Nel & Tim's Journey

Here is a link to photos from the Smokies to Virginia Beach to Washington DC and Gettysburg. Lots of ‘em. click here

3/6/0/10 This morning, we spoke with Brenda, our camp host, to get a little history of the area, Holly Beach, La.  She and her husband bought this little RV camp in 2005 just before Hurricane Rita destroyed it in September of that year. They rebuilt things just in time for Hurricane Ike , which struck in September 2008. That storm brought them 11’ of water. They rebuilt again. They are now prepared to haul everything off their property if necessary; picnic tables, 3 big campers, storage shed, ice machine. She tracks the weather closely, always. Brenda says there had not been a destructive storm in Holly Beach since the 50’s. She also says it used to be a place that mostly poor people lived. Now there are very nice homes here, although they still do not have a store. It’s fascinating to us to note that there are ONLY new houses here, no old ones at all. She says that today; March 6, is the nicest day they have had all year. There are a few clouds drifting over a blue sky and it is in the high 50’s this morning. It has been very cold and windy and freezing a lot on this gulf coast tiny community this winter. She believes that the cold weather will help to cool the gulf water, thereby lessening the chance for serious storms. If the water is cooler, the storms are less severe, according to her.

We are driving on Hwy 82 along the coast line in the bayou. Oh, there is trash everywhere. From California on, we’ve seen so much trash along the roads. It becomes depressing. It is such a statement about how we care for our planet as a culture. We have so much to learn from our native ancestors about caring for our planet. The plastic may well take us down !

If we can look past the trash, the wildlife is abundant, although we all know the mounds of plastic is destructive to our 4 legged, 2 legged and winged relatives.

We see heron, snowy egrets, alligators, turtles, pelicans, cows and small homesteads driving through this interesting landscape.  Sometimes the cattle are in the yards of homes. Once, I saw a cow looking in the front window of the house !

We also see upturned abandoned boats on the shore, cars on their sides rusting in the reeds, alongside newly constructed houses on pilings. The big old live oaks apparently withstand the storms. It’s clear they have been around for a long long time. We continue to see cypress groves, and now I can spot those cypress knees sticking out of the water. On we go to New Orleans.

3/8/10 This is our third and final evening in New Orleans. We arrived at the French Quarter RV park about 4:00pm three days ago. We had been told this place was 2 blocks from the French Quarter, and right off Basin Street, so thought we would take a chance. I must admit I was not too keen on the whole concept of RV parks in the beginning, as I did not see us preferring the “parking lot” type of existence. This time, it was great. And I do have a newly found respect for them as we travel across the country. Sometimes, it is really helpful to find a place like this.

(We use our transgendered Gypsy ( GPS who recently became a man after previously existing as a woman, at least in voice, which is he/she’s major form of info transfer to us), our maps, the Western Cheap Campsite book from the South-Johnson duo and the famous Woodall fat book to guide us to the best spot. We usually plan just a few days ahead of our arrival. )

Anyway, I digress. We were within walking distance of the quarter, safe, and it was a relatively inexpensive way to be in this city. FQRV was close off the freeway, in fact we parked under 2 huge billboards ! It was a small park, and gated for security reasons, and I got to soak a couple of times in a steaming hot tub. This all really did not matter, because we were not hanging around here much at all, only to take breaks and sleep.

Our first night in NOLA, we innocently walked through the streets, not knowing at all what we might find. We found narrow cobbled streets and side walks, shuttered windows, in a seemingly old and strange land. Where are we ?  We heard it before we saw it…. A low rumble of sound. We turned the corner onto Bourbon Street ! A feast of people, color, sound, neon, smells. From where did all these people come ?

We found ourselves quickly in the midst of a loud Italian parade welcoming us to the city. The beads were flying and we easily got a stash tucked on Tim’s neck. We found a balcony and ate dinner watching over the parade. Our first evening was one of gawking and laughing and listening to music wherever we happened to find it. We were amazed at the caliber of musicians in almost every place we went.  Tim especially loved all the guitar players showing off their stuff. He says a couple of those guys actually reduced ( expanded ?) him to tears.

Walking from music venue to grab a bite and scrounging the voo-doo shops for trinkets.

Walking down Royal Street, with the sunshine drifting through the metal scrollwork balconies, the streets full of color with the French Quarter Buildings, and the sky scrapers in the near distance, a completely different land, gray and white.

