Just A Quick Note

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I am doing fine. Penny is fine. I just want to let you all know that I am going to be taking a break here for the time-being. My travels have been great, I’ll catch you up some time. I’ve gotten my 4th covid shot. I’m feeling mad but determined with this Roe v. Wade leaked ruling and I’ve got some good, fun things coming up this summer.

I’m not sure when I’ll be back on here, so until then, everyone take care of yourself. Take care of your mental health. We need you! “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” and we all need to be doing something to help bend it!

Talk to you later!

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Spring Into Summer

This post is for Patrons who subscribe to this blog for $5/month, as a little thank you to them. I can keep this site ad-free because of the help I get from Patrons, so I’m not just paying for this all by myself. If you would like to subscribe you can go to patreon.com and search for when the girls rule. Thank you!

Hey Patrons! How is everyone doing? I have been off the writing train lately. I arrived safely at my sister’s house and since my schedule is different here, and Penny and I have been adjusting, I just haven’t made time for writing. I don’t know why because I always feel better when I do, but that’s just how it’s working right now. For May, I will pause your subscription to this blog, because I’m for sure taking May off from writing. We’ll see how I’m feeling when we get to June. Don’t be surprised if I pause that month too.

So where did I last leave you? Oh right, the big storms rolling through the south. Well, I made it to my sister’s house with no other excitement. I spent my last night on the road at a winery in Georgia that was beautiful and safe and dog-friendly and I chit-chatted with people about my van, so a perfect encapsulation of the last three months of travel.

Penny is enjoying being off leash here in my sister’s forested 10 acres. She is finally able to chase squirrels and only has to be on the leash when we take a walk through their neighborhood or when we go hiking. Plus, we don’t have to worry about safety at all, so I am less tense which I think probably makes her less tense. My sister has two dogs that Penny can interact with (though she prefers not to) so she’s not as revved up to see/meet/fight/play with every dog she suspects are in the area.

Ok, so what are the future plans? I am going to be here for another week or so then I’ll head back to Michigan. I am going to meet up with friends and family and catch up, then head up north (Northern Michigan) to look for a job and a place to live (two minor tasks!).

Then, next fall sometime, I will hit the road again. I am already planning where to go and feeling excited about that. So many places I want to see!

So, while I’m here in North Carolina, I’m researching areas in Northern Michigan and looking at property and possible jobs, all online. When I return to Michigan, I’ve already got a campsite booked for a week in a central location so I can check out the areas I’m interested in buying property plus visiting the properties in person. Then, I’ll look for a job in a location I like or where I’ve bought property. I know that sounds like a lot, but to me, it sounds exciting and fun!

I’ll let the other blog readers know on Tuesday that I’m taking a break, even though I’ve been pretty inconsistent about writing there, but just so no one is worried about me. And I am still working on my book. I feel like I need to do it sooner rather than later, because my memory isn’t all that great and the emotions and headspace are all fading to something I did in the past.

While the sun was coming up in the east, the moon was going down in the west

I did get my 4th Covid shot this week and feel fine and optimistic that at least that one shitty thing is hopefully coming to an end. I found a video of my sister and I from 2019 and I look at how happy and naive we were then. So much life happened after that!

Ok, well, everyone take care of yourself. Don’t worry about me because I will be fine and will be back here soon filling you all in on my adventures. Be healthy. Be kind to yourself. And take care of your mental health because you are important and we want you around!

Later!

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The Best Laid Plans…

This post is a thank you for Patrons who help me pay for this blog by subscribing for $5/month at patreon.com. This way, we don’t have advertising all over this site and I’m not paying for this all by myself. Thank you Patrons!

So, hey everyone! Hi! It’s been a couple of weeks because I’ve either had no cell signal or had to rush off and didn’t have time to write. But, I’m here now and I’ve got some time, so I’ll catch you up.

Two days ago, I was in Arkansas with plans to head into Mississippi to camp for a couple of days. I always look at my phone for the weather to make plans, but it’s temperatures and percentages of chance of rain doesn’t tell the whole story I found out. Plus, I think I was lulled into perfect weather by California and forgot the rest of the country has a lot more volatile weather. Luckily I overheard two women talking about the big storms coming in the next day and I asked them about it, but figured since I was heading 2 1/2 hours east, I would be fine. LOLOLOL! When I got back to the van and looked up the weather radar in my area, western Arkansas, I was a bit freaked out.

My friend Denise, who is so good at maps and data, helped me through a stressful hour of trying to figure out what to do and where to go. After analyzing several scenarios we decided that I should head back west, yes, a bit of back-tracking, to get out of the eye of the storm where I currently was sitting and where I would be the next night. It looked like anywhere west of Tulsa, Oklahoma would be out of the way.

