Wandering Spirit

October 17, in the morning, I enter Texas on Hwy 84.  That was after this sunrise in Santa Rosa…just spectacular.

Sunrise in Santa Rosa!

My brain feels foggy and seems to get more so, the longer I drive.  I stop in Lubbock to spend the night at an RV park with very nice showers and laundry.  I use both.  $23, not too bad.

In the morning I feel quite a bit clearer, but not clear enough to figure out where I want to spend the night of October 18.

I begin driving on 84 again, but then use Hwy 70 because I want to avoid Abilene.  Sweetwater is at the junction of 84 and 70.  A ways before Sweetwater  I begin to see windmills, and on 70 after Sweetwater there are more…and more…and MORE!  More than I’ve seen anywhere….100’s, probably 1000’s!

Windmills AND oil wells

The windmills go on for miles, and that makes me happy! 🙂

I find my way to a little city park in Ballinger.  I read on Allstays that they have 22 campsites here with water and electric.  I wonder if they will all be filled…after all they are only $15, and next to a river.  I arrive to find only one other campsite occupied!  Yay!

Then the fun begins….Joy and Shiloh have a long swim!  After the swim they roll and roll in the (cow pie-

less) grass.  After the rolling subsides I begin brushing them.  I try to brush them daily, because they love it, but also because the more hair they leave in the brush, the less hair they leave in WS.

We take a long walk around the park.  Shiloh resists the temptation to dash after squirrels!  Good boy!

As the sun sets, the river is peaceful and the evening is pleasant.  I think we will rest well tonight.

Elm Creek as the sun sets

Lonely happens.  It happened to me last evening.  I tend to do well alone and I usually like it, but there are times when lonely creeps in.  I start thinking about what I would be doing if I were at work!  No!  I don’t want to go back to work, but there are good memories…

So I text a good friend and work buddy, Anne.  She happened to be right there and texted back in a minute.  Next Anne sends a little video of her almost 5 year old daughter telling me she misses me and so does her mom.

SO cute and it makes me laugh out loud and the lonely spell starts to ease.

And in other news…. 🙂

Wednesday we arrive at Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico.  I plan to stay two days to get a driving break.  I find we can’t  do much walking here because there are thorn-like pickers all over the ground.  I don’t see them, but the thorns are 1/8 to 1/4 inch long and they hurt Joy and Shiloh’s feet!  Each time we try to take a walk it happens repeatedly, so I give up that idea and clean house instead.  I throw all the rugs outside, bring the blankets out to air, and shine up everything till it sparkles.  With two big dogs  (and me) living in this small home,  it can get dirty quickly.

I love our little rolling home!  It feels like it is part of me…an extension of who I am.  I love that it is small and cozy and comfortable. I love the colors I decorated with…it just makes me happy to be curled up inside, writing to you.  I am content with this lifestyle I’ve chosen, and feel blessed to have the freedom to satisfy my Wandering Spirit.

Joy 🙂

This is what I woke up to out my window this morning!

What beautiful rocks!  I drive for at least 50 miles with a wall of red rock on my left side.  I pull over at a ‘Loves’ stop for a break somewhere between Gallup and Albuquerque,and I’m looking at maps when someone toots their horn.  I look up to see Krystina!  We met at Americas Mailbox, and discovered we were both RVSue followers.   What are the chances of us stopping at the same place, coming from opposite directions, at the same time?  Wow! We visit awhile and hug good bye, both needing to get on to our destinations.

My idea is to go through Albuquerque and end up on the other side at Coronado Campground.  Albuquerque is bigger than I thought and there is construction all over the place.  I end up being in a wrong lane at the wrong time and accidentally get onto the wrong freeway. Because of all the construction my GPS has a hard time, and so do I, but 20-30 minutes later I am on the correct route again, and almost at my destination. Without the GPS I might still be out there!

Tomorrow my plan is to go to Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Santa Rosa, NM, and I may stay for two days. Once again I don’t know if I will have an internet connection so if you don’t hear from me that will be the reason.

Space 9 at Coronado Campground, Bernalillo, NM.

