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A Wedding and a Celebration of Life and a Releasing
Westport at the Washington Coast I was on my way to my son’s Wedding when I learned my beloved Aunt had passed away after a long battle with Cancer. Being that the Celebration of Life would be in the Pacific Northwest, I knew I needed to go. As it turned out the Wedding was on the 20th and the Celebration of Life on the 25th. Both events brought the family together, and it was a time of reunion, tears and celebration.
As I write this both events are in my rear view mirror. I went from the Celebration of Life to the Washington Coast, which was only a half hour away from where the memorial was.
Feet in the Sand The Ocean is a great place to release, to let go of accumulative emotional energy. It is a great place to put my feet in the sand, to ground and connect with the great power of big water.
Water represents the emotions. It is said that the sea is a great place to get in touch with your emotions and the desert a great place to “dry out.” It is beautiful to have the opportunity for both sides of the spectrum.
There is a reason people go to the sea when they are grieving. It is as if they are giving their grief to the sea; letting it go with the waves and allowing the tide to take the grief out to sea.
Ironically when I arrived at Westport, on the Washington Coast, it was still foggy and a bit gloomy. It cleared up in the late afternoon and the evening was beautiful. I made lunch out of the back of my van and as I was kicked back in my van having my Veggie wrap, when my van captured the attention of two young surfers.We got into a long conversation about what it is like to live out of a van, travel to the places my heart calls me to, and eating healthy on the road. The young man and his younger brother had the same travel bug I had and dreamed of getting a van, like mine, and taking to the road. They were still working out the details of work and money. I encouraged them, as I would encourage my own son, or my clients, to follow their heart; because, well, life is what you make it. Live big and love big.
After our conversation, I took a long walk along the beach, and just enjoyed the fresh sea air. I collected a few sand dollars with flowery designs in the center, and sat on a log, gazing out into the abyss.
Beautiful Sand-dollar from Westport Beach. Notice the flower design with the crack right in the middle. That evening I parked at the Marina on the Bayside and enjoyed the view. It was a beautiful and quiet evening.
I was awakened to the sound of monster diesel trucks driving in and parking on either side of my van, idling in the cold, foggy morning. The morning at the Marina came very early for the fisherman, who talked among themselves, as they prepared for their day at sea. Somewhere out in the line of fishing boats there was the sound of grinding.
I extracted myself from my warm bed to drive back to the State Park. The park was already bustling with surfers in their wet-suits braving the foggy coastal morning, for a chance to ride the waves. I made my tea, wrote in my journal for a while and then took another long walk. It was now time to move on down the road to the next destination.
Westport has great surfer waves and known for its kite surfing. You can barely see the kite in the sky in this pic. It is attached to a surfer. He allows the kite to pull him along the waves and can stay afloat for quite a long time, surfing back and forth along the waves. Here is a Video taken from someone Kite Surfing at Westport.
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Lucky to be Alive
Winchester State Park in Idaho One thing I learned from life on the road, is that I need to stop more and explore those “out of the way” places, that I tend to fly past on my way to somewhere. I need to be less busy going somewhere and more relaxed. Stop and smell the roses, or at least taste the coffee.
Although I no longer partake of caffeine, one of my favorite past times is to hang out in quaint little coffee houses, where I sip on a Chai Tea or a decaf Americano. Normally there is an Internet connection and I can’t check my email and catch up on my writing.
I’m a little behind today, as I’ve had over a week of experiences since I last posted. Some of the experiences that were a big deal a week ago, are all but forgotten, such as the day from hell, where I almost hit two deer at two different times and places, while going 65 miles per hour. Both times the deer came jetting out of nowhere and crossed the highway directly in front of me, causing me to slam on my brakes. This resulted in things flying all over in my van and breaking my glass tea press and mason jar, I was traveling with.
Winchester State Park in Idaho That same day I was passing two slow moving vehicles going about 75 MPH and a car came up from a side road and decided to turn right onto the lane I was passing in. So I was in route for a head on collision, before the oncoming car quickly pulled off to the side. Whew!
My destination this day was McCall, Idaho, a little town on a big lake, but by the time I arrived it was so crazy busy, on a Tuesday afternoon, that I decided to keep moving. The State Park was full and the downtown area was so crowded I couldn’t find a place to park. I wasn’t in the mood for crowds and I had clients the next morning. I needed a quieter place.
Winchester State Park in Idaho One thing I realized about myself in my travels is that I am not a crowd person. I like the remote, out of the way places, abundant with peace and quiet. I like to be where I can listen to the sounds of nature, walk in the forest and have a relatively quiet camp spot.
As I was driving through the Canyon in the Snake River recreation area the temperatures were in the high nineties. I left Arizona to get away from these kinds of temperatures, I wasn’t interested in sleeping in them. It was evening and I had been driving all day. I was tired. I wanted to stop for the night, but not with this heat. So I kept driving.