Penny keeping an eye on the storm

I felt so relieved to have a plan but still had two big storm cells coming in that night that had me worried. I was sitting in a parking lot of a museum and was looking up online “what to do if you’re in a tornado in a car” and “what to do if you’re in a tornado in an RV”. Both had conflicting advice. “Stay seatbelted” or “Dive under the strongest item in your RV”. I looked up storm shelters in that town (couldn’t find any) and surveyed the area where I was parked for places I could move to or buildings I might be able to get into.

As I kept watching the weather radar, I realized the storm would come through at around 1:00 am and again about 3:00 am, so I would just have to wait and hopefully be able to sleep before they hit and hopefully after. I was pretty keyed up as you can imagine.

At 9:30 pm, usually bedtime, I had the great idea of getting a hotel for the night. How had I not thought of that before? For some reason, I was thinking I just had to go through this storm in the van by myself. Somehow I was going to have to muscle through that night and good luck to me. What the heck? I need to think of more options when I’m uncomfortable with the situation I’m in, rather than forcing myself through it.

Once I got that idea, I quickly looked up a hotel that allows dogs and called them and yes, they had availability. Now, I was in a pretty small town so it was good luck that they had several hotels and motels (and not just Joe’s Motel — real option) and luckily I was not out in the wilderness where I would have to drive far to find one.

Arkansas exotic plant

The hotel was only about 5 minutes away, but I haven’t driven in the dark in awhile, especially without my contacts in and only wearing my scratched up glasses, in a town I do not know, in my pajamas, so that added some more spice to the evening. We found the hotel easily and got checked in with no problem. The room wasn’t too bad and I took a long, hot shower that I deserved. Penny kept jumping from bed to bed without touching the hot lava floor until she heard any sound outside of our door and started barking. I turned on the room air conditioner with the fan going loudly so we wouldn’t hear anything outside of the room and we didn’t have to even know when or if a storm was brewing outside.

I felt so relieved when we got in there. You cannot imagine how relieved I felt. I thought I was going to be spending the night in a parking lot, facing the storm on my own and had been trying to talk myself into a night of watchfulness, but, luckily, had the much better idea to get a room pop in my head. Thank you hard-working brain!

We got up early, really early because Penny heard other people getting up and out (utility maintenance crews who were staying there) and we hit the road heading west. The storms were going to be lighter in the morning and more scattered so we hoped to punch through the storms heading east as we headed west and yes, I kept telling myself we were going to “punch through” this storm every time we ran into rain or dark clouds on the road.

Just go to the light!

Poor Penny had to wait for breakfast and for a walk so we stopped at a rest stop and walked and she ate. Then, later when we hit some more rain, we pulled into another rest stop and I was able to make myself breakfast and realized we were so close to being on the other side of the storm, I just hopped back into the driver’s seat with my cup of coffee in hand and kept driving west.

We ended up having to drive about 6 hours but as soon as we got into Oklahoma the weather was sunny and smooth sailing. I found a National Wildlife Refuge that we could take a nice walk in and relax and see nature and take a breath. I had made reservations to stay at a winery that night so we still had about an hour to go but it was cool and sunny and easy driving.

The winery was fine. Nothing to write home about, but they had an area I could walk Penny and it felt safe and secure for the night (except for the two roaming dogs who were hanging around). And now it’s morning and I’m here writing this, so everything turned out fine. Today, we have to do a lot of driving, about 8 hours, to make it to our original campsite that I had reserved for us last week. The storm is headed north and east and we should have no more problems as I head towards my sister’s house in North Carolina — knock on wood!

I should be there on Sunday and I will be visiting with her for a few weeks. I can’t wait! I miss my people and I want to fix a couple of things in the van, like the leak from the roof hatch we contended with during the drive through the storms. Plus, I just want a couple of weeks of safe, settled stillness. The traveling and sight-seeing is very interesting and stimulating, but I need to balance that with familiarity and routine.

Ok, well I gotta hit the road, so I’ll talk to you next week. Take care everyone as you know I am taking care!

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Where I’m At

When Covid 19 hit, I stopped shopping and you all stopped shopping so there went the commissions that helped me offset the costs of this blog. Instead of hosting ads on this site, I decided to do a subscription model where Patrons of this blog subscribe for $5/month and they get an extra post each week. Like this one. Thank you Patrons!

Hey, so hi! How is everyone doing today? Did you hear that we can now get a 4th covid shot? I don’t know much more about it than that, and that they are predicting the next wave (is it the 5th or 6th wave?) will be here in a couple of weeks. Oh yay. I need to get an appointment somewhere soon while on the road.

Well, besides that, I am doing ok. I definitely needed this time on my own to clear my head, and get on solid footing and I feel like I’ve done both of those. Of course, any day that could change since I am such a human who is ruled by her emotions, but right now, I’m feeling much better than when I started this adventure. Plus, when I think my mood may be turning towards something negative I say my new mantra: “I choose joy!”

So, where am I at? Mentally and physically?

