This evening is the first opportunity I've had to make a post. We made it to Ogden, UT this afternoon, and found ourselves 'in heaven' - a pull-through space, showers, wi-fi, beautiful trees, cool breezes, and cold beer after a very full day of driving from southern Utah, near Zion National Park.
We got away from the park in Tucson about 10:30 a.m., a little later than I had planned. But we got everything done that needed doing before we could pull out. We took a route out of Tucson through the city streets that wove from the eastern side to Interstate 10 on the western side; it took about an hour. Heading north we drove through Phoenix and into the cooler part of Arizona, toward Flagstaff.
We stopped at the Cliff House Indian Casino to park for the night, not wishing to spend $35 for the RV park across the highway. The RV park is part of the Indian Casino. Visitors to the casino can park on the lower level parking lot and spend the night 'boondocking'. We decided to do that, and we inquired about getting a shuttle ride to the casino to get some refreshment, and make sure that we could overnight in their parking lot. No problem.
After about two beers and $100 each we later returned to the trailer, wondering why we didn't opt to spend that $35 afterall!!! We spent the rest of the evening sitting in the shade of the trailer and a nearby tree, on the tarmac, eating ham salad sandwiches and resting. Bedtime came about 10:00 p.m. The first night was a little restless for me, but Liz slept fine. It was still quite hot, and without any ventilation except for the open windows, it took quite a time for the trailer to cool down.
The next morning, we ate hard-boiled eggs and bananas and watched the sun rise over the area. Then we packed up. We had noticed while eating our breakfast that there was a cop parked across the road from the parking lot. He left when we left; he must have been watching us - and watching out for us. We said grateful prayers, and headed north toward Flagstaff and Page, AZ.
28 June 2008
22 June 2008
A Day Off
Funny title for a post - since I'm retired.
Today, however, it was my birthday. Except for helping Liz with some computer tasks and putting her belongings into the rig, I did nothing toward getting ready for our departure.
Liz took me to breakfast at a great little spot - "Eat at Joe's" - where on a weekday one can get a simple, good breakfast for $1.95. Once we moved her things from her house to my house, I sat down to watch a DVD of The Jungle Book I purchased last December. I just love the song, The Bare Necessities. And the philosophy of that song is one I relate to.
It wasn't too long into the movie that I found myself dozing, sitting at the table, computer screen in front of me. So I got up and laid down on the bed. And three hours later, I felt ever so refreshed.
My son called today - I missed his call initially, so called him back. We chatted about the day, relaxing, taking my time, and not stressing about getting things done today. Sometimes he feels like a father to me, and I admit, sometimes I like it! He is a wise person, and has a lot to teach me. I'm delighted that he feels excited for me about this trip. We don't see each other often, or talk on the phone often, so sometimes I'm not sure about how he perceives his mom. The important thing, though, is that he lets me know that whatever is happening in my life, he loves me. He and Mel sent me a prepaid card for my use while I'm on the road. I told him that I would use it only for fun stuff. The denomination of the card won't fill my gas tank, but it will buy a lot of beer!!! I'm looking forward to finding the local watering hole in John Day.
My daughter sent me two Hallmark eCards - one with my most favorite character, Maxine. I shared the card with Liz and we laughed and laughed. You have to understand 'old' people - and if you're not old, you will be one day...given the alternatives as our lives get shorter, laughter is very important. The smallest thing can be funny, if you look at it a certain way. She also sent me some gel slippers to help me get rid of my crusty heels. When you live in southern Arizona you begin to look and feel like the desert!! I haven't tried the slippers yet because I need to clean the floors in the trailer, so what is green doesn't turn black on day one. Keeping up with the dust is impossible...
Last month I created a commitment ceremony to myself as the most important person in my life. I created a CD mix of songs that felt pertinent. "Will you still feed, will you still need me, when I'm 64?" becomes more meaningful today as I find myself at that chronological age. It's so interesting that inside of me I am still a young person. As I have been re-creating myself since Doc's passing, I have acquired a new, more feminine wardrobe, and I've restyled my hair. Three weeks ago I had the first professional haircut I'd had in three years, as I had been cutting my own hair. Doing it myself was okay - I liked it: however, I found that I couldn't taper the sides short enough, or trim the rest long enough for a spike with my clippers. I really like how I feel with my new cut.