Hanging out in Pirate’s Alley beside St. Louis Cathedral. A new book from the Faulknor Book Store, and an absinthe at the Pirate’s Alley Café. (It was pretty tame, but we did fantasize about living in a place with an address like 623 Pirate’s Alley, New Orleans, La.)

Standing in line for 90 minutes for a sweet 50 minute set at Preservation Hall. This place was like peaking in to the juke joint in the movie “Color Purple” only with no booze, just the music, It had that aura to me.  We listened to some wizened jazz players here, sitting on chairs in front of us with no amplification at all. Sax and trombone and sweet sweet gentle drums, and clarinet and piano. What a treat that was.

Listening to the trumpet and sax at Maison Bourbon.

Catching that zydeco music for a while.

Walking into the Erin Rose, and sipping a shot of maker’s for her and her daddy.

Haunting around at the VooDoo Museum in a thunder storm

Eating and drinking hot toddies, Irish coffees, café aulaits, begniats, shrimp, crayfish, pralines.

Listening to people talk about eating alligator and nutria ( Apparently, nutria were introduced in this country in New Orleans, as a cheap source of food and fur. They got out of control and spread quickly. The person I spoke with was surprised that in Oregon we are familiar with them.

“Be Nice or Leave” t shirts and stickers.

I bought Tim a NOPD hat. It’s cool.

We loved this place, walking in the quiet clean mornings, or the noisy smoky nights, or the sun filtered afternoons…….it’s another one of those gathering places that touch my soul, like OCF. The old old buildings and culture within the walls. In New Orleans, buildings do not get torn down and replaced, they just wait. There is a sense of true longevity and endurance there.

Between  FQRV  and FQ was a blighted area with a massive deserted store and accompanying overly large parking lot. We noticed NOPD parked in the lot sometimes and wondered. We got the story that the previous Winn-Dixie store, which was getting a little run down, was looted after Katrina. Winn-Dixie basically took their insurance money and split. The cops are a presence there because they attempt to keep the “hoodlums” out of the area. You stay away from these parts of town, we leave you alone. Who knows.

We took a little van tour for a few hours to get oriented to the city a bit. That included going into the 9^th and 7^th wards to get a glimpse of the damages and rebuilding efforts. There were many places with slabs and concrete steps, nothing else, and there were houses that still had the National Guard notes spray painted on the front of them, telling when the house was checked and what was found inside. We saw houses that were no longer inhabitable and we saw some that have been repaired and are inhabited. We can only imagine what the place looked like when the water was high and then receded.

We saw where the now repaired levee broke, because the barges in the ship channel smashed into it. We freaked at thinking that even that concrete wall could possibly keep back the waters. Our guide told us that there were tsunami size waves from Lake Ponchartrain pouring over the city.

The size of the city has decreased by about ½. So many people displaced and will never be able to return home. Everyone we talked to had their own story… it was if the whole town could be suffering from mass PTSD.

We visited Brad Pitt’s project, Make It Happen Homes, a small by growing number of homes being built with green construction, on pilings, with bright colors and unique designs. Small modest, cool little places. We also drove through musician’s village, equally small homes built with the help of Harry Connick Jr. we saw no FEMA trailers, although our guide had lived in one for a while. She ended up leaving the city for about a year.

We’ll leave with some great memories, Mardi Gras beads, masks, fun hats, and trinkets.

We had no hurricanes or mint juleps and only a brief taste of sweet tea. We sure had a fun time and it was a little hard to leave. I could almost, just almost, imagine coming back for Mardi Gras.

As we were tiring of our walking tonight, after our Erin Rose visit, one of us commented, “time to go home” ….Then we realized how accurate that statement really was.

Inside the Nav, we are content with our creature comforts. Sometimes late at night, or early in the am, we can forget exactly where we are. Because inside, it always looks the same, and we are truly at home.

There is no recycling in Louisiana, I am told repeatedly. This is the first time we had to throw away recyclables, I am sorry to say.  The only people so far who have composted are Miranda and Barbara. Thanks women for being enlightened. And listen to this.  I asked where all the debri from Katrina destruction ended up. They just drove it out in trucks and it went all over the country to various places to be dumped. Our country has a serious trash problem…. We are trashaholics. We create it and are completely irresponsible for what happens to it when it leaves our hands. Constantly seeing trash on the side of the road is one of the low points of this trip to be sure.