First off, I am so less nervous than I was. All the unknowns about traveling are mostly de-mystified and the doubts I had about my build have proven to be empty doubts. Everything (well, most everything. damn you shower) has been working fine and the van is running well and I still look around at it and can’t believe that I did all that. I kinda feel like, who was that woman? How did she persevere through this?

Second, I feel ready to settle into one place for the summer. I love planning trips and seeing all the sights, but it can also be stressful always going, always on the road and always on guard for my safety. I’m looking forward to feeling safe and comfortable and getting to know one place and make new friends and see familiar faces. I couldn’t have said that last fall.

Third, I’m looking forward to actually bringing in some income instead of just out-go. I thought I would have time while traveling to come up with some online endeavors to bring in some money, but the constant go-go-go didn’t allow me the time to investigate. I hope to be able to follow up with that this summer while parked.

Fourth, I’ve been documenting this trip almost every day in a journal and I have my documentation from the van build, so I’d like to flesh this out more into the book I’m planning on writing (am writing!). My elevator-pitch definition is “it’s Eat Pray Love meets Nomadland”.

Fifth, I’m still excited and content to be on my own and to have my solitude, but I’d like it sprinkled with old friends and loved ones and a safe place to land for the summer.

And sixth, and probably most funnily, I am deserted out. I’ve seen enough desert to last me until next winter. This was punctuated by my visit to Death Valley National Park where, after a bare-knuckles drive up and down a mountain in gale force winds, I arrived at the entrance to see it is not 76 degrees like my weather app is saying for Death Valley National Park, but actually 96 degrees and the wind is so strong it is whipping everyone’s hair around and throwing sand in everyone’s eyes. Tents are flopped over. People are sitting protected by their RV’s from the wind in bathing suits or shirtless and remember RV’ers are mostly retirees. I had the windows open with the screens to try to have less sand in the van but still get a breeze, but the wind was so gusty that it wasn’t a steady breeze during the night, but big gusts of wind blowing my hair around my face and waking me up to remind me that the desert does cool off at night, but only in comparison to the daytime temperature. That was one of the worst nights of sleep I’ve had this trip!

So now I’m headed back towards North Carolina and am in Arizona at the moment. I’ve planned out most of my trip back to make sure I’m there by the end of April without having to petal to the metal it. I’ve figured out that I like a day of driving followed by a day of no driving where we can explore the area and get some good walks in. I’ve got just over three weeks to get back, so I should be able to explore a little bit on the way.

My trip will take me through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee. I look forward to seeing what I can of these states but I know, no matter what, I will not be able to do them justice. Even my two months in California was not enough. Maybe that’s number 7 on my list: planning my next adventure!

Ok everyone, take care of yourself and your mental health. Both of those are important!

Talk to you next week!

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Answering Your Questions!

Hey everyone! Yes, I’m still alive! I’ve just been in remote areas without cell phone coverage so I’m not able to post. If I was a professional, I could write these posts when I do have service and just schedule them to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but who am I to call myself a professional?

Anyway, I have spent the last few weeks still in California. In fact, I just crossed into Nevada today. As I said in the last post, California is absolutely beautiful and has so much to see, and there is no way I can see everything in one go. I entered California way down south near the Mexico border and snaked my way up the state to Shelter Cove which is in the north-west of California, on the coast. Then, I turned south and inland and have made my way down and east into Nevada.

Now that I have been two months traveling and about three months living in this van what have I learned? A lot. And I get asked a lot of questions about it, so I’ll try to answer some that you may have been wondering about.

Ok, let’s start with some important ones. Where do I get water? As you may or may not know, I have a 23 gallon water tank in the van hooked up to my kitchen faucet that I use for cooking and cleaning and general washing up. I usually fill it up when I stay at a campground, if the campground has that service, and most of them do. I have a hose I can hook up to their many spigots or I have a gallon jug I can fill it up with. When I haven’t been to a campground in awhile or I’ve been out wild camping where there is no water, I can use those Glacier water machines that are vending machines for water at like 25 cents a gallon at the local grocery store or Rite Aid or CVS or Walgreens or Dollar Store and they are everywhere in California. I’ve also asked to fill up at some of the wineries I’ve visited if I’ve been desperate. I’ve also asked at a gas station to fill up, in the beginning, before I figured out the campgrounds offer water. If worse comes to worse, which it never has for me yet, I could go to a store and buy a couple of gallons since I go through about two gallons a day, mostly for washing dishes.

Do I feel safe traveling alone? Yes, so far. Most other campers out there are retirees or families. When I stay out in the wild areas, I scout the area to make sure I feel safe and have a second option if I don’t feel safe. So far, I’ve stayed at three wild areas and they have been the best experiences, because they are quiet, you’re completely surrounded by nature and few people are around.

I do check reviews on campgrounds before I go and I try to find images so I have an idea what I’m getting myself into, and only once did I go to a campground where I had a couple of red flags and I circled through and left. Red flags: sketchy area of town, too many men hanging around, campground host didn’t have any teeth, spaces were too close to each other and the “nature” around was more like a city park. Not to slight anyone who doesn’t have teeth! It was just one too many bad things that I didn’t want to deal with.