These mountains are my view where I am camped now. At sunset they turned red, but I didn’t get this picture until the show was almost over.

Pictures are out of order.  I seem to have no control over that.  I’m sure it’s because I haven’t learned yet.

There were more pictures I wanted to share but this connection seems to be finished letting me post them!

Our campsite at Bonito in Coconino National Forest

Inside Wukoki, looking out the window

Moon over Sunset Crater

The San Francisco Peaks. The yellow you see there is the aspen trees in their best autumn outfits

The dark color is the ash and cinders, still there 900 + years later

Wukoki, my favorite house at Wupatki National Monument

So pretty

Might be hard to see but there is lava flow here. It was up to 100 feet thick in this area

From 10/12-13   (pictures will be in a separate post)

Sacred is the word that comes to mind so often as I observe this land.  Especially today.

This land is sacred.  The original inhabitants knew that and they lived like they knew that.  But has that knowledge been lost on us…the ones that came after?  Do we live like we know the earth is a sacred place?

Our minds have become so full of the complicated cares of life that we tend to lose contact with  the sacredness of nature and the earth.

Today I realize that’s a big part of what I’m doing out here….connecting with nature, with the earth…this sacred sanctuary that is so easy to forget about when I’m busy.  At this point in my life to be able to seek out the sacredness on a daily basis is just about beyond my wildest dreams.

I visit Wupatki National Monument where the ancient dwellings of the puebloan people still stand.  My favorite is Wukoki.  As I wander the rooms my mind wanders also, back 900 years to  when families built this home and lived their lives here in this harsh desert climate.  With almost no water they grew their corn, beans and squash.  They knew about the healing plants.  They knew all about heating and cooling and they built their homes oriented to the sun and the seasons.

Talk about the cares of this life…they had them…but at the same time the sacredness of the earth was at the center of their existence.

Now we have technology in so many forms, but is there a way to balance technology and the sacred?  Is there a way to uphold the sacred through technology?  Why am I not seeing more windmills collecting energy as I cross mountain ranges?  Why am I not seeing thousands of solar panels by now, collecting the suns energy as I cross the deserts?

I think perhaps the inhabitants of the homes I am visiting understood more about the sacredness of the earth mother than most of us do today.  They didn’t need books or tv or the internet  because they learned from the earth herself as they lived with her.

I also visit Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.  This volcano and about 600 more in the area were erupting around 1080.  The ground for miles around is still covered with the crumbled lava…cinder…even the ground I camp on.

We return to our camp.  Joy and Shiloh were not allowed on the trails so they spent most of the time in the car.  We go for a long walk and as we are finishing it up I begin talking with Ron and  Kathy, some very experienced RV travelers camped down the way from me. We talk for over an hour until it’s getting cold and dark.  Such friendly warm hearted folks….I feel like we could have talked for hours!

The night turns cold reaching down to about 29 degrees.  We stay toasty till morning when we have to leave the warm bed, so it’s then that I turn on the furnace to take the chill off.  Coffee helps too!  The dogs water bowl is frozen over. Shiloh raises a ruckus outside and I rush out to find Ron had stopped by as he and Kathy are leaving the campground.  They want to make sure we stay in touch by email.  They have so much useful information and are willing to share it with a newbie like me!  Thank you Ron and Kathy!

Today we reach Gallup, NM.  My mind is filled with the red rocks and the painted desert that we passed through today….this sacred land… I am in awe! 🙂

We cross the Colorado River into Arizona shortly after leaving camp in the morning.  The day is pleasant as we cross more bountiful desert and more beautiful mountains.  The colors of the rocks are slightly less subtle now as various shades of red and pink come into play.  As the elevation rises to between 5000 and 7500 feet in elevation the many small scrubby plants are replaced with small and hardy pines, and the temperature stays in the 70’s.

Our destination is Bonito Campground in Coconino National Forest.  The campground is situated beside Sunset Crater National Monument, the cone of a 1000 year old volcanoand a 32 mile loop that includes the Wupatki National Monument where there are ancient Anasazi ruins.  I’m concerned about getting a campsite there however, because it is a popular campground, and this is the weekend.