3/9/10 Tuna melts in Toomsuba. We have eaten crawfish and shrimp every which way. Tonight is tuna from the Pacific northwest. We had a dreary rainy afternoon driving through Louisiana and Mississippi. It felt like it was dark at 3:30 pm… sound familiar ? We are now headed east and north. So much for our southern adventures.

Tonight is our first KOA on this trip in Toomsuba, Mississippi.  It’s actually a very pretty spot on top a hill, with almost no other people around. 

It has been confirmed that.. ..guess what…. no recycling in Mississippi. There was a huge mound of trash on the way to this campground and the man in charge laughed and said that was our recycling. Oh dear.

The forest here is loplolly pine. There were thunderstorms all night and little loplolly pine cones falling on the roof. Somehow, I managed to sleep 10 hours anyway.

Tim did some police commission work and we had some time to regroup a bit before heading to Nashville for more visiting.

3/11/10 Today is 10^th anniversary of our first date. Corny, I know, so what ? We celebrated with a nice Italian lunch at a local Nashville bistro and a long bike ride with Tim’s brother Greg, who we are visiting. We are parked in their front yard, beside the little creek that runs through the property. Quite picturesque, as long as the creek don’t rise ( which of course it did, a little)

Today I was blessed with long talks with both Erin and Hannah on the phone.  My brother Lonnie seems to have made it through yet another surgery. Tim is continuing to do his civic duty by attending police commission meetings via cell phone. He has probably worked about 4 hours today on Police Commission and  Kind Tree business. He has been very good about keeping his commitments to these two organizations and also with Community Village work.

It is sometimes hard to fit in shared computer time, what with all the visiting and playing !

3/15/10 We have been on the road 6 weeks !  Yesterday, for the first time, I really just wanted to curl up on my couch on Arthur Street with my old down blanket and watch a movie ( code for falling asleep !) the weather is Tennessee is so much like the weather in Eugene; cold, wet, cloud covered sky. The hills of Tennessee are beginning to green up and we see some hints of color in the trees and forsythia, and daffodils. There are here and there some bright crocus. Hints only of spring. I know things are blooming in my yard at home.

I spoke with my brother, who is continuing to recover although still in the hospital. Today is Mary’s surgery and I so wish her well.

We completed our visit with Greg and Karen Mueller by cooking dinner with their son Peter and his family; Anna, Matthew, Andrew and Mary Emily. All three children are under 5 years old. We played rock, paper, scissors, got bean and ketchup faces, and ate chocolate chip cookies.  Young families cause me to be grateful I am 58 years old. During the Nashville visit, I also got a good lesson in making some outrageous gnocchi from Italian Karen and heard some very nice jazz.

I think that Greg and Tim had a good visit. They reminisced about childhood, laughed a lot and acknowledged how alike they are in some ways. As I watched the two of them in the front yard, kicking around, I felt their parents’ presence strongly.

Unlike my own family of origin, the Mueller’s discuss politics with gusto and expression. Although there are always differences of opinion, strongly stated, it was good to see them finding some common ground with the Republicans, because after all, we are not ever going to get anywhere without some compromise.

Last night we had a short sweet visit with my cousin Karen and Chuck and their clan, Emily, Jeremy, Stephanie, Curtis and Hayden. We shared food ( tuna !) and learned a new card game, Golf. Karen’s mom and mine are sisters and live next door to each other in Ohio. It was really nice to share some good times with the Wackler’s in their lovely home.

Jane Luce Hart reminds us today on Facebook that it is Roy Settlemeyer’s birthday. Surely he would have some gray by now, if he hadn’t left for parts unknown. Love ya buddy !

Tonight we had a lovely warm fire in Smoky Mountain National Park, beside the Little River, that’s pretty darn noisy. We shared a hot toddy and M&M’s around the fire and I played Mbira in the dark. It’s so nice to have a campfire and get smoke in our eyes and all over our clothes. Chilly, will be in the 30’s tonight.