Plus, I have Penny. She has good ears and an intimidating bark. She also looks a bit out of control if people see her (yes, she is a bit out of control!). She is a great companion in the van and on hikes. Her only drawback is barking at other dogs which lends to her out of control reputation!

Where do I eat? I mostly cook my food in the van. I think I’ve only eaten out a couple of times. It’s usually that I have to leave Penny in the van to go eat and either drive to where we’re staying or I walk back to the van and it’s so much more convenient to just cook in the van and save money and not worry about driving if I’ve had a glass of wine or cocktail. Not that I mind eating alone! Actually it’s enjoyable. I don’t sit at a table, I sit up at the bar. That way, you’re less on display and you can chit-chat with the bartender or other guests at the bar. It’s a less formal way to eat and you feel less self-conscience.

What are my costs? Gas, which is a big one now, but if I stay put in one place, it levels out. However, I feel in this trip, I’m mostly on the move. Camping fees, but also, if I stay at free places these costs level out. I’d say on this trip, I haven’t used the free camping as much as I will in the future because I was just figuring it out. Food. I spend about what I spent on groceries when I was living stationary. Activities. I bought a National Park annual pass, so I get into the national parks for free. I haven’t really been doing “activities” per se, more like touring the great geologic sites of the U.S. so these costs are minimal.

What do I do all day? If I’m not driving, I’m hiking. Penny and I have hiked a lot of areas and often get way over our 10,000 steps each day. Occasionally I go to a museum, or tour a winery. I do some reading. I do some writing. I watch movies on Netflix. I surf the ‘net. I have my laptop here so my evenings are pretty similar to before I started traveling.

Do I feel claustrophobic in the van? No. But, I can imagine if there were two people in here, it could get small quick. Penny and I have to work around each other, but she prefers to sit in the driver’s seat when we’re parked, so she is out of the way. Or she lays in her bed under the bench seat. Or she lays in my bed. We seem to have worked out personal space except on some hot nights when she wants to lay right next to me with her hot body!

Also, I’m not in the van a lot. If it’s nice outside, I’m sitting out there and most campgrounds have picnic tables so we sit out there or in folding chairs. We really are in the van after it gets dark and then the lounge is just so cozy it’s nice to snuggle in on the bench and watch a movie (currently binging Bridgerton!).

How is the van holding up? Surprisingly well! The electricity is 100% perfect. The plumbing is working except my shower pan cracked so I haven’t been using the shower lately. I’ve had to shower at campgrounds until I either epoxy the crack or replace the whole shower pan. Not sure yet on that solution.

The rest of the van is working and doing it’s job. Windows and fan and roof hatch are all good. Cupboards are good though I’ve had to fix a magnetic closure. Ceiling is still up. Cabinets are still up. Floor is still solid. I’ve had little bits of trim that have needed re-attaching or caulking, but nothing major, knock on wood. Nothing major has malfunctioned and nothing major has broken. So far, just little things mostly due to washboard roads or speed bumps!

Alright, so I don’t want this post to get too long, so I can answer some more questions next time. Just leave your questions in the comments and I’ll try to answer them.

Ok everyone, take care of yourself!

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Finding Balance

When Covid 19 hit us all, I had to change up the way I pay for this website. I used to rely on you purchasing clothing where I got a small commission (usually 10 cents up to 3 dollars). Now, I don’t want to encourage excessive consumption and I don’t want ads on my site, so I use a subscription service through Patreon.com and Patrons receive an extra post each week (well, most weeks) for $5/month. Thank you Patrons!

Hey everyone! Sorry I didn’t post last week. I was deep in the wilds of Northern California surrounded by King Range National Conservation Area and tall, wet, towering pine trees which means no cell service at all. It was beautiful and quiet, but remote and mountain-driving is not my favorite thing AT ALL. So, let me catch you up on life and some decisions I’ve made.

I did drive north through California and made it up to my farthest north and farthest west destination of Shelter Cove. The ocean is magnificent and the forests are so beautiful but the scary-ass roads with no guard rails, steep cliff drop-offs and locals who are zipping through them at 55 mph was not fun. Remember I’m driving a tall, long, loaded van and as I’m having to press on the gas more than I want to make it up a steep incline, I can hear pans falling out of the cupboard. As I’m hugging a cliff edge on a hairpin turn, my refrigerator opens up and jars of food are rolling around. Items that stayed in the frig, somehow had their lids removed and were dripping on the inside. I could smell what items were rolling around and leaking on the floor! Books fell out of the cupboards. My clothing drawers opened and closed and I could hear all of this while I was driving, but there was no place to pull over and fix things. Penny kept looking back and looking at me. Oh my gosh, what a mess it was! It’s funny now, but gosh was it nerve-wracking.

