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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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On The Road Again “Flying Solo Season Two”
I have had several people ask me if I would be blogging about my travels again this summer. The answer is YES! Why not?Some of you who have followed my travels last summer told me you were traveling vicariously through me. How awesome is that? I hadn’t realized my mystical minivan ventures would be so inspiring for others.
This summer won’t be as long of an adventure as I have some commitments back home in Arizona that I need to be there for, but I am outfitting the minivan now and setting out on the 11th of July towards the Northwest.I learned a lot last year from my minivan camping experiences and am making a few adjustments this year. I work from home or in the case of traveling, I work from the van, and so having what I need to manage my clients and Internet is important.
Last year I had my WiFi unit and an expensive Verizon Data account. I will activate this again. However the primary issue I had with working on the road was power. I didn’t want to stay in expensive RV parks with power. Can you see my little minivan camper wedged in between huge Motor-homes and trailers? Mini ME would get lost in the crowd. I preferred being in more places of solitude. I preferred to be parked between two trees.
Business on the road requires I keep my phone, laptop and WiFi unit charged. There was some stress with my batteries being drained before my work day was over and needing to run to the coffee house between clients to recharge.
This year I have acquired an Aeiusny Portable Power Station. It is a small unit that will charge my phone, laptop and WiFi unit multiple times. I can recharge my Power Station via AC wall outlets or 12V car cigarette lighter or to recharge it under the sun with solar panel. I did not buy the solar panel this year. But it is a great idea for the future.
Now I am powered up and ready to go for the long haul.
Last year I had way too much stuff! I learned about minimalism on the road. I only really needed about half of what I brought with me and some of the things I brought were cumbersome and space consuming.
My portable kitchen was one item I could do without. It was great to have and I loved it, but it took up too much space in my van while traveling. Since I had my cook-stove and Igloo 12V fridge in the back of my van, I only really needed a table to prepare food on.
So I found this handy little compact table that I can use both indoors and outdoors. It folds quite small and can be stored under my bed, however I realized it fits inside my van right next to my bed perfectly and a great place to eat, put my tea cup and laptop while working. It has great storage space underneath as well, so no wasted space.The table has leg adjustments so can be short or tall. What an exciting find and will work perfectly for my needs.
Last year I traveled with a roof rack for all the extras. Near the end of my journey the key busted off in the lock and I had a miserable time dealing with it. This year I decided to forgo the roof rack and all the extras. Who needs them.I won’t be taking a canopy but have two simple little tarps that fold up really small (about the size of a large pair of socks.) These can be extended from the back hatch of my van for extra shade and used as a floor mat for outdoors.
Another thing I learned last year, was I only needed half the clothes. I had a large bag of clothing I never used, stuff under my bed at the far back. That space is better used for something else. One bag of clothes and a few hanging items will be enough.
My porta-potty is coming. I can’t say enough for that little pot. It will store perfectly under my new table and great for those middle of the night moments where I really don’t want to put on my shoes and trek to the loo, if there is one. Us girls must have our luxuries.
This year will be both simpler, more minimalistic and a shorter journey. I’m getting excited to be back on the road again.
If you would like to come along for the ride, I invite you to join me. If you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter you can do so here….
Happy Trails!
Kaleah