Tim’s musings around the fire. He was able to verbalize this, maybe for the first time. He feels that he was ostracized from his family his whole adult life because he could not be a Catholic. Could not be a Catholic, according to his own conscience and values. He could not continue to go to Confession as a teen and ask for forgiveness for things he had done, which in fact were not bad or even wrong, and he realized he would not ever stop doing.  I encouraged him to tell his brothers and to clearly tell his parents, even though they are both deceased. It’s very sad to think that the dogma of any religion could cause so much pain in someone’s life. Yet it happens to people all the time.

Nel

This is me in the cemetary with Mother Theresa, and at the cool corn fence.

Boy, did we have fun. Find some pictures in the ‘mobile uploads’ page from Facebook (se the link to the right and above).

2/11/10 Our first desert morning ! We stayed under the down until we were sure to not be too cold.

I woke up at first light to see a sliver of moon, Tim woke me up later to witness a thin layer of coral clouds. Then we slept more.

 We love our Box Turtle.

 We are actually, right now, sitting in the sun and fairly warm in layers of fleece clothing. I have just about finished my thermos of coffee. My yummy Café Mam Tango half decaf, ground by hand with my REI coffee grinder, compliments of Hannah; is waking and warming me.

For the time being, our visiting is over and we’ll just be hanging out in Death Valley. I looked at our original list of people to visit. There is no way we get to everyone on that list in the time we have allowed. I like the concept of getting close by people we want to visit, but staying in our turtle ( house on back) …. But for now, hiking and warming up and exploring.

 We have not yet had enough electrical power for computer work, except at Hannah’s, and that’s been nice.

I am learning to wash dishes with tiny amounts of water and use less dishes. We recently turned on the propane water heater fro awhile. Usually I just heat a little water on the stove for dishes,  so it felt great to have hot water to wash my face. We are still learning about the propane and consumption issues and are being pretty conservative. I like being more conscience of the energy we use. Even though I am fully aware that this is a luxury trip of sorts and we are using diesel fuel for traveling.

 I definitely need some stretching… it’s been a few days. We are hiking almost every day so far, that’s good.

 Drama ! Rockin landscape drama ! Upheaval

On the drive into Death Valley, we climbed from 2000’ at Red Rock Canyon, to 4000’, then back to 2000’ in Panamint Valley, to 4900’ and back to -180 feet in about 120 miles ……Geez, what a ride…….what a visual feast.

 We landed at Stovepipe Wells, tried for a long bike ride but got cut off at the pass on our steeds because of a rushing wash across the road. I bought some bags of rocks for  grandkids, and we tried to learn to play cribbage but didn’t have complete directions. We sat out under the stars wrapped up in blankets, and it was much warmer than last night.

Good night, sleep tight.

 2/12/10 Oh we are really in RV land now. The buggers are everywhere. Everyone is very friendly. I am reminded of a wagon train. We are not in a circle, but in long rows with ( some) electrical outlets. There are few fires, fires are discouraged here ( duh, no wood !). But for the most part, we are traveling in white wagons, with all our gear, not settling a new land, and not really traveling together, but actualizing as best we can that wonderlust spirit of this country. For what are we searching ? Do we not already hold it in our hearts ? Adventure ?

 We saw a lone coyote as we pulled in yesterday. He was sleuthing along the perimeters of the “parking lot”, scavenging for food. I’m thinking he was “old and in the way” in the pack.

 Speaking of adventures…..we can see the road to Mosaic Canyon, we can see the mouth of the canyon. We can ride our bikes there and then hike the canyon. Both distances and depth are deceiving here. We knew the road was 2 ½ miles long, and we could see the elevation rise…but alas, we did not comprehend the steepness. We cross trained ourselves to the top, alternating riding in low gear and walking those bikes up that grade. The road was graded into an alluvial fan that was pretty much straight and up. It was about the same as my old bike commute to downtown Eugene, only at a steady incline that never shifted.

Oh, and did I mention the sunshine ? Warmin our bodies as our hearts were beating like crazy.

 We made it to the mouth of the canyon, we had drinking water left, so we hiked. It was so worth the trip. Smooth marble on one side of the canyon and mosaic and colors on the other. Then back down the grade with the hand brakes on the whole time.

 We moved over to Furnace Creek for another “dry camp” as it is called. That means no electricity or water… just what we are carrying on board.

 It’s Friday night and we have been out of cell range since Wednesday evening. We may not get back in range until we are out of the mountains and into Arizona. Our families were, of course duly notified.