Anyway, I got to see this:

Yes, it’s ridiculously beautiful.

It felt like reaching Shelter Cove was symbolic because I then felt like I wanted to start making my way back home ( I know. Where’s that?). First back to North Carolina to see my sister and my mom and then onto Michigan.

My plan: I am going to go back and work at a winery or cidery or meadery in northern Michigan for the summer and either buy property to park on for the summer or rent a place to park. I just need to find a job and a place to live. That’s it. Easy peasy!

I was going to travel to Alaska, but I’ve met several other travelers who are planning that too because the borders have been closed and they said the campgrounds are filling up fast. I can tell already the campgrounds here are getting harder to book and more people are starting to travel. With two years of Covid, I expect there is a lot of pent-up demand to travel and I expect the roads and parks and campgrounds to be full. Penny and I don’t do well with crowds. We prefer quiet contemplation time, with no other dogs around.

This feels like the right decision for me, at this time. I’m missing friends and family and I’d like to put myself in close proximity to them so I can visit them easily and they can visit me easily. Plus, northern Michigan is perfect in the summer. Not too hot. Sunny. Not too many mosquitoes (my main criteria!).

I will save up some money and be ready to hit the road again in the fall. It will be a nice balance between being on the road and being settled for awhile I think. This trip has been so therapeutic for me and I feel I’ve got a better handle on what’s next. When I started this trip, all I could imagine was just getting on the road, as fast as possible. Now, I feel more at peace with my life decisions and I think taking a few months to settle in a beautiful place is the right choice. And I’ve got a new life mantra. As you know, I’ve been saying “It’s ok. I’m ok.” for a couple of years. Now, I say “I choose joy”. I think these decisions I’m making are going to support that new mantra.

If this plan works for me, I could see this being the schedule for the next couple of years. Who knows after that?!

So, I’ve got about a month left in this trip so I’ll head to southern California then through Arizona and head towards North Carolina. I’m not sure of the route, but I hope I don’t have to go through any mountains again, or if I do, on a major highway where I am not white-knuckling it and sweating out my shirt! Actually, that was yesterday when I visited Yosemite! And to add to that excitement, as I’m descending the mountain into Yosemite Valley, my brake light pops on saying I need to service my breaks soon! That got the heart racing! I pulled over and gave the brakes a break to cool down and when I turned the engine back on, the light had gone off. Thank goodness!

Alrighty, everyone, I’ll let you go. I should have cell coverage next week because I don’t think I’m going to be in any ravines, but really, who knows?

I’ll talk to you later. Take care until then!

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Face Your Fears! Even If You Don’t Want To!

This post is for Patrons who subscribe to this blog for $5/month. They help me pay for this site since I do not allow advertising because I find the pop-up ads really annoying. Thank you Patrons for keeping this ad-free for everyone!

That bench was my destination this morning on our walk

So, what have I been up to? Well, this van is making me face down all my fears! And I don’t mean stranger-danger or anything like that. I mean all my building doubts and uncertainties that I just pushed through last spring, summer and fall are forcing me to reckon with them! Can’t side-step them. Nope. Can’t hope they go away. Nope. They don’t heal themselves and I’m the only one who can or will be able to fix them. Face them!

Am I the only person who sees this deer in the parking lot? yep

You know this shower has been testing my nerves, right? From the beginning I knew it was a huge stretch of my skills, especially since I didn’t have good instructions to walk me through while I was building it out. But, I really wanted it, even though it was a luxury. All those leaks! All the frustration! Remember this fall when it gave me a huge mental block? Gosh, even just a week or two ago I was dealing with the cracked shower pan. Who even has a cracked shower pan? This shower tests me like nothing else.

Well, after the shower pan cracked, I was thinking of just giving up on a working shower until I got back to Michigan or North Carolina this spring. Back there I could take the time and fix everything. It is easy to just stay at a campground occasionally and just shower there, even though the temperature of the water is sometimes not that hot. They are usually pretty clean and I’ve been staying at campgrounds more than I thought I would.

Just some of the animals wandering this campground… a herd of cows….

This week, though, I thought I might tackle the shower and get it back up and working. I’m staying at a quiet, not busy campground with no close neighbors. I have a water faucet right next to my site which is super-convenient for filling up my water tanks and my shower water. The leak in the shower pan is fixed. I just needed to tip-toe through this fix so I wouldn’t awaken that mental mountain I had last fall.

A flock of turkeys……..

I first decided to empty all the water out of my tanks and clean my water filters. Done and done. I figured out how to fill up and drain the hot water tank. That was a big knowledge gap that I filled. I cleaned up the shower and drain so I wouldn’t be adding more dirt and dog hair into the filters than I had to. All this I did over the course of three days, so it wouldn’t be a big, scary project. Just a small tip-toe on Monday. Then a little tip-toe on Tuesday. Just so I wouldn’t let this fix grow into a big, scary, intimidating project.

