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Smoke Signals
There is something about the feel of the wheels going round and round as everything I’ve just experienced is in my rear view mirror. There is something about the prospect of a new adventure, going places I’ve never been before. There is something about the feel of following the call of “the voice within” that leads me to new destinations and powerful new experiences.I woke up in a Durango campground after spending another Thursday evening enjoying the night life in Durango, which included Thursday concerts in the park. I had driven the long, windy, mountain road from Durango to Silverton in the dark, several times now and didn’t feel I should push my luck. I opted to stay. In the morning the air was thick with smoke from the forest fires. Evidently the firefighters decided to fight fire with fire and had started several small fires to manage the big one. I ran some errands and headed back to Silverton, hoping the air would be clean there. As I descended into Silverton there was a thick layer of smoke, resting on the small community like a heavy fog. That was my smoke signal. That was my sign. It was time to go!
It took about an hour to get my camp in Silverton packed up and I pulled out around 3pm, heading over the big mountain to Ouray and Ridgeway. I found a beautiful campsite at the Ridgeway State Park, just outside of Ridgeway, perched above a large lake. Fourth of July week was upon us and campers were out in full swing. Getting a campspot was a challenge.
There was a sadness in my heart, leaving behind the place I had grown to love so much, and the people I met there, but the signs couldn’t have been any more clear to me. It was time to move on.
My next destination was Carbondale, Glennwood Springs and Aspen, all located in the same area. I had been to these places before and remembered their raw beauty, with jagged mountain peaks stretching up into the sky and lush green valleys down below. In some places there were red rock formations like Sedona, mostly in Redstone and Glennwood Springs. Finding camping was a challenge, but I settled for another commercial campground perched over a river and the freeway. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a safe place to park for the night. I enjoyed a concert at the river park in the evening and a pint of “So Delicious” non dairy ice cream; something I didn’t have very often.
The next morning I packed up camp and headed to Aspen. All camp spots were full for days to come. That was the case in Carbondale and Redstone as well. Aspen was crawling with tourists and bumper to bumper traffic. I didn’t feel to stop and walk around the town. I wasn’t in the mood to shop for overpriced touristy items and I didn’t want anymore coffee. I kept driving back down the mountain to Basalt where they were having a Sunday Market. I ran into my friend Hinton, from Sedona, who I also ran into in Taos, New Mexico. Like me, he was living in his Van, only it was a full time venture for him. We enjoyed reconnecting, catching up and spending a bit of time together before I continued on my journey.Since I had no place to camp, it felt time to continue on down the road. I didn’t want to go to any of the heavier populated area’s in Colorado, so it was time to leave the state and head to my beloved Northwest. I was born in Anacortes, Washington, the Gateway to the San Juan Islands. I had explored much of the Northwest already, but it was still home to me, and I always loved returning. Going from the Southwest to the Northwest was a long drive of several days. Since it was Sunday and I worked on Monday, I would have to stop somewhere to take clients. Fortunately it was a light week, because it was a Holiday, so I cleared the spaces on my Calendar that weren’t yet booked to give me more travel time.
I didn’t pull out until 3pm, once again, and arrived in Brigham City, Utah at nightfall, finding a trusty KOA campground to park for the night. My first client wasn’t until 11:30 Mountain time the next day, so I got an early start and made it to Pocatello, Idaho, got an oil and transmission fluid change, a Starbucks, and settled in at a local park to begin my work day. I had a several hour break in the afternoon as a client failed to show for her appointment, so I drove to Idaho Falls, and settled in at the river park overlooking the falls for my next two clients. I found a Natural Grocers in Idaho Falls to stock up on my favorite traveling foods between sessions, gassed up the car and pulled out after my last session at 7pm. I drove until nightfall and found a free camping area in a small Montana town, about a half hour from Butte, Montana. My destination was Whitefish, Montana for the fourth of July.When I arrived in Whitefish, it was pouring rain. Such a contrast from the dry, tinderbox of Colorado. Whitefish embraced me with one of its few remaining tent sites to park my van. It was a blessing to be welcomed in this way. As the rain poured down, I nestled into Red Raven (my minivan) with my journal, grateful for the warm, dry place I called home.
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Hummus Wraps
I promised I would give some recipe’s I am using while traveling. I find eating on the road to be pretty simple. I keep a few staples in my fridge/icebox that I can make many different meals with. The meal I am going to share with you today is my yummy hummus wraps. This meal can be put together in minutes and is healthy to boot.I made this meal based on what I had in my mini-fridge. I had some gluten free corn/wheat tortillas. I normally don’t eat wheat but in the small town I am in, there weren’t many GMO free options, and these were GMO free.
I slathered the tortillas with hummus I bought at the store, then added some lettuce mix, kale mix, mini bell peppers, sliced, tomatoes, red onion, and olives. That’s it! Dinner in a heartbeat, and good for your heart.