 I long to stay in one place for maybe 4 nights. In this amazing beauty of southwest desert.

 We are planning a nighttime starlit adventure, walking to dinner at a nearby restaurant.

 We will sleep tonight !

 2/13-23..soon to come……..

3/3/10 Yesterday we moved out to McKinney Falls State Park. It is so close to Austin it may be in the city limits. The last time we were here, in the fall of 2008, there were no falls, just rocks and a dry creek bed. This time the water is flowing in Onion Creek. Miranda and Andy came out for one last dinner together. We drank the BRV San Andreas for the birthday girl ( thanks Jeremy). We had a nice campfire and looked at their wedding album, which had finally just arrived before we left town. We also took a couple of bike rides around the lovely park. We saw many butterflies, watched a cardinal singing up a storm and Tim got some good camera shots of a pair of raptors in a tree.

 I treated myself today to a spirit guide reading from Georgia O’Connor.

www.meetthemedium.com  

I am happy to talk about that with folks and maybe already have. All I will say here is that it felt like someone was reading my mind as Georgia was giving me information from my guide, talking to me about personal things as if she knew me from inside me…..I completely know it sounds crazy. I just experienced it though.

This morning is relaxed and warm sunny yoga under the trees. HB Miranda. So sorry for the loss of Andy’s dear dog, Tela, who succumbed to an age related illness a the exact moment that Miranda was born, 28 years previously.  She actually fell over walking down the hall at the vet’s, and just died. Andy will grieve the loss of his dear friend.

 We are off to Conroe, home of the infamous actor of stage and New Hope workshop, Adam O’Connnor; and his devoted momma Barbara. We are on a birthday mission week, it seems. Adam will be 24 tomorrow and we get to hang out with him to celebrate.

3/5/10 HB Erin… I love you.

  “Strange travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God” Kurt Vonnegut via Dennis O’Connor.

We are leaving Texas today with some good memories.

 When we got to Barbara’s, there was a branch hanging over the driveway, which prevented our entry. Barbara drove up right behind us from her day at work. Within 30 minutes, she had found a neighbor with a chain saw on a pole and the branch was on the ground and we were tucked up into the drive. Good Work ! We need 11′ clearance, FYI.  

 Adam has texting ability on his Vanguard, alternative communication device. It was fun making plans with him using the technology.

 It was nice sitting in the backyard in the sun and seeing the daffodils blooming and also the first few bluebonnets. I was intrigued by the cypress knees in the flower beds and the crawdad castles in the grass. The water table here is pretty high. The cypress trees send up knobby looking roots above the ground to compensate for the high water. They have grown in her garden to look like statues almost. Very cool. The crawdads also have to get out of the water apparently to breathe, so create these little sand castles in the soil. Biology lesson for today.

 We had the accidental tourist adventure of being in Texas at the same time Adam’s daddio, Dennis, flew in from New York for the birthday.  We all went to the Bush ( HW not W) Intercontinental Airport. Adam was so excited as he hadn’t seen Dad since moving back to Texas a year ago. He got to spend his birthday with both parents.  That was so nice for him. And of course, we all had fun laughing and being seriously silly with Dennis.

I also had the extreme pleasure to visit with nephew Christopher, who called me his hippy aunt, of all things ! His vocation is the sensitive work with adolescents who are trying to recover from alcohol abuse, and offer them some skills to move into adulthood. Thanks Chris, I love you.

Wow, up late two nights in a row is taking a toll on me. Nap on the road today, first one.

 I don’t really know how we missed both the blooming cactus in Arizona and the wildflowers in Texas. I so remember the wildflowers exploding in February and was a major highlight of Texas living for me.

 Driving into Louisiana, we spied some long horn cattle. One guy had horns so big I do not know if he could even stand up !

We are now staying in Holly Beach, La, a small community that was devastated in Katrina. There are a few new homes, lots for sale along the beach and as you will see in the pictures, an overabundance of stop signs. It’s a quiet little place with few lights and several oil wells off the coast in the distance. There are still signs of the destruction, including a small mountain of sand mixed with black plastic shreds and probably more trash embedded within.

 On a beach walk, we saw no logs washed ashore or no volcanic rocks as in the northwest, but another delightful attraction; sea shells, big and little and white and pink and brown and beautiful. Shells somehow landed in our pockets as we walked.  A most excellent sunset was followed by a pile of rice and veggies and eggs. Good night.