….. A heron……

I decided to just add a few gallons of water to the water tank without filling up the hot water tank because I was nervous something would go wrong. This way I just filled up the tank and didn’t have to fiddle with the electrical wiring to get the water pump going. It’s not a big deal to do that, just another place I was afraid something would go wrong. And I was only dealing with half of the water and not the other half of the water that goes into the intimidating water heater.

Well, after I filled up the tank I decided to take Penny for a nice, long walk because she had been patiently watching me work while she was tied up to a picnic table (that sounds so white trash!). We were gone for about an hour and a half. As I was walking back, I kept thinking about what I was going to make for dinner because I was pretty hungry and was looking forward to putting my feet up because we had walked 6 miles that day and I was tired. Ha! I returned to water dripping out of the back of my van! In a place where there should be no dripping!

This bluebird……

One of the filters I had cleaned and put back on was not screwed on all the way and had been streaming water the whole time we were gone. Luckily, I have my electrical up above the floor and luckily the ridges of the floor kept the water streaming in just one direction, but it was one of my “what’s the worst that could happen” scenarios. And I lived through it. And the van lived through it. And we’re all ok.

PIgs! Egret! I’ve never seen so many animals in a campground before. I love it! That’s why I’ve stayed here all week.

I had to drain the tank of the water before I re-tightened the filter and sop up the water. Luckily, we’re in a pretty dry area with a dry wind blowing, so I think the moisture in the wood and in places I can’t reach under the floor will dry themselves out. Or I hope they will. The last time I flooded the van in December in North Carolina it dried itself out with just the heater and this amount of water was so much less.

So, now I’m deciding whether to tackle the shower again or give it a rest. I may have to wait on this repair until I feel more confident and resilient or until I forget about what happened. The latter may come sooner!

One day (mark my words!) I will have the most beautiful, warm, endless shower in the van. I will have forgotten all the early troubles with the shower, but will have the most intimate knowledge of every valve, pipe, hose, clamp in that water delivery system and will be able to troubleshoot and fix any shower anywhere! But, probably not this week.

I’m all about facing ones fears, but not all at once. Plus, that mental mountain that popped up this fall was the first time I’ve dealt with something like that, and I’m not in a hurry to recreate that scenario. This shower can wait.

Alright everyone, maybe next week I’ll be able to laugh at this episode as I take a hot shower in my van or maybe I will wait a couple of months. Either way, it’s not a big deal. I lived through my van flooding twice and coming “home” to water dripping out of the van and I’m still here. Compared to other people in the world, I’m having an easy week. I hope you all are having an easy week too and have a nice, easy weekend. I’ll talk to you next week.

Take care!

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Oh Beautiful California!

Hey everyone! How is everyone doing? I missed posting last week because I was at a campground, in a gorge, surrounded by towering redwoods and thus, had no cell signal. The beauty was worth the inconvenience though!

And what a beautiful world it is! As I travel around the U.S. I just keep remarking at all the beauty here. So many beautiful sunsets. Unbelievably gorgeous vistas. Interesting plants and animals. Crazy, hair-pin turns and interesting geological, historical and cultural sites. I feel like I’ve seen a lot, but I know it’s barely a drop in a bucket.

I am way over on the west side of the country now in California. And wow, this state has everything. Deserts. Redwood forests. Mountains. Beaches. Green rolling hills. Dusty ghost towns. Wine country. Cowboy country. Rattlesnakes, long-horned sheep, mountain lions, elephant seals, tarantulas, bald eagles, bears. Seriously, if I had to pick one state to live in, and let’s pretend I could afford it, I’d pick California. So much to see here.

Penny and I are traveling along just fine. We are now just over six weeks into this adventure and we have learned a ton about living out of a van and living on the road. It was a steep learning curve at first! So many things I had to figure out. But, I did it and I am much more comfortable flying solo here.

We have figured out that campgrounds are really full here in California on the weekends. We don’t do well with that, because one, we like quiet and privacy and two, Penny does not like other dogs around. Occasionally she meets a dog and they are fun to play with, but mostly she wants to bark at them as they walk by.

So, we go to campgrounds during the week, where there is hardly anyone, especially if you stay away from the coast. We’ve also figured out that taking a nice, long walk early in the morning before the other campers are up, is the best time for us. We really barely wait for the sun to come up before we are out hitting the trails.

The second best time to walk is like noon til three. That way the people who are leaving the campground have already left and the people coming in that day usually haven’t arrived yet, so it’s another quiet time. The only people hanging around are the people staying over another night and often they’re off doing things so they’re not even in the campground.

On the weekends we stay at a Harvest Host location. That way, it’s mostly uncrowded and quiet, though we don’t know until we arrive. Many of these hosts are just small mom and pop wineries (or farms or breweries or whatever) so they’re only open on weekends anyhow so they’re not even an option during the week. This has worked out perfect for us so far.