Tonight as I write, I can hear the coyotes howling - maybe they are singing me "Happy Birthday!"
And tomorrow, bright and early, I'll be busy again, doing things that have had to wait until the last minute before we leave.
Today, however, it was my birthday. Except for helping Liz with some computer tasks and putting her belongings into the rig, I did nothing toward getting ready for our departure.
Liz took me to breakfast at a great little spot - "Eat at Joe's" - where on a weekday one can get a simple, good breakfast for $1.95. Once we moved her things from her house to my house, I sat down to watch a DVD of The Jungle Book I purchased last December. I just love the song, The Bare Necessities. And the philosophy of that song is one I relate to.
It wasn't too long into the movie that I found myself dozing, sitting at the table, computer screen in front of me. So I got up and laid down on the bed. And three hours later, I felt ever so refreshed.
My son called today - I missed his call initially, so called him back. We chatted about the day, relaxing, taking my time, and not stressing about getting things done today. Sometimes he feels like a father to me, and I admit, sometimes I like it! He is a wise person, and has a lot to teach me. I'm delighted that he feels excited for me about this trip. We don't see each other often, or talk on the phone often, so sometimes I'm not sure about how he perceives his mom. The important thing, though, is that he lets me know that whatever is happening in my life, he loves me. He and Mel sent me a prepaid card for my use while I'm on the road. I told him that I would use it only for fun stuff. The denomination of the card won't fill my gas tank, but it will buy a lot of beer!!! I'm looking forward to finding the local watering hole in John Day.
My daughter sent me two Hallmark eCards - one with my most favorite character, Maxine. I shared the card with Liz and we laughed and laughed. You have to understand 'old' people - and if you're not old, you will be one day...given the alternatives as our lives get shorter, laughter is very important. The smallest thing can be funny, if you look at it a certain way. She also sent me some gel slippers to help me get rid of my crusty heels. When you live in southern Arizona you begin to look and feel like the desert!! I haven't tried the slippers yet because I need to clean the floors in the trailer, so what is green doesn't turn black on day one. Keeping up with the dust is impossible...
Last month I created a commitment ceremony to myself as the most important person in my life. I created a CD mix of songs that felt pertinent. "Will you still feed, will you still need me, when I'm 64?" becomes more meaningful today as I find myself at that chronological age. It's so interesting that inside of me I am still a young person. As I have been re-creating myself since Doc's passing, I have acquired a new, more feminine wardrobe, and I've restyled my hair. Three weeks ago I had the first professional haircut I'd had in three years, as I had been cutting my own hair. Doing it myself was okay - I liked it: however, I found that I couldn't taper the sides short enough, or trim the rest long enough for a spike with my clippers. I really like how I feel with my new cut.
Tonight as I write, I can hear the coyotes howling - maybe they are singing me "Happy Birthday!"
And tomorrow, bright and early, I'll be busy again, doing things that have had to wait until the last minute before we leave.
17 June 2008
The Other Shoe
...was about to drop when a little good news came last week. Liz' daughter had been anticipating surgery for over six weeks, and the doctor wanted her to have her surgery on June 12. "Daughter's" insurance folks said 'no', you have to wait to June 18, and Liz felt that would mean she would not be able to leave with me; perhaps she could meet up with me later. Well, the surgery 'magically' got moved to yesterday, the 16th. With some regrouping, Liz and I agreed to leave on June 26, which will put us into John Day a day later than planned.
The surgery was successful, and "Daughter" is expected to leave the hospital tomorrow if all goes well. Liz will assist her for the next few days, and make her own preparations to move her things into the trailer.
In the meantime I am busy trying to move some things along that have been in storage for the last few years since I sold my condo. I have postings on Craigslist, and have made arrangements for some folks in the park to take a few things to a local charity. I've also contacted my family about 'family heirlooms' that I just can't keep 'just in case' I later move into another apartment, condo, house, whatever. So today I'm wrapping fragile things in bubble wrap to send out.
