Guide dog, family pet, best friend, and lastly, our constant travel companion over these past two years. Goodbye sweet Pia. May your spirit soar high and free sweet girl. Your missed!
She was 14 ½ years strong and lived an amazing life!
A few memories of her life on the road. (Click through for enlarged versions.)
It’s a rainy, dreary, cold Sunday morning when we finally leave Santa Cruz, heading to San Luis Obispo.
But yet, the feeling is there. The open road calling.
Freedom, intrigue, anticipation, and wonder. We have no plans, but to be in SLO to get the van into the mechanic on Tues. We aren’t sure which way we are going to drive, or where we are going to stay, not even thinking it is a three day weekend.
We have until Monterey to decide.
After so much busyness the past few months, being on the road in a sense feels like being set free.
Just before Montery, we detour to Moss Landing State Beach, watching the sights through the mist from the protection of our van. This little sea otter doesn’t mind the weather. I wonder, does he/she know it’s an El Nino year? Did it do anything different to prepare?
These folks must for sure know it’s an El Nino year. Yet they are out in the elements enjoying themselves.
Already, we are starting to notice our surroundings more…see the details, smell the scents, and breathe in the air.
Back and forth we go, processing our options. Along the coast or inland. Meander or push straight through. Get the van to the shop, or take a chance of a breakdown along Highway 1. (Never a good idea.) Fred’s feeling confident about the van, the sun peeks out just a bit, and we go the coast route.
It’s a good choice. The ocean is calm, after a week of huge waves and super high tides. Nothing too eventful happens, no whales, no gorgeous clouds, no magical unicorns on surfboards, and thankfully no breakdowns. Just the serene ocean. That’s ok.
Even fog and mist so thick at times, you could cut it seemed ok. Floating on a travel high.
We pass the day this way, stopping here and there, noticing all the traffic, reminding us finally that it is Martin Luther King’s b-day holiday. Before dark, we arrive at Plasket Creek Campground. It’s fairly crowded for a rainy day, but we find a spot off to the side, away from the big RV’s and party crowds.
We meet a nice young couple lusting for a van like ours. Then another nice young couple strolls by stopping for a chat, while inspecting our ride. It’s always fun, for us “older folks” getting high fives from the younger crowds that flock to Volkswagens and drool with envy over owning one themselves. Someday…we tell them.
Monday the clouds lift a bit, and we stop by to visit again with the “Big Ones” at Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery.
Even the Elephant Seals are sedate. No fighting amongst the bulls, not too much irritation among the new moms, and babies just lying hither and thither. We are about a month earlier this year, than when we were here last year, so it isn’t quite mating season yet. Or maybe they are tired from the ravaging surf of last week. Or maybe it’s the “El Nino” effect.
I didn’t know you could tell when an Elephant Seal was getting ready to give birth, but this lady really looks like she is bursting at the seams! Her last moments of peace and calm perhaps?
There’s lots of love going on between other mom’s and babies!
Bonding together only to separate in just a short month or so. Is it hard for them?
This mom had a fresh newborn, and was definitely telling everyone to stay back!
And this sweet matron here below. She is being so zen, practicing her yoga poses with no cares in the world. She must be getting ready for her own journey out into the wild blue yonder. Or perhaps she is breathing deeply before her own little babe comes into the world.
It’s that Peaceful Easy Feeling…all over again. ❧
Well hey there. It’s been over 6 months since posting on this blog.
So as is due, a quick catch up and then on to some reflections.
When we left off last June, we had arrived in Idaho to our rental house which had been trashed and defaced.
Although I could write a book just on that summer experience, let’s just say, that after being on the road for so long, we actually enjoyed our summer stay and all the hard work. We set up our camp inside the house (after lots of initial cleansing) and put our energy into creating something Beautiful from something that wasn’t.
Thinking back a few years ago, one of our initial goals when we set out on the road was that we wanted to travel for long periods, then to temporarily stay put in a community for a few months or so to get to know the local favors. Then this past summer we were forced into doing that very thing which we desired. Funny how the world works.
Now here we are into 2016 already!
Blessed with a new grandson in November, we are spending the winter months back in California, where we can be around the new baby and new parents, as well as enjoying the rest of our family.
We’ve had two house-sits to break up the winter, (and our van-stays) which were fantastic, both times taking care of lovey homes and lovely pets for wonderful people.
But really, it’s always so cozy to return to our little van home.
At years end, I spent time re-visiting this blog, and going through literally thousands of photos I’ve taken over the past two years.