The restaurant had chairs and tables set up in the back for the Harvest Host guests and Penny made sure to avail herself to it all!

As you recall from here, the Harvest Host locations are usually someone’s home business that they let you park for free in exchange for visiting their business. Last weekend I even stayed at a restaurant that had a great set up for RV’s and had an excellent meal too. You can get 15% off a membership, so $79/year, here and maybe I’ll see you at one of them!

Right now, we are making our way through California and trying to see all the things. The van is running just fine. I did have to replace the fan in the toilet (yes, there is a fan blowing the compost smell outside) but I had brought extra b/c it seemed kind of cheapy and was slowly dying. And because I built this van, changing out a fan is no big deal!

I also added three plants to the van which make it seem so homey. Two of them are on the wall, but this one is velcro’d to the sink edge.

As much as I love California, I want to make sure I’m out of here before fire season, and how sad to even say that. However, I see fire scars all over this state. We went to a national park last week, Pinnacles, and looks like the fire got right up to the edge of the park. And a winery I stayed at last weekend had fire remains in the hills surrounding their home. It seems a bit scary to me, but is probably just another risk (like earthquakes) that the people take in stride.

I am not sure of where I’ll go after California, so give me your suggestions, and I’ll keep you all informed as long as I have cell phone service!

Take care everyone! The news is a lot right now, I agree, so make sure you’re taking care of your mental health too. Talk to you next week!

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Hiking Queen

Instead of relying on commissions or advertising to help me pay for this blog, I have subscribers, who, for $5/month get an extra post each week like this one. They are the reason you do not have pop up ads popping up as you read here. Thank you Patrons!

This is my view right now. I am charging up my solar power and finally found some ATT cell service here on the side of the road. Plus, I’m looking for whales because supposedly they travel up and down here in the winter.

So, hey Patrons! How is everyone doing? This Ukraine stuff is awful. I saw the video of the Ukrainian people giving a Russian soldier, who looked to be a teenager (and like my nephews) food and tea because he had not eaten in awhile. They let him use their phone to facetime his mom and when he saw her, he burst into tears. The Ukraine people around him assured his mother that he would be ok. I cried when I saw it and I’m crying now as I describe it. Really, haven’t we evolved past war as an option? Do we all really not realize that we are all the same? I hope this ends soon.

For me, the best place to deal with the awful things humans do to humans is in nature. So far this adventure has mostly been about finding beautiful places out in nature to camp and hike. I have not been disappointed. Yesterday, I hiked over 10 miles (!!!!!) but it was all inside the campground! It was a new place and I wanted to scope it out and find places to walk Penny where we don’t run into other dogs. Plus, I had to do laundry and find quarters and went looking for coffee and just dumb stuff like that and at the end of the day I had walked ten miles. That is about 25,000 steps!

Usually I’m right around 4-5 miles, which has been steadily increasing, but they are usually on trails like this:

As opposed to walking on paved roads, which we’ve done often because dogs aren’t usually allowed on the trails in state parks. It’s easier to walk on the paved roads, but less interesting and more opportunities for Penny to think about how much she misses chasing cars.

I am feeling fitter and my legs seem stronger. I’m certainly more active than if I was in Michigan right now because the temperatures are so cold and dealing with ice and snow. It is definitely easier to be healthier when you live where the weather is nice all year round.

I have been staying out in more remote areas lately, and haven’t stayed at a winery in almost two weeks. That is good and bad. I’ve been saving money not buying the wine but it’s a nice place to chit-chat with people about traveling and stocking up my “wine cellar” (a box that holds 6 bottles!).

The flower Alyssum grows wild here

This weekend though, I’m staying at an olive farm, so I’m hoping to get some delicious olive oil, a winery and a restaurant’s parking lot. I have yet to eat out at a restaurant and this one looks like they will bring the meal to your vehicle even. Oh, I hope so! I’m a good cook but I’m getting sick of always cooking for myself.

After that, I’m not sure. I don’t want to head too far north because I don’t want to get into cold weather. I can always stay near the coast, but that’s where all the people are. I could head inland to another desert climate, and I do want to check out Death Valley, so we’ll see. It’s kinda exciting not knowing where I’m going next and a little bit nerve wracking too. I guess I’m figuring out how much I want planned and how much I want to just wing it.

I’m really looking forward to visiting Napa and Sonoma. The only thing that’s weird there, is that there is only one winery that hosts RV’s overnight like what I’ve been doing. Plus, there is hardly any camping locations. I was thinking of maybe leaving my van (and Penny) in a campground and doing a wine tour with a driver or on something like a wine bus. I’m not sure. That could be fun or horrible, depending on the people I’d be with.

I don’t want to drive the van around while visiting wineries, actually I wouldn’t want to drive anything around, so I’m not sure yet how to visit them. It’s so nice being able to just park at the winery and not worry about driving. I’m sure I’ll figure something out. I certainly have a lot of motivation to figure it out!

