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.

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.