Enjoy!
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Most Beautiful Place
I sit here, perched above the rushing river, at sunset, my feet soaking in a tub of hot water. I heated river water on my Coleman stove. I just hiked with my friend Doc up to 13,000 ft elevation where we met with the Continental Divide Trail. We took Doc’s 4wd miles up a pretty rugged road leading us up the side of the mountain, until it opened up into a heavenly expanse of mountains and meadows, filled with wild flowers, including the state flower, the Columbine.I was in complete awe of the beauty. We were in such a remote area. We climbed the trail taking us straight up the side of the mountain. There were beautiful fairy glens, where streams were coming down the mountains and wild flowers of deep, rich colors were growing in abundance.
We had to take it slow and take plenty of breaks because the altitude was so high. At the top we reached temperatures of 42 degrees. I was grateful I brought my heavy windbreaker as the wind was very strong.
After a beautiful day of hiking we came back to my amazing new camp right on the river. Across the river was a very tall waterfall falling from the mountains above. I still had cell service, my hotspot worked great and I could work from this beautiful spot in nature.In so many ways this is the experience I had been seeking; getting away from the commercial campgrounds and out in nature with no disturbances other than the Off Road Vehicle traffic that seemed to like the side gravel road running by my camp.
Being only a couple miles from town, I could easily drive to the coffee shop every morning, charge up my electronics and visit with the locals.It is nearing the end of June now and I must say time seems to have slowed down. It is hard to believe it has been only a month on the road. Sometimes it feels I’ve been out here so much longer. The first day of summer was last week and I still have the whole summer ahead of me.
A friend asked me about the concept of “time going slow” and asked “doesn’t this mean you aren’t having fun?” This is because it is said “time flies when you are having fun.” I asked him “wouldn’t you rather time slowed down when you were having fun so you can savor every moment?”Time is a gift right now and I am embracing the slow paced van life I am living. I don’t know when I will move on. Right now, I am loving where I am at and won’t “move on” until I feel the call. After all, isn’t this what my trip is all about? Following the call of spirit? I say YES!
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Video Memories
Google put together this video for me with photos and videos from my trip. Thank you Mario for sending me your smiling face, cuz you made the cut….
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The Feathers
Several years ago, I came to Silverton for six weeks in July and August to do some healing. My neighbor had suggested I contact her daughter’s Father who lived in Silverton and owned an art gallery. The Gallery owner and I became good friends and he offered me the apartment above the gallery in exchange for working in the gallery one day a week. While working in the gallery, I fell in love with these feather earrings. There was a whole variety of beautiful earrings made of various types of feathers of so many beautiful colors. I hadn’t been able to wear earrings for years because the weight of them irritated my ears, so I stopped wearing them, but these earrings were so beautiful, I had to try them. I found that these were the perfect earrings. Light as a feather! Oh, wait! They were feathers. So, I bought about five pair during the course of my stay there.Over the years, I never found earrings quite like these, and I wanted more; especially since I lost one of the pure white one’s that I loved so much. Even in Costa Rica with all the colorful birds dropping their feathers, there were still none as beautiful as the one’s I had.
When returning to Silverton, I fully intended on finding out if I could get more of these earrings. My friend, the Gallery owner, had moved from the area and a woman had taken over the space. I ran into another old friend in the local coffee house who told me that the woman who made the earrings died and the remaining supply were across the street at the “White Eyes Gallery.” I went over to the Gallery the next day and connected with the woman who owned the Gallery. She was nearly in tears telling me about how honored she was that the feather artists husband, had chosen her gallery to carry the remainder of her earrings and he was just in this morning to say hi.
There they were! All the beautiful earrings. How does one choose. I picked out four pair, and fortunately was able to replace the pair of white earrings I so loved. I talked to the shop owner about her relationship with the artist and how sad it was to lose her. Although I probably only met the artist and her husband once or twice while working in the gallery years ago, I felt the pain and loss of the woman who sold me the earrings. We had exchanged stories about the earrings and how I discovered them. She carefully wrapped them up in a box and said our goodbyes.
Several days later I attended an outdoor music concert in Silverton. I got my little folding chair and sat right up front, decked out in my hair feathers and new earrings and an older gentleman came up to say hi to me. We talked a bit and he asked if he could sit down. We talked more and he said “I make feathers.” I then understood why he was drawn to me. It was my feathers. I showed him my feather earrings and he said “those are mine.” I put two and two together and said “Oh, your wife just died.” He said “yes.” It had been a year, but they had been married for forty years and I could see he was still sad and grieving the loss of his life partner.It was such a powerful coincidence around these feathers. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with the husband of the artist who brought me these beautiful works of art. Another full circle experience.