I am amazed! And feel so blessed. And so unbelieving of all the incredible places we’ve traveled to, and all the beautiful experiences we’ve had traveling around in this little white van.
I have so many fond memories of gorgeous sunsets, amazing wildlife, ancient cultures, strange trees, bizarre inclement weather, solitary vistas, interesting people of so many different sorts, balloons in the air, red red rocks, birds of all colors, mile high camping, prehistoric looking animals, and on and on.
I think I could ramble on to eternity here, but I’ll spare whoever is reading this for the moment, and just say it’s a life worth living! The times of feeling homeless, and worries of where to sleep for the night, well yes, there are challenges. But life is a challenge meant to be met head on, conquering fears, daring to be different, willing to try new experiences.
So thankful for the opportunity to make these choices. So thankful for all that has come our way these past few years.
In honor of those memories and a longing to make more in the future, I’m reposting some of my favorite photos of some of my favorite places.
Thanks to those who have traveled along with us through this blog. Hoping that there will be much more to come in the future.
Peace and Good Cheer as we roll along into 2016!
While still waiting for some final parts for our Van, we decided to take a little bird watching expedition.
We drove over to Lodi, to the Isenberg Crane Reserve, in the central valley of California, in search of our friends the Sandhill Cranes.
We had encountered these beautiful birds across the northwest this past summer on our travels, then found them again in New Mexico in the fall as they began migrating south for the winter.
Sandhill Cranes are really fun to watch. They have a very happy almost laughing cry that echoes throughout the fields and skies. They are extremely vocal, making them easy to at least hear, if not see. They fly overhead in huge numbers at a time, in graceful flight, as they come and go to bodies of water.
At sunset they all come into a shallow body of water where they spend the night in large numbers – for safety away from the lands edge and predators.
At sunrise they all take off and scatter, spending their days in grasslands such as these or in farmers fields, while feeding and socializing.
Soon they will start their courtship rituals, which involve dancing, flapping, and jumping around to entice a mate for long lasting relationships.
Although we came for the Sandhills, we also saw many other wading birds, such as these beautiful Snowy Egrets.
And their shyer cousin, the Green Heron, caught with his crest raised! These herons are almost always hidden in the tangles they are so perfectly camouflaged for, so seeing him and his raised crest was a great treat!
There were diving birds, such as this common American Coot, who I learned is actually more closely related to the Sandhill Crane than it is to a duck.
A not too shy Northern Mockingbird with it’s ever cheerful personality spent the afternoon with us, while we ate our lunch.
And a few standbys such as this cute shot of an American Robin, always close at hand.
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The thing with watching birds…is that you also find yourself getting to see some nice sunrises and sunsets too! A nice little bonus!
Unfortunately, Lodi, didn’t have much to offer in the camping department.
So back to Santa Cruz we headed, spending a day in Monterey in between. A nice respite, while waiting and waiting for parts.
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First off…Thanks so much to all those who are actually following this blog. I really started it to just kind of keep track of our travels and post a few photos, but you guys do add an element of companionship to our trip, AND it keeps me on my toes to try to capture a few good shots.
Secondly, I really do want to check out and read more about what everyone else is up to, and I hope to soon spend some long winter days and evenings, perusing and catching up on all your beautiful blogs. I’ve tried to at least peek at most of them.
The truth is being always on the go, leaves very little internet time. I’m always way behind on posting, and having both a wi-fi connection AND electricity to keep the computer powered up at the same time is very rare.
It’s a lot of work to travel, sightsee, hike, take pictures, load them onto the computer, keep everything charged up, and still have time to eat and enjoy reading a few good books.
We’ve been on the road now for almost seven months. We are still pretty amazed about that.
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We’ve stopped over for three days at a sweet forest service campground called Target Tree in southern Colorado. It’s nice to have a home base for awhile, however short that while is. We are about to check out Mesa Verde National Park, AND get some new tires put on the little white van, so we rest up by taking a hike straight up the mountain today.
Just a few simple shots of nature along the way.
It really is about the Journey. ❧
The scenery has been awesome, the rocks, the desert, the animals and wildflowers have all been amazing! But really what fills in the story, what creates the colorful background to our trip are the people we meet along the way.
For instance, back in Moab after having finished a delicious brunch affair at the Peace Tree Cafe, we were walking around town when I spotted a yarn store I had to go into. Really I HAD to go in. The owner of the store was a wonderfully sweet women with her 8 month old baby girl. After chatting awhile, the first thing I noticed was the local fiber producers, and one in particular…a co-ETSY seller, who I had previously bought a few fiber braids from. It is those type of surprise connections that make traveling so interesting.
