In three parts. I. I’ve been ruminating this past week about what to do with all my stuff. I have a small Uhaul storage unit for my climate controlled items (books, mostly), and my motorcycles and garage stuff is at a friend’s place. It’s tempting to just donate it all, but the problem is … I rather like my books, have a couple of boxes of dad paperwork and photos, my truck rear seats that I took out when I…
We’re going back on the road! This time, more of a North-westerly direction because it’s too damn hot in my beloved Southwest. I’ve got an opportunity to work remotely for a couple of months, so I’m taking advantage of this and going explorin’ First stop is southern Illinois to visit mom and old friends, then north. I’m thinking of heading up through North Dakota on I-90 (visit the Minuteman Missile Visitor Center, Badlands, Crazy Horse Memorial), over to Wyoming for…
* In the immortal words of Buckaroo Banzai. It wasn’t until my dad’s death in 2006 that I truly understood what that phrase meant. Seems I had the emphasis on the wrong word for years. I’d been saying, “No matter where you go, there you are.” and kind of interpreted it as some kind of zen travel directive. But it’s supposed to be, “No matter where you go, there you are.” The You is inextricably tied to you. In…
(ice storm. Jan 2017. Carbondale, Illinois) A dear friend of mine in Carbondale who works in hospice and I were talking about the nature of loneliness. I find it somewhat ironic that I have felt far less lonely since I took off on this road trip alone than my last two years in Arizona. She talked about the loneliness of dying people and how nothing external seems to help someone who has that particular heartache. She told me about a…
Well, so far I have done one night of campering since I left on Monday. Granted, it’s only Wednesday, but I’m holed up at a friends house in Tucson with a tooth issue. It’s too bad this didn’t happen two and a half weeks ago while I still had insurance, but it’s great that this happened now instead of in a week when I’d be middle of nowhere southern New Mexico! I loaded pics from my phone, but have yet…
At the Goblin Valley group campsite, a couple of tent campers showed up, and three RVs. Everyone was great. We all had similar experiences with a cranky Ranger at the gate, and were happy to be parked. Goblin Valley is great! You can drive up to a lookout point, and then clamber down in amongst the goblins! Argos and I took a walk down there, and I carried Pugsly down for a brief photo shoot. She’s a pin-up model! On my…