I also had the RV technician out to service my air conditioner (since I'm still in the southern Arizona heat -108 yesterday), install two new batteries, a support arm for my awning, and change out some lighting to fluorescents to save power. I haven't quite committed to a solar panel...yet. Yesterday I decided to run the AC in the truck - I haven't been running it when toodling through town, so it had been a long time since it had been on. I took it to the garage where they 'just happened' to have a free AC check. I didn't get away free, but I did get some freon and a new part that keeps it from leaking out - for less than $100 - AMAZING!!!
Maybe the extra days before we leave is giving me more space to complete some things I need to do...
My wi-fi service will end when I leave, so I hope to get another post done before we hitch up.
The surgery was successful, and "Daughter" is expected to leave the hospital tomorrow if all goes well. Liz will assist her for the next few days, and make her own preparations to move her things into the trailer.
In the meantime I am busy trying to move some things along that have been in storage for the last few years since I sold my condo. I have postings on Craigslist, and have made arrangements for some folks in the park to take a few things to a local charity. I've also contacted my family about 'family heirlooms' that I just can't keep 'just in case' I later move into another apartment, condo, house, whatever. So today I'm wrapping fragile things in bubble wrap to send out.
I also had the RV technician out to service my air conditioner (since I'm still in the southern Arizona heat -108 yesterday), install two new batteries, a support arm for my awning, and change out some lighting to fluorescents to save power. I haven't quite committed to a solar panel...yet. Yesterday I decided to run the AC in the truck - I haven't been running it when toodling through town, so it had been a long time since it had been on. I took it to the garage where they 'just happened' to have a free AC check. I didn't get away free, but I did get some freon and a new part that keeps it from leaking out - for less than $100 - AMAZING!!!
Maybe the extra days before we leave is giving me more space to complete some things I need to do...
My wi-fi service will end when I leave, so I hope to get another post done before we hitch up.
01 June 2008
Making Decisions
It's interesting how something 'comes' to you and all of a sudden your plans change...
That happened to me on Friday, May 30. My rent - the fee for saving my spot for the year at this RV park, so I can return here as frugally as possible in October, after my trek to the Northwest - was due on June 1. Here it is - June 1 - and my plans have changed.
When I get back to Tucson I'll be here just long enough to collect my things out of my storage shed, sell the shed, and head down the road to Deming, NM. Being very concerned about my financial picture, it pained me to have to part with nearly $4,000 to save my spot so I could live here six months out of the twelve I was paying for. I am a member of Loners on Wheels, and they have an RV park in Deming, where I can stay on a monthly basis for half the monthly cost of my current park. And I can have a storage space for one-fourth the cost of what a 'public' storage space would cost. Yes, concern for resources.
So, after making a call to the Loners park to get information, I went to the office to pay my rent for June only. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my rent was less than the published amount because it is 'summer'. And I was further pleased that I am allowed to leave my storage shed on my site, with my stuff in it for a monthly fee comparable to what I would pay at an outside storage facility. For the cost of a standard winter monthly rate I will have my June rent and four months of storage paid for!
Another aspect of this decision is that this park, which is very nice, is mostly made up of residents who are paired - married, living together, etc. - and who are still into living in a regular home, even if it is a park model. Being a 55+ park many of the residents are quite a bit older. The newer folks coming into the park, who are younger, like me, come from the colder states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc. And they are still living the culturally acceptable lifestyle they were brought up with. The thought of living here another six months after my trip was suddenly unbearable! I saw that I needed to be with other RVers, who are also single, and enjoying the friendship of others who have the wanderlust.
Now, the thoughts about New Mexico, Deming, and Silver City and checking things out there weren't new thoughts; however, I'd not made any movement toward that. It seemed that all the pieces finally came together in my brain, and I decided. It was quite an 'aha' moment for me! And after I put things in motion I felt so much better.
In the summer, the folks who live here year-round get together for a potluck dinner every Saturday. Last night, when I was talking about my new plan, I was asked if it wasn't true that everything 'fell into place' because I'd spent time working on it. While I'd had the thoughts before, I hadn't been working on anything in particular. So I feel that things fell into place because that is the door I'm to walk through.