It’s been awhile since this boat has had water to float around in

Alright everyone. I’m going to head back to the campsite because my batteries are almost all filled and I’ve gotten internet stuff done. My campground is really pretty but it’s in a gorge, surrounded by tall trees, so there is just no sun or cell service. It has forced me back to reading two books I had started but hadn’t finished so it’s all good.

And I did find a sweet little plant for my last hanging planter I showed you last week. It is a tiny thing, so I hope it can survive van living!

I hope when I talk to you next, Ukraine is no longer being attacked and everything is safe. Isn’t it interesting how war has pushed pandemic out of the headlines? Oh, to live in interesting times…….. Ok, take care everyone and I’ll talk to you next week!

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What Do I Do All Day?

Covid 19 forced me to make some changes on how I pay for this blog. I could not rely on commissions and I definitely did not want to have advertisements popping up all over this site. I decided to add paid monthly subscriptions and for $5/month subscribers get an extra post, like this, each week. Thank you Subscribers!

So Bettye, ever the provacateur, asked what do I do every day besides drive. Well, LOL, it really depends on the day, but driving is a big part of it, but there is other stuff too. Like:

I was on the hunt for two plants to add to my van. I bought two pretty pots last week, which had been my previous hunt, and yesterday I found two nice plants. I potted one yesterday, but the one below is too big for the pot and I don’t want to force it into a too small pot, so I’m on the lookout for a tiny one and then I have to figure out a place and pot for this one because it is coming with me. Big decisions! They add so much homey-ness to the van and they make me smile.

I am on the scout for the perfect little plant for this pot now

I fix things. Now that my building skills are being put to the test daily, I am finding some weaknesses in my van. Like, the wood above the lounge. It fit together perfectly in humid Michigan so I didn’t need to screw every piece of wood into the metal. However, in the dry desert, the wood no longer fits perfectly and has fallen down in several places so every piece got screwed in tightly.

Some of my skills just weren’t professional-grade so I’ve had to re-visit them. Like this piece of wood:

It looked good and I had it glued oh so carefully to the roof, but when I stuff things in this “linen closet” and drag things out, it sometimes pulls on the wood and the glue just wasn’t strong enough. I now have “glued” it up with caulk. We’ll see how long that lasts….

And speaking of caulk, my shower pan cracked so I have been caulking it with a layer each day to get it water proof again. The pretty, but destructive, teak bath mat caused the crack, so it is jettisoned from the van. Too bad. It really elevated the shower. But, now I have an extra inch of head room in the shower.

Goodbye teak bath mat

A fun, new thing I get to figure out today is how to unclog a sink. Coffee grinds have become my biggest headache. If I put them in the trash, they often leak. Some people put them in their composting toilet but I find they scatter themselves around the toilet bowl and really become a mess. I’ve tossed them into bushes and vegetation, but in deserts and populated campgrounds, people frown on that. So, a lot of grinds end up in the sink and clog it.

Yesterday I tried the boiling water remedy and the baking soda and vinegar remedy. Neither worked. I found a Home Depot and got a plastic drain thingy that you stick down the drain and it’s supposed to pull up hair and gunk but it didn’t work either. So, today, I get to remove the water out of the sink by hand and disassemble the drain. Wish me luck!

And because I’m often dealing with water leaking from the shower and now, from soaking up the water in the sink, I often am trying to get my work towels dry. I don’t want to put them in my dirty clothes hamper wet, and sometimes I need to use them everyday because my shower leaks while I drive, so I try to get them dried out while we’re parked somewhere.

I also need to screw this back in:

This is the magnet that keeps the cupboard closed but the wood it’s attached to somehow unscrewed itself. I will have to remove the contents of the cabinet to re-screw this because it will be an awkward angle with the drill.

I also grocery shop, get gas, fill up my water tank, find places to empty my pee container, do laundry and try to keep the van clean-ish.

Penny and I do hike every day, usually around 4-5 miles and that is a big part of our day and a high priority because that’s how we explore and see so many things.

I do spend a lot of time researching where we are going to be spending the night. I try to have this ready a couple of days ahead of time so I have somewhat of a plan, but now that I’ve been doing this for over 4 weeks, I’m getting better at recognizing what will work for us and how to reserve it and get there more efficiently. Like, right now, we’re wild camping on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management, not Black Lives Matter!) which is only the second time we’ve done that. I am getting braver!

eye candy

I’m also journaling all this and working on my book. I’ve decided to add some more purpose to my days, so just yesterday, I’ve decided to add sketching to help document this journey. I take so many pictures and they are all beautiful, but so many times a photo doesn’t capture it all, so I’m going to try sketching it as well. This feels like a really good direction to go in, I think.

more eye candy

So, that’s what I do with my day. I’m not sure if it will get easier or harder. I’m just figuring this out one day at a time.

Ok, everyone. Take care. Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll talk to you next week!

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