2/6/10 Nel here….(Please note the dates, I am catching up here….aka….old news for some.)

Last night we had a most lovely evening with Hannah and Jeremy. We drove to San Francisco, ate seafood at Scoma’s on the bay. The fish are delivered to the dock right next to the restaurant. THAT’S how fresh it is…Our waiter, big guy named Jim, had worked there since he was 12 or something; for 35 years. Tim said it felt like we were in his living room instead of in a restaurant. Jeremy ate a whole crab and looked pretty darn cute with his plastic crab bib !

We went to the Orpheum Theatre. I am sure they are always working to restore this place and we were more than happy to pay an extra “restoration fee” with our ticket price. The ceiling in this place was lattice work of hand hewn, maybe wood, painted and faded to a rich looking patina. And then carved faces everywhere.There is no way I can describe it….go there if you ever get a chance.

Anyway, we saw the play “Wicked”. It’s a fun story about Elpheba, Galinda and Nessarose. We know these witches as the wicked witch of the west, glinda the good witch and the one who got killed when the house from Kansas fell on her (think ruby slippers).  It was truly world class entertainment with the exceptional music, singing, dancing, costumes, and of course the story. Turns out Elpheba was not a wicked witch at all, she was however seriously green from birth….and just misunderstood and blacklisted by the current ruling power. The ruling power of course turned out to be the wizard !

Hhhmm lessons there for all of us, I believe. Thanks to Hannah and Jeremy for arranging that lovely evening for us.

Our weekend was disturbed by the very sad news that Betsy’s mom Mary Esther Kelly, the original “tofrom” gal, crossed over from our world due to a stroke. She suffered little. Betsy and her son Eric were able to get to her before she passed. Mary Esther was a fine woman, who at 83 was still traveling, volunteering, living life to the fullest. She had also managed to talk to a lot of people in the few days before her death, and get all of her important papers in order.  Mary Esther, wherever you are, we love you….We did our best to be supportive from afar. Part of my sorrow was that I had been worried about my own mother all week because she was recovering from surgery. When Betsy’s mom suddenly left us, it was not only a shock, but also a reminder about the fragility of all our lives. It seems as we age, everyone before us and behind us are aging also. I know that sounds corny, but it is harder for me to see my mother age than it is to experience the process myself.

Btw.. Pat Applegate is recovering well from her surgery with Aunt Barb and Brother Lonnie in attendance, as much as she will allow !

We also had a lovely evening with Ezra and Lynn Savage while in San Jose. Hannah created an elegant dinner party for us, complete with gold chargers and black napkins. If you don’t know what a charger is, that’s OK, I did not know either. You’ll have to ask around…. It was fun to get to know Lynn and reconnect with Ezra. My hope is that the four of them will continue to maintain relationship, as they are all in the greater SF bay area.

We hung out a bit with Jeremy’s sister, Blondie, her husband Brett and his parents Jim and Cheryl Landis. Hannah spends a lot of her time with the Landis family since meeting Jeremy, so it was nice to finally meet them all.  We had a fun evening at the Toll House Inn, even though they had no chocolate chip cookies on the menu, which of course disappointed Tim, the cookie dude.  I personally, was incredibly happy with the cauliflower au gratin and am hoping to recreate that one with a somewhat lower fat version.

 It was fun being at Hannah and Jeremy’s place. They have a lovely home. It is always fun for me to cook food with others, and especially in a cool kitchen like theirs, and especially with my daughter. I love visiting my kids, and hate to say good-by.

Hannah and Jeremy seem very much in love and that is so very nice to see. Happy them……

 5 road rules from Jeremy;

Do NOT pick up hitchhikers

Drink your milk ( Tim)

Wear your seatbelts

Hide the brownies

Don’t run with scissors

 2/8/10 Over the weekend, Tim found out that a woman on the Kind Tree board, who had agreed to take over the art program and organize the next art show, decided that she could not follow through and completely dropped the ball.  This was very hard on him, as he had entrusted her to do a lot of tasks that he could not do while we are on the road. Letting go can be very difficult sometimes. Other people have risen to assist, but he struggled with these happenings, for sure. All praise to Mary-Minn and Janice and anyone else who is helping out.