We finally arrive (just a tad over 200 miles today), and that concern turns out not to be a problem.  There are many empty sites and when I pay the camp host ($10 a night with Senior Pass) I find that many National Park Campgrounds in this area are closing Monday at 11am.  Bonito is one of them. I pay for the final two nights of the season.

There is no wifi here at all I am told.  It says “no service” on my phone and IPad.  I try the Joel Pole anyway, but as it turns out, no service really is ‘no service.’

I have set up camp so we hop back in JR and head back towards Flagstaff so I can post this.  I don’t want anyone worrying!  We’ll be here until Monday and if I decide to take a detour through the Navajo Reservation I may still not have wifi…it will depend on where I am there.  If I’m not on line for a few more days, you know why.  We will be back with stories and hopefully pictures when we return to the wifi world!

That was Dusty Springfield in the early 60’s.  Does anyone else remember?

For me today it’s just Needles.  Needles, California.  It sounds like…..an uncomfortable place, doesn’t it?  Would you want to live in a place called Needles?  It might be good if you owned a fabric store….

But let me start at the beginning.

We  leave earlier than usual because we have farther than usual to drive today.  First I tackle the Tehachapi Mountains.  They make me happy because of all the windmills there.  I love that so much wind energy is captured there…such a wonderful energy source.  And I just like the word.  Tehachapi. 🙂

Then as I’m driving I realize that it was one year ago today that I purchased Wandering Spirit from Doug and Peggy and drove back home with her across those same mountains!  There was a big difference though.  It was cold…about 40 degrees that morning…and rainy and very windy!

Today was none of those.  My only problem was that since I left at 7:30 and was heading southeast the sun was in my eyes.

Coming out of the mountains the Mojave desert lies before me.  It looks nothing like the stereotypical desert; covered with small scrubby plants of greens and gold, and surrounded with mountains….layers of mountains of  such varying sizes and shapes and subtle colors that it takes my breath away.  It’s beautiful!

The sky is blue and the temperature is in the high 80’s, a far cry from my baptism-by-fire drive near here a year ago.  After about 200 miles the dogs begin to get anxious and antsy, and so do I.  We have had enough riding and driving for today but we Need to get to  Needles.

Finally we arrive and it’s in the mid 90’s.  I plug in the electric, make sure we are level and hurry us into the comfort of WS’s air conditioning.  Oh the comforts of home!  We nap and relax until nearly 6pm, when we finally stick our noses outside and find the early evening more bearable.  We take a walk and play in the dog run before we come back home for some dinner.

Now we sit under the stars.  The air is balmy and there is a soft breeze.  I can’t say it’s quiet here because Hwy 40 isn’t far off and there are many trucks passing by.  Beyond that are the railroad tracks but at that distance I enjoy hearing one train after another.  Route 66 is right in front of me but traffic there is rare.

The funny thing though…and this really does make me laugh….I’m parked right across from some permanent residents here…a nice older couple who in the spirit of the season have already put up their Halloween decor…..and get ready, because here it is….

Happy Halloween everyone! Yikes! 🙂

The title of this blog is the title of a Rolling Stones song that concerns Bakersfield, CA.  I’m an ‘Out Of Control’ Stones fan and I’m in Bakersfield just to spend the night, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to use the title.  The blog isn’t about anyone’s eyes, far or near.  🙂

I’ve been away from blogging almost a week and I must be rusty because this is the third time now that I’ve tried to post.  I hope it’s true what they say…’ The third time is a charm.’

I spent about a week parked next to the home of my gracious hostess Terri.  She was such a help to me with the dogs, and made it possible for me to do all my chores and errands and see friends too.  Terri and I got in plenty of visits, I was able to visit my mom many times, celebrate her 90th birthday with my son Jason, and soon to be daughter in law Mandy, have coffee with friends I used to work with,  see Laura and Joel ( of Joel Pole fame!), get the 30,000 mile servicing on JR, and get my glasses fixed.  You may remember they were severely scratched when I fell about a month ago.  It turns out that they were guaranteed not to scratch so I was able to get free replacement lenses, another blessing to be grateful for.