I wrote my most favorite Desert Crone and my friend and beading teacher about my decision. She understands that there may be another 'call' for me in New Mexico. So we will have to spend as much time together as we can so I can learn everything she knows! Just in the last month or so I have become a 'beading fool'! And I've sold two pieces before they were even finished. It's amazing to me how, after almost 64 years of my life, I've discovered beading!
The Desert Crones of Tucson have been my family, and my inspiration. I just recently learned that a member who moved here from New York had the same elders teaching her Native American ways as I did. I came to Tucson via Denver, via Virginia, where I was instructed in Native ways. Our teachers were the same people!!! Awesome...The Crones is where I received my nurture, where I could really be myself and speak of things that most people find irreverent, heretical, and unbelievable. Not these ladies - they are warm and unconditionally loving. I will miss them most of all. Without knowing it they helped me through some of the most difficult times of losing Doc. I will carry their love with me as I begin my new life.
That happened to me on Friday, May 30. My rent - the fee for saving my spot for the year at this RV park, so I can return here as frugally as possible in October, after my trek to the Northwest - was due on June 1. Here it is - June 1 - and my plans have changed.
When I get back to Tucson I'll be here just long enough to collect my things out of my storage shed, sell the shed, and head down the road to Deming, NM. Being very concerned about my financial picture, it pained me to have to part with nearly $4,000 to save my spot so I could live here six months out of the twelve I was paying for. I am a member of Loners on Wheels, and they have an RV park in Deming, where I can stay on a monthly basis for half the monthly cost of my current park. And I can have a storage space for one-fourth the cost of what a 'public' storage space would cost. Yes, concern for resources.
So, after making a call to the Loners park to get information, I went to the office to pay my rent for June only. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my rent was less than the published amount because it is 'summer'. And I was further pleased that I am allowed to leave my storage shed on my site, with my stuff in it for a monthly fee comparable to what I would pay at an outside storage facility. For the cost of a standard winter monthly rate I will have my June rent and four months of storage paid for!
Another aspect of this decision is that this park, which is very nice, is mostly made up of residents who are paired - married, living together, etc. - and who are still into living in a regular home, even if it is a park model. Being a 55+ park many of the residents are quite a bit older. The newer folks coming into the park, who are younger, like me, come from the colder states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc. And they are still living the culturally acceptable lifestyle they were brought up with. The thought of living here another six months after my trip was suddenly unbearable! I saw that I needed to be with other RVers, who are also single, and enjoying the friendship of others who have the wanderlust.
Now, the thoughts about New Mexico, Deming, and Silver City and checking things out there weren't new thoughts; however, I'd not made any movement toward that. It seemed that all the pieces finally came together in my brain, and I decided. It was quite an 'aha' moment for me! And after I put things in motion I felt so much better.
In the summer, the folks who live here year-round get together for a potluck dinner every Saturday. Last night, when I was talking about my new plan, I was asked if it wasn't true that everything 'fell into place' because I'd spent time working on it. While I'd had the thoughts before, I hadn't been working on anything in particular. So I feel that things fell into place because that is the door I'm to walk through.
I wrote my most favorite Desert Crone and my friend and beading teacher about my decision. She understands that there may be another 'call' for me in New Mexico. So we will have to spend as much time together as we can so I can learn everything she knows! Just in the last month or so I have become a 'beading fool'! And I've sold two pieces before they were even finished. It's amazing to me how, after almost 64 years of my life, I've discovered beading!
The Desert Crones of Tucson have been my family, and my inspiration. I just recently learned that a member who moved here from New York had the same elders teaching her Native American ways as I did. I came to Tucson via Denver, via Virginia, where I was instructed in Native ways. Our teachers were the same people!!! Awesome...The Crones is where I received my nurture, where I could really be myself and speak of things that most people find irreverent, heretical, and unbelievable. Not these ladies - they are warm and unconditionally loving. I will miss them most of all. Without knowing it they helped me through some of the most difficult times of losing Doc. I will carry their love with me as I begin my new life.
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