Prayer seemed like the best thing I could do at this point. Could I please have a nice ending to a long day? Could I please celebrate that I am still alive after all the near misses somewhere nice? I specifically requested cooler temperatures, quiet and Cell Phone reception where I could get a Wifi signal for work.
It wasn’t long before I descended into a valley and the temperatures dropped from the high nineties to the seventies. I then saw a sign for a State Park two miles off the highway, with camping. I made a quick turn and found myself in a beautiful quiet State Park overlooking the lake, nestled in a pine forest. I had a phone signal. My Wifi unit worked. My prayers were answered.
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Summer 2019…The Journey Begins
With weeks of preparation it was finally the night before I was to drive off into the sunrise. However, with all the excitement I couldn’t sleep. I ended up getting out of bed at 4:30 in the morning after barely sleeping and decided to finish packing the van and head out.I pulled out around 6:30 in the morning towards Flagstaff, got gas, a Starbucks for the road and headed towards the Navajo Indian Reservation towards Page, Arizona.
I took the exit to Kanab, Utah and knew I just had to stop and take a rest. I was exhausted, hardly able to keep my eyes open. However the morning temperatures were already in the nineties, moving rapidly towards the triple digits. How was I going to rest in these temperatures?
There was a small Motel with a few shade trees in the parking lot, so I pulled in and crawled into the back of my van. It was like a sauna, but I needed to rest and so I fell into a very deep meditation. I would like to say I slept but it was more like I entered a sweat lodge. I fell so deep into a trance that an hour passed very quickly. Suddenly I was wide awake and ready to get back on the road.
As I traveled up the mountain pass towards the North end of the Grand Canyon, I noticed the temperatures dropping down the eighties. I thought I could take another nap, but was feeling strangely energetic, so decided to keep driving. I drove through to Kanab, Utah, gassed up the van again, grabbed a bag of trail mix from the store, and headed out on the second leg of my journey.
I’ve driven this stretch so many times. The familiar drive between the Southwest and the Northwest and the endless hours behind the wheel, had become an annual event. I enjoyed the red rocks of this area as I passed by the entrance to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. I visited both in the past, but wasn’t going to brave the temperatures this time of year.
Approaching late afternoon my GPS was acting up and not sure how to get me to where I had planned to stop for the night. After getting the run around several times, guided down dirt roads and told to turn “right here” when there was no “right,” I decided to reset my GPS to a more familiar destination. The place I stayed nearly every year when I passed through the area. It was a campsite off the hwy outside of Nephi, Utah. The GPS had no problem getting me there within thirty minutes of breakdown. After ten hours on the road, I had never been so happy to see the old familiar campsite, crawl into the back of my van and close my eyes.
I got an early start the next day, arriving to Provo, Utah within thirty minutes of gassing up the van in Nephi. My GPS helped me to find a Natural Food Store so I could stock my mini fridge with healthy treats for the journey. I came out with coconut wraps, hummus, a favorite raw food sweet treat, a gluten free vegan muffin and coconut water. Grabbed another Starbucks and off to my next destination…Sun Valley, Idaho.
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Flying Home
June Lake My last camping venture was at the beautiful “June Lake” nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The weather was perfect and it was a lovely last stop before the long drive back to Cottonwood.
The least favorite part of the journey was to drive through the Mojave desert which was 114 degrees in September. I knew I didn’t want to camp in my van at night anywhere in these kinds of temperatures so I ended up driving from my camp at June Lake to Flagstaff and camped outside of Flagstaff my last night. It was one of the longest driving days of my journey.
June Lake Beach As I was nearing home I began to have a lot of mixed emotions. I had some practical reasons for getting back earlier than initially planned. My van needed attention. I had run into tree in Tahoe and broke my rear view mirror, so it was shattered. The trees in my Tahoe camp were close together and my mirror caught one as I was backing up. Fortunately there was no damage to the rest of my van. However my key fob was also not working and I feared getting locked out of my van. I was not given a spare key when I bought the van and the ignition key was not a “normal” key. The key fob would no longer open the doors to the van, although at this point it was still unlocking and locking the van. Sometimes it would take several attempts.
I had rented the upstairs of my home to a friend and her adult daughter and they had a lovely banner draped over the upstairs balcony when I drove into the driveway that said “Happy Return Beautiful Angel.” What a beautiful welcome. I truly felt it.That first evening, after unpacking my van, I got in my van to go visit friends and the van wouldn’t start. Not only did it not start, but the key got stuck in the ignition and I couldn’t remove it. I tried several times and did all the usual turning of the steering wheel and letting it rest and doing it again. The next morning it still didn’t start and the key was still stuck. I called my warranty service and had the van towed, for a second time, to the mechanics. It was as if the powers that be were saying “you are home now and you aren’t going anywhere.”