Today is our drive to Henry Coe State Park, not far from H&J’s. 10 miles up a steep windy narrow road with gorgeous lookouts and a couple of wash-outs. I experience more of my Nav windy road anxiety. I think that next time we are Nav mt climbing, I will try some Rescue Remedy to stay calmer and therefore more supportive of the driver. How can you be a good co-pilot if you are squeaming and squirreling ? Is it my age ? This stuff never used to bother me. I am getting used to the rocking of the Nav, it’s a lot like being on a boat.

 We are camping on this mountain top, knoll kind of place, looking out at these green rolling hills and valleys. No one else is around. We take a great long hike through the mountains. Great visitas, up and down gently gently. Old old sprawling oaks, smooth trunked madrone of deep rich reds and oranges. ( see pictures around here somewhere), and lush grass welcome us in. Pink granite, quail, woodpeckers, some strange torn up earth tracks under the oaks ( not deer, not elk, doesn’t look like bear even) and unidentified scat (cat scat ?)  also delighted us and made us wonder.

It is so quiet, I can only hear the ringing in my ears as we walk !

 Another cozy evening. We were hoping for some stars, but we got clouds and rain instead, after a marvelous sunset. We’ll reheat lasagna from Hannah’s and I’ll grind more coffee beans. Maybe I’ll just have a cup right now, at 6:00 pm, even without a camp fire. Yum….

We are charging our phones and batteries and all our lights from solar panels on the roof. So far we have had no electricity, just the solar and propane for cooking and the fridge. It’s fun being more conservative with power/water usage. Our mileage is so-so, 14.5-16 mpg so far. We have constantly been in the mountains, though we had hoped for better mpg.

 2/9/10 I wake up with a tick firmly planted behind my left ear. What ? Tim tries to get it out, but alas, he only got out the body of the tick. So… we spend 2 ½ hours in the ER in Garlicky Gilroy.

I just feel badly taking up the doctor’s time with so many really sick people in there.

The physician’s assistant who dug the tick head out of my head, casually asked me if we saw any of the non-native wild pigs in the woods. Right away I knew that was the animals that had made the unusually destructive “tracks” under the oak trees. He says they can be pretty big, oh like 500 pounds. He saw a man recently come into the ER with his leg mangled and broken by one of them. Geez, man, we spent about 30 minutes talking to a ranger yesterday…..he never said a word about the damn pigs. Way more scary than the tick.

 2/10/10 We had a sweet visit with David, Emily and Grace Kahn last night. Hannah was also there because she is working in the area this week, so that was an extra treat.  We sat up late and talked, and had a toast to Emily’s grandmother Mary Esther. I had a little tequila along, and knew that Mary Esther would like that. But alas, could not get those young women to commit to more that a wine toast. That was OK by me, although I did mention that if Susan and Betsy and Erin were there, they would certainly do the tequila !

Emily has created a lovely home and says she is ready soon to think about another baby to keep Grace company. Grace is almost walking alone and learning animal sounds. She did well with kitty and bee, but we could not get a lion’s roar out of her. Getting to spend an evening with them all was pure pleasure for both Tim and I.

I do so love our children.

 This morning Tim comes into the house with his long gray hair looking wild from a night of sleep. He sits at the table with Grace, Emily and myself. Both Grace and Emily give him a semi-startled look with the crazy hair. Then Emily easily says to her daughter “ look Grace, a lion”….at which point Tim lets loose with a roar.  What fun.

 We arrive at Red Rock Canyon State Park ( thank you Craig and Wanda) in time for a  good hike/ exploration  around the area. We are finally in desert country. The rock formations and dramatic land mass upheavals are enticing us straight into Death Valley tomorrow. Beautiful place, oh my. I would highly recommend this place for some r&r and maybe more than the short time we gave it.

Our first night with a clear sky ! Yippee ! We sat out and were amazed and reassured about all those stars in the sky.  Night freezing sky alive with the universe. And us little nothings who think we are so important.

 These hikes/stays in these CA. state parks are super great, and it’s costing us anywhere from $20-$35/night to be in each. Spendy little hikes, they are. The preservation of our natural resources are most important to future generations, so we are OK with spending the money. Because this is February and it’s rainy and chilly, we seem to have the parks mostly to ourselves, which is so nice.