When I left Terri’s house I went on to visit my  friend Mary.  Our  friend Marian joined us and we had a scrumptious vegan dinner…pizza, chili beans, salad, lots of snacks, and Mary’s apple crisp.  Later Mary and I sat in the hot tub with a full moon shining down on us.  Heavenly, to say the least.

It was so good to see EVERYONE.  There were people I really wanted to see and wasn’t able to…but next month we’ll get together.

For now, we’re Texas bound, looking forward to the Casita Rally.  Two hundred miles down and 1600 to go!  I hope you will travel with us…we enjoy your company…and your comments!

Thursday October 2

This is the day I decide to further downsize the contents of the truck bed.  The present situation isn’t working because there are so many things back there that I just can’t reach without unloading half the truck, so I just don’t bother.  I might as well not be carrying them around if I can’t get to them when I want them.

It’s rarely hot on the Monterey Peninsula but there is a heat wave in progress now so I start my project before 7am.  I need to take everything out of the back of the truck.  One thing I can say for myself is that I packed very efficiently!  How did I ever get all this stuff in here?

This is hard work and takes a lot of processing physically of course because I go through everything.  It’s also an emotional process because  I let go of even more things that I thought I couldn’t live without.  Some things I take to storage, so I haven’t really quite let go, but it’s a start. Other things I give to friends and neighbors.  It basically takes me the whole day, with breaks in the afternoon because of the heat, but the results are very rewarding.

It appears at least, that I will be able to reach things without removing half (or more) the contents of the truck!

What did I let go of this time?  Here is a partial list:

A large container that that I thought would be a good idea to put things in.  It wasn’t.  I gave it to the lady next door.

Cloths!  Two large garbage bags of cloths I thought I needed.  They were heavy and awkward. When did I think I was going to wear all these cloths??

A small plastic table.  I had two with me, I only need one.

One of two rakes.

Some electrical appliances…toaster oven, food processor, and the TV all went into storage.  The toaster oven was the hardest of those to let go of and I can see me going and getting it back.  I have yet to use it because I couldn’t get to it where it was stored.

Books.  Most of the books I thought I couldn’t live without went into storage.  I couldn’t get to them to read them anyway.  I still have a few books with me, and my Kindle of course.

My sway bar.  I didn’t know how to hook it up and I never felt a need for it so I didn’t pursue it.  It’s stored though, in case I change my mind.

Some plastic ware like small food storage containers.

Food!  I had two big bins of extra food with me!  I cut that down to one bin.

Other assorted odds and ends.

Having less stuff makes me fell better!  We’ll see how this works. 🙂

Joy and Shiloh say ‘What now?’

More stuff…

The white car is not part of my ‘stuff’ , nor is the orange cone. 🙂

And more stuff…

And MORE stuff. You get the idea!

Yesterday I arrived back where I started from.  I was going to say ‘home’, but the thing is I don’t know where ‘home’ is, except where ever I park Wandering Spirit.

Born in Ohio, moved to Michigan, went on to California, changed gears and went to New Hampshire…oops, back to California, hmm back to Michigan,wait no, back to California!  That’s what I did for the first 65 years of my life and most of that moving was my Wandering Spirit searching for soil to sink some roots into.  I may finally be beginning to understand that wandering spirits don’t root well. I may finally be beginning to understand who I am.

One thing I know…I’m still ‘becoming’ who I am.  I’m still developing, learning, changing, and I hope that continues as long as this adventure called ‘life’ does!

John Lennon said “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”.  I want to try not to take life for granted.  I want to remember that every day….every hour…is a gift.

Every blazing sunset, every joyful sun rise,  towering tree, dancing leaf, colorful flower,  majestic mountain, shimmering snowflake, drop of rain, winding river, twinkling star, wave on the ocean, grain of sand, glimmer of moonlight, ray of sunlight, blue sky, fluffy cloud, soaring bird, flash of lightening….ALL of nature….is a gift given.  May this Wandering Spirit be filled with gratitude every day and every hour for these many wonderful gifts.