When I finally finished with my fiber and yarn fixation, I returned outside to find Fred talking to a couple with a VW Rialta. Not only did this couple at one time live in the Santa Cruz area, this couple knew MY BROTHER!!! I mean, seriously, the U.S. is a big place. And Moab, Utah is a long way away from Santa Cruz, California.
O.K…still not enough. When we finally got back to the Keevan, parked next to it was another white VW loaded down with cargo carrier, surfboards, firewood, bicycles…(and that’s just on the outside.) Fred and I looked at each other thinking this van looked familiar, and sure enough, when we spotted the stickers, we both knew we had again run into Cory and Emily from “Where’s my Office Now?”
The one and same couple we met in the middle of the desert south of Sedona, Arizona a month ago. Now here in front of a natural food store in Moab, Utah, we meet again.
Crazy, small, forever entwining world it is!
There’s been so many kind and interesting people we’ve met in campgrounds, in the parks, along turnouts, while dispersed camping, and in coffee shops and cafe’s.
There was the couple in Prescott that kindly told us that the YMCA in town would allow us each to take a one time free shower. On that particular day, that was the best gift we could imagine! Then every day for a week, we shared news on trails and hikes we each experienced. We compared camper van notes, retirement thoughts and art pursuits.
Then there was the sweet couple that gave us a huge bag of home-grown tangerines off their cherished tangerine tree back in San Diego, and then really encouraged us in our newfound love of birdwatching! They shared information about field guides, binoculars and good birding places to go.
The Colorado two traveling with their cats, shared so much info about Arizona, kayaks, good restaurants, archeological ruins, cultural studies, etc. and then invited us to visit and camp out at their high elevation homestead back in Colorado.
The fun-loving VW driving, margarita swinging couple we shared a campfire with for a few nights, and lots of VW stories!!
And my favorite, the Vita-Mix toting green smoothie girl wonder and her fabulous wood-working partner with a VW to envy all the way to Italy for an awning with a easy open crank handle. We really envied that awning, they really envied our solar panels. They also welcomed us to camp on their property.
There was the young couple with a 9-month old baby AND a 2 month old Great Dane puppy…all camping around in their VW. That was a LOT of CUTE!!!
And so many more stories.
See, it’s really not all just about rocks in the desert. These are the real people that are making this adventure so much fun.
Thanks so much to all of you who have shared so much.
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Since I’m becoming quite behind in this blogging thing, I’m now adding accurate travel dates to the posts, as the posting dates seem to run about a week behind. Since I am doing this sort of as a reference, it seems like the weather should at least be when it really happened, instead of like the snow falling in the middle of June or something, when it actually fell in May…
May 12, 2014
We left Lee’s Ferry campground taking a scenic route into Utah through Jacobs Lake. We again decide to forgo the Grand Canyon, since the road to the North Rim (where we are now) doesn’t open for another three days, and we are anxious to get into Utah.
At the junction of our turnoff, we see this cute laundry, and needing to do some, stop in for a quick wash and dry, before heading out.
And this was next door!
It can’t get any better than being able to take showers, while the clothes are washing. Little did we know that 95% of the washing machines didn’t work, and 98% of the dryers were inoperable. And that the washers were sort of antiques and took forever…and the dryers took even more forever…
But oh well, while there we met two lovely ladies who were about to embark upon a six day river rafting trip down the Colorado. These ladies had been friends for over 30 years, have lived in different states for over 20 years, and decided to venture out together for this once in a lifetime trip together. They were awesome!!
We shared stories, histories, and soon photos and videos of our grandchildren. I can’t remember the names, but I’m sure they had a fantastic trip down the river, and have many many memories to share and take back to their families.
Hours later…we continue winding away from the Vermillion Cliffs, and head up to higher elevations. Much higher!
Those of you who know Fred, know he’s not much of a shorts kind of guy. In fact our kids have probably never seen this picture of their dad. So it’s pretty ironic, he decides to finally put on shorts…and we come across this. More snow. (O.k., he did just wash his two pair of jeans – which maybe explains it.)
Pia, on the other hand, rather enjoyed the snow.
We made it to Jacob Lake, at almost 8,000 feet, just as it was about dark, and the one and only campground wasn’t open yet. It obviously opens the same day as the Rim Road to the Grand Canyon. Anyway, we found a nice forest road that wasn’t too muddy, spotted a wide area, and pulled over, popped the top and yay…turned on the heater!!!
You see, our Eurovan has a propane heater with a built in thermostat, which we’ve enjoyed quite liberally with all this cold weather.
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Keevan Soul 