Because I still had my upstairs rented out, I settled into my downstairs which didn’t have a kitchen. I set my van kitchen up outside and had my outdoor kitchen for cooking. I bought a small refrigerator for downstairs as my igloo cooler was also not working properly.
Going from the mini van to a 950 square foot space was an interesting transition. I hardly knew what to do with myself, and in some strange way I missed the van. It was the simplicity of having such a small space to care for and being completely at the whim of my intuition. I wasn’t sure how to integrate my new found simplicity into my life back home. I now had electricity and unlimited Internet. I was back to modern living, minus the kitchen.
People asked me if I was glad to be home. Did I miss the road?
I never had the feeling that I was glad to be home. Somehow all the experiences I had while traveling had become such a part of me. I had walked through some very deep passages on a spiritual level. My sense was that my journey was not over, it was just beginning. But I wasn’t sure what that meant yet.
Right now I am in a period of integration. What is next? Only time will tell.
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Mountain Lion in my Campsite
Yosemite Valley After leaving my silent retreat, I continued through the mountains and ended up driving through Yosemite from the West Entrance to Lees Vining. I spent the night in Yosemite, parked on a pull-out at the side of the road. It was now after Labor Day so it was a bit quieter. There were less families with children, but lots of travelers were still on the road, taking advantage of the glorious September weather and quieter roads.
Yosemite Valley The next morning I drove through Yosemite Valley and saw the large granite walls, which were pretty impressive. I then took the Tioga Pass through to Lees Vining.
It was beginning to feel that my trip was coming to an end. Although I was officially on a four month journey, I had traveled so much and seen so much and was already on the road back home. I knew I could only go a bit further and I would be hitting the hot desert temperatures.
Lake in Tioga Pass, Yosemite The weather in the Sierra Nevada Mountains was perfect in early September, but I didn’t feel to stay there for the rest of the month.
I felt guided to take the June Lakes Loop and I’m so glad I did. It was still early in the day and I found a remote campsite on the river right down the road from a busy private campground. As I began setting up camp, the clouds moved in and it began to rain. Everything was so fresh and clean. I kicked back in my van with my journal and listened to the river rushing and the rain falling.
This is not my photo, but wanted to include one of a similar size Lion as to what I saw. It was “tea time” so I jumped out of the van and went to the back to put the kettle on. As I was preparing to light the stove I heard rustling in the bushes nearby. As I turned to look, there was a Mountain Lion about fifteen or twenty feet away. Obviously she saw me before I saw her and she decided she did not want a confrontation with the likes of me, and trotted off towards the river. I saw her in her full glory, tail swinging behind her.
When I tell the story of my Mountain Lion sighting, people ask me “did you get pictures?” Okay, so here’s the deal. When you see a Mountain lion as close as I did and it is in motion, moving through my site to somewhere else, the last thing on my mind is “oh wait, let me grab my camera.” The adrenaline is kicked in as my instinctive nature is preparing for fight or flight. I’m assessing the situation for possible danger and wondering if the Lion would be stalking me now that she knows I’m here. To grab a camera at a moment like this and chase after her in attempt to get a picture would have been stupid, to say the least.
I barely got my nervous system settled back down and a big white four wheel drive truck pulls right into my campsite. Mind you, I am in a pretty remote area without cell service or anyone else in sight. I had no idea who these people were or why they pulled into my campsite. I stood on the stoop of my van not sure if I should grab the bear spray or not.
Two men jumped out of the truck and began walking towards me. I didn’t say anything. I just looked at them. One of the men said “hello, are you camping here?” I’m looking at my camp set up, and it was pretty much a “no brainer.” “Yes,” I said, still sizing them up. They were older men, and appeared to be Native American. The same man said he wanted to show his friend the river. After he stated his intention, my nervous system calmed down again. They were older men and seemed harmless, so I told them I had just seen a Mountain Lion in my camp. They both seemed a bit concerned and told me to be careful.
The men did their tour of the river and came back through, complimenting me on my van set up. We exchanged a few words and they told me again to “be careful” and be sure to lock up the van at night.
The night went smoothly. It was so quiet! Not a sound from man or mouse, or….mountain lion. I never saw her again, but felt grateful for such an amazing experience. I had hoped to have such an encounter, without danger, of course.
When I was at my campsite outside of Markleeville, I saw a bear across the river and up the hill, sauntering along in the evening, before dusk. It was so far away, there was no concern, however this was a big bear area. There were bear containers for our food in all campsites I visited in California. One was not supposed to keep food in their vehicles because bears are known to break into vehicles. So that was always on my mind, because in my remote locations there was no “bear containers.” I kept my food in the Van and kept it locked up with the windows shut at night. The far away sighting was the only bear I saw on my journey.