliente, I ambled south towards one of Nevada’s amazing places, Valley of Fire. I had really good intentions of going to the park, but it didn’t happen. I did drive past it, does that count? After a…
It has been over eleven years since I went to the eye doctor. I know, because my late husband drove me there. Today’s visit was an eye opener (no pun intended, hah!) Things have really gotten high tech in the eye exam world. Little lasers to measure your retinal thickness. Video game type tracking of…
After coming out of a marvelous camping, photo hunting, van selling, working week, I had a little surprise on the dash of Just ENuff. A little always-on glowing engine icon. I wanted to ignore it in hopes it was a false reading. But since it’s new to me and diesels are a bit fussier in…
After leaving Hope behind, the path southward down Idaho became one long, undulating journey through the many shades of dun. I drove mostly in solitude, seeing more cows than cars, past miles and miles and miles of hay stubble. With the combination of the wildfire haze and the pallid, wan disc of the sun, it…
‘Tis done. I’m now traveling in my new-to-me rig. After tires, brakes, differential fluid and new batteries for solar, I was a lot lighter than when I arrived to pick up the little E-Nuff bus, wallet wise, lol. First stop was, aptly, Hope, ID. What a beautiful place for the first real road camping I…
Oh my, my, how I had forgotten the joy to be found in driving – particularly driving a responsive, well-functioning vehicle where gauges and issues did not have to be monitored. It’s glorious. You feel one with the car. The radio playing classic sounds – The Cranberries, Aerosmith, The Beatles, Panic at the Disco, Plain…
Do you have superpowers? We all do, sometimes they are just hidden from us until needed. Lately, I feel like my cape is at the dry cleaners. I’ve been accused of being a Pollyanna, a rose colored glasses kind of gal often in my life. The eternal optimist. Today was supposed to be a celebration…
.. Where angels fear to tread, as the saying goes. I’m fairly certain I’ve discussed my sometimes resemblance to this persona on the blog a time or two before 🙂 Idaho was gorgeous. I really enjoyed my time there, as well as the friendships that were formed. It’s nice to get missives and pictures about…
… And other musings. Ruby had been sputtering along in a stoic way on seven cylinders but she finally complained loudly enough, and refused to signal when turning, so I bit the bullet (wallet?) and took her in to a mechanic referred by another nomad friend. Whatever gremlins have been rambling around in my other…
Yesterday we took a ride up to the Dixie National Forest in Utah. It’s the first time since my trip to Anza Borrego that I’ve seen trees with real leaves, like, oaks and pines. And my first time by living water since the creek at the canyon in Arizona at the beginning of fall. I…
This life is about freedom, exploring, community and nature. Much about van life though is naturally self isolating, or at least involves very reduced social contact within small groups. Yes, we stopped game nights and yarn-spinning around the campfire, even though no one in our camp had been sick. We stay a few feet apart…
The title may be a tad misleading… There is a river, but no one’s running 🤣I do ride my bike beside the Colorado, though. As our camping group breaks apart bit by bit, the pace slows considerably. As folks move on, more arrive. Sometimes we have visitors for a few hours and then they mosey…
I finally fulfilled one of my dreams out here, to sleep in the open, under the stars. It’s something I’d only do in a safe place. Last night I visited my original camp for a potluck, but I was packed to the gills for a camp move. Seemed like the perfect place to try it…
I came out to the PAR TR for a weekend of fun, to shuck off a couple of difficult weeks and to just relax. What I’ve experienced turned out to be much more. In a world that grows more expansive each day via the Internet, people seem to be growing more isolated and lost feeling;…
After almost two weeks of talking mainly to myself, plants, and inanimate objects, I need some socialization. Yes, an introvert just wrote that sentence. I too, am surprised. I’ve figured out that introversion is how I process the information I take in over time, but it doesn’t really define my personality type, now that my…
The wonderful thing about Google photos is that it sends you reminders of where you were x years ago and what you were doing. Well, sometimes it’s wonderful; other times, painful. Today it reminded me of where I was five years ago. I was camping, alone, down in Florida, under another full moon. I hiked…
I’m nearing the end of twelve work free days, a luxury I’ve not had in over five years. But today I had to start easing back into my normal sleep/wake patterns for work on my East coast timeline. So I was up at 0300 Pacific time. Music kept me company for a while, checking email…
In my everyday life I can be scattered, clumsy and downright hazardous to myself. Not so with dance. It is like someone else lives in my body, perhaps that wild, free part of me that wants to take over now and again to just be. I’ve seen more of her out here on the road,…
After a day full of music, mucking about in the van, and a huge meal with good company and good food, I was feeling the need for moving around a bit lest I resemble a stuffed turkey! I took an easy bike ride around the area, dropped off the trash and then headed back as…
As the sun falls behind the hills, woodsmoke drifts my way bearing the scent of juniper or pinon, which I’m not sure. The sky is a soft baby blue layered with pale pink and translucent yellow, with violet indigo coming in fast. By the sun’s falling place, brilliant orange with a red tint flares up…
And so it goes! After traversing Arizona moving south and westward, I finally arrived at the RVing Nirvana known as Quartzsite, or “Q”, as one mountainside proclaims visually. I had seen a video or three on this place. Seemed cool enough. However, after having the freedom of truly boondocking, this is just a leetle different…
It’s funny sometimes, how things happen. I stood in the chilly darkness before work this morning straining to see a falling star. It was breezy, quiet and dark. Only the sound of the wind in the junipers, the rustle of grasses, and the trill of unseen insects kept me company. But no such luck. Tonight,…
This is my first post via cell phone because my laptop simply will not cooperate! I have no idea how this will turn out, lol. I made it 2,200 and change across our beautiful country in Ruby, and it has been delightful, despite yet another breakdown en route. I wish everyone could see the America…
As I told someone earlier, today is my last night here and already I am bereft feeling. I do not want to go home! I have fallen in love with this form of being. Every day I rise in the dark without an alarm, make a pot of coffee and just sit outside and breathe…
My eyes open in the dark, savoring the sounds of crickets and the edge of morning. It is quiet but not-quiet; life wells up in the dark and seeps into the windows of the van. I stretch and lay here thinking of all of the mornings like this I have missed while being surrounded by…
So, I bought a campervan. Nothing big, nothing fancy, nothing new. Just new to me. I want to approach this kind of like a fiddler crab, edging sideways towards a new hole in the sand; or maybe a hermit crab, checking a new shell for a better fit, always remembering that it is me…
Sunflower Solace Farm 