HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Camping preparations take a certain amount of planning. One should not causally approach camping. Even backpackers must think ahead and prepare for the unexpected. As our little rig headed north on I65 into a bank of slate colored skies, nary a shred of sun sliced through the clouds. One cannot prepare for the weather, that is a certainty. We drove most of the day in the rain. That works just fine for traveling but not so much for setting up camp. We registered our vehicle and proceeded to our site. In our many years of travel, we've rarely had a bad campsite. And I do mean rarely. We were perched on a high point overlooking Lake James. Nice for scenery, hell for parking an airstream in the rain. We jockeyed into a space meant for a tent and hunkered down as rain pelted the roof of the TinCan. Dinner? We had warm pita with tapenade and cold sliced pork. Dessert? Left-over grilled summer peaches. We washed up, read our books and slept like babies. The rain continued through-out the night and early morning. MOMO & I got a brisk morning walk around the lake. The morning mist hung over the edges of the lake as pale white swans weaved their way around the shoreline. We soaked up the luxury of that moment. We had little to do in preparation for leaving. We pulled north to South Higgins Lake State Park. A heavenly glacier lake with a superb campground. There were loads of families and dogs. Our anxiety melted away as warm blue skies broke through and our camp fire burned down to hot coals for roasting our little chicken with fresh herbs. After dinner we took a long long walk, stretching MOMO to his limits. I had a blissful hot shower and we sat by the fire until every child and dog was sleeping.

DUST IN THE REARVIEW

That little phrase "dust in the rear view mirror" has been a mantra of mine for many, many years. I have always wanted to ramble. To leave. To go. I truly didn't want a plan, just dust in my rearview mirror. Unencumbered. The past few years have changed my approach to travel. I plan(sigh), I make lists, I organize like mad. This approach to travel is a huge departure from the free falling, adrenal loaded, thrill seeking adventures in my days of yore. I KNOW where I am going, where I will be and pretty much what I will be doing during my current travels. I have learned the meaning of the word, yield. Significantly, yield: to give up and cease resistance or contention. This metamorphosis occurred as my travel plans included another human being(WFS)and dogs( Chloe and Momo)...maybe I could cut to the chase and give a more straight forward assessment: age, birthdays, many moons. In the past month, I have been humbled by a very terrifying infection and five day hospital stay. I numbed my brain during the entire ordeal. I think I am a very unusual person, I can face almost anything if I can still my brain and NOT think. My very overactive brain is engaged again and ready for a holiday in the TinCan. I want to reflect on the road ahead. Metaphorically and physically. I want to sit quietly with my human companion and romp with my puppy companion. I want to watch the rear view very, very carefully, without dust in my eyes.