 Side notes:

How to get Tim to understand how bad all the Mountain Dew is for him ?

 I have been playing my low ( thank you Joshua) gandanga Mbira almost exclusively working on Marenje. I am trying to get some singing in, but can’t quite manage it by myself. I will listen to Musekiwa and Jennifer on their new CD for some help ( woops, I did that, they are way too good for me, didn’t help).

 2/11/10 Our first desert morning ! (entries for 2/11-2/24 to be done as time/weather allows !)

 2/25/10 Here we are in Austin, the sun is warm today… we are at Miranda and Andy’s urban farmstead. The people across the street have 6 pink flamingos in the front yard. We are parked on the street, being gypsies…… it’s nice to have some private space, and for M &A too I am sure. I thought we would be in the driveway, but turns out that is way too steep to live in. The front gardens are nice and we ate garden salad last night.

Miranda got a new sewing machine for her birthday from her daddio. Very nice… we went to Sears and got a good old new Kenmore. That was after a day’s research on line. This morning she taught me how to make kim chee. Yummy…..I’ll get to take some when we leave. And we got to watch some of the Olympics last night… that was fun, as we have not been tuning into the TV.   

After passing  RV service places on our travels and driving right on by, it is clear that we need one now for a new longer and unbroken sewer hose…… A life’s necessity at this point.  

More sad news department. A couple of weeks ago, we found out that our friend wrecked our 1989 VW van, Greta.  She, our friend, was not hurt, thank goodness. We had previously discussed selling Greta, but decided that she was too valuable for hauling lots of marimbas to gigs, Kind Tree art and retreat gear to various events, and of course, people for family vacations and wine tasting adventures.  

After many calls to The Hartford, (AARP insurance rocks! Do not make fun….check it out if you are OLD enough), the auto body shop, and other various wonderful friends Mary and Keith helping us from afar; we‘ve been informed that the damages were enough for the insurance company to total the vehicle. They’ve offered us quite a fair settlement, or we could take a lesser amount and attempt to repair Greta on our own. Tim and I struggled to come to an agreement about what to do. We are grieving the loss of our german workhorse traveling companion. There was the road trip with Betsy and Susan to meet up with Joni, through Nevada all night driving with all that yummy food and iced coffee). There was our trip to San Juan Islands….my brother taking pictures of Greta for his friends because of all the bumper stickers on it ( that’s a relative condition in Eugene) ..  It’s hard to let go, but only makes sense. Who knows, maybe we can find another older VW van that is biodiesel when we get home, in better shape…or something equally serviceable….or….or …..Anyway, take a moment, if you knew her; to say fair the well.

 I am getting lax in my stretching and core exercises, and I can tell a difference in my level of pain when I wake up in the morning. Everything feels stuck together in my back and hips.  I need that stretching and core training every day.. why can’t I get it done ? Verna, where are you ??? Seems like I have to pay people to help me to stay healthy.  I guess it’s not all bad, we do try to walk a couple of miles every day and have been pretty good at that most days, unless we are really trying to get the miles in on the highway. 

3/1/10Today we mark officially one month on the road. We have…….

 Seen some new and wondrous sites

Connected with old and new old friends

Experienced some real sadness and grief

Shared some mind melding moments with each other

Heard and created some pretty nice music

Travelled about 2700 miles.

 In a way, this seems like a midway point for me, although it really is not. We have been still much longer here in Austin, and we have already crossed the continental divide ( in Texas for heaven’s sake). But will not be headed back for west for several weeks yet. 

 We visited San Antonio and realized the culture clash that must have occurred at the Alamo….first the natives, then the Spanish priests, then all those settlers from back east (think David Crocket) and the people of Mexico…to which culture does this land belong ? To all of us, of course….And now this small beautiful monument is surrounded by this great big city of bustling tourists and residents. It’s always good to remember that we white folks took all this land from others, and to honor those who came before us.  

I was able to get in a little Miranda cooking time as she tries out new recipes and ideas for her Austin Homestead blog. We made kim chee one day and raviolis another. She is working on granola and granola bars right now. She is very faithful to her project. One fun meal we had was brunch on Saturday morning. We prepared excellent scrambled eggs from her chickens and potatoes that Tim and I grew last summer. We all got a kick out of that.

Sunshine, Mbira practice, coffee grinding, hanging out today.