Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ

March 9th, 2012- The wind rocked our camper all night long……Much more secure feeling, however, than when we were last here in the pop-up camper! Woke up this morning to 33 degrees and the wind still BLOWING! It seemed like a good morning to skip Jade’s walk (except for the ‘necessities’), and just hitch up and head on……

A shorter drive (280 miles) today, and really beautiful….through Silver City, and along Hwy 70/60…….Great scenery and the wildflowers carpeted the desert with yellow and gold and red and purple. By the time we arrived at Lost Dutchman State Park, the wind had quieted a bit, and temps were nicely warm.

Lost Dutchman SP was named for the Dutchman’s (actually a German miner) gold mine that was lost, not the Dutchman. The State park is just off Hwy 60, east of Chandler, AZ. It is about a 40 min drive into Sarah & Jason’s.

This is our 3rd time to stay at Lost Dutchman…….and we were able to get our favorite site. We are right in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains…….

With a nice picnic area, that backs up on an open expanse of desert.

This time of year, the desert is really lovely…….greener…and somehow, softer……

With birds (this is a  Phainopepla, a member of the fly-catcher family), quail, rabbits and more darting around the campsite.

We settled into our site….then drove on over to Sarah and Jason’s for the evening.

City of Rocks

March 8, 2012 – We woke up this morning to 46 degree temps and the wind howling…….20-30 mph sustained, with 40+ mph gusts……Oh man…..I really hate this wind! It does more than just unnerve…..In a very practical way it makes ordinary things so much more difficult. Opening the truck door or camper door – holding on tight to make sure that it doesn’t get away from you. Walking head down to keep your hat from blowing off……leaning into the wind to keep from being blown over! And at 46 degrees….it chills……

The wind blew this way all day…….buffeting our truck and camper as we headed west towards El Paso, then on to New Mexico. Our destination for the night – City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico – just north and west of Deming.

By the time we arrived (about 2:30pm Mountain time), we were both a bit ‘edgy’ and wore out. Our first order of business ….. fix a cup of Starbucks instant caramel coffee (really yummy!), and just sit down (in the camper and out of the wind) and relax.

When the wind seemed to have settled down just a bit, we stepped out to take a walk. Jade has been a good encouragement for getting out…...despite the weather.  

City of Rocks is an interesting collection of boulders…….

Set amongst this desert landscape……

The rocks, creating interesting formations…….

Grouped together, like buildings in a city.

It felt good to spend an hour walking about……and good to be back, safe and secure in our camper, listening to the wind whistle around us.

Shifting Sands……

March 7, 2012 – Another good traveling day. On the road by a little after 8 am…..with a very nice (quiet and scenic) stretch of highway before we joined back up with I 20. Next time we head to Phoenix, we will have to drive there by way of all secondary roads…..something one can do when traveling ‘slowly’.

Just as we joined back up with I 20 at Abilene, TX, we chanced to see a little white Casita just up ahead. Yep, it was my sister, Joann, who is traveling in this same direction, but has been stopping at different points along the way. What a nice surprise to run into her.   : )

We pulled into Monahans Sand Hills SP about 2:30 pm. The wind was gusting and the temperature climbing to 80 degrees.

We set up the camper, then settled in the shade, to wait for the sun to get a bit lower before we set out exploring.

We hiked up the sand dunes behind our campsite. I could just picture kids having a ball in this giant sand box! One can even rent ‘discs’ to sled down the dunes! But there were no kids…..and few other people in the campground.

Though there is a beauty and peacefulness to this landscape, I find myself feeling a bit  melancholy…….

And the ever present west Texas wind sets this Louisiana girl on edge……..

I find myself thinking about shifting sands……..

the ever changing patterns and ripples…….

Of things buried….and things uncovered……..

And the rhythms of life……..

A full moon seems ‘made to order’ for my mood…….

Hitting the Road………

          

March 6th, 2012 - After what has seemed like months of anticipation and getting ready, today has finally arrived! We hitched up the Airstream and hit the road. We are off on our next 'great adventure’ – a trip that is planned to take us from visiting daughter Sarah in Arizona, to meeting up with my sister and our traveling friend at the Grand Canyon in April, through the Utah National Parks, then on to California for oldest daughter Laura’s graduation from Berkeley Law school in May. From there, we will head up the west coast through Northern California, Oregon and Washington. Since we will be ‘so close’, we decided that we would drive on up to Alaska to spend the Summer, enjoying a ride up the Inside Passage on the Alaskan Ferry along the way.

Preparations for this trip have been extensive. If all goes as we planned, we may be gone until sometime in September, making this a 7 month trip – our longest yet. We worked on our plans a little bit at a time, making reservations where we felt like we would need them along the way. It has been fun researching each of the places that we want to visit.

This trip has also given us a good excuse to get several projects finished at home. Fred finished re-siding the barn/workshop, and built a shed roof extension to protect his tractor. I have been busy sorting out, cleaning and organizing the house stuff. Nothing like the feeling of coming home to a tidy place! 

Preparations done…..and goodbyes said…….the day finally came!   We got on the road this morning about 9 am. We had promised ourselves that we would not get in such a hurry that we would feel that we forgot something. Thanks to a penchant for list making, we managed to leave with a good, relaxed feeling - well....as relaxed as one gets when leaving on a trip.     : )

We decided to take the drive to Phoenix at a leisurely pace, taking 3 nights on the road. The drive this first day was easy, and we got to Mineral Wells SP (just west of Ft. Worth, TX) about 3:45pm. We got set up  without a problem..... and are feeling comfortably at home in the camper. All is well.    : )

We have a new addition to our travels. Our son, Brian’s dog, Jade is staying with us for a while, so she is coming along on our travels. Jade travels well, and doesn’t mind riding in the truck, where she has a very nice cushy mat. After we had gotten all settled in at Mineral Wells, we took Jade out for a nice walk around the campground. She loved that! So many different and new smells! As I write, she is settled on her ‘cozy spot’ in the camper.

         

We have had a good first day on the road. Our thanks, to all of you who keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

A note for those who are new to my blog – I will try to write of our ‘adventures’, and, of course, post pictures, as often as time and internet connections will allow. That means that my posts are often written up, then ‘published’ when I have an internet connection, and may run several days to a week behind. Don’t let the post dates throw you off.  I schedule the blogs to post each day at 5 am - an arbitrary time I picked to catch everyone who likes to read my blog before work.

Please join us on our travels…….And, please feel free to ‘comment’ on a blog post, or email us. We love hearing your thoughts…….

Sue and Fred

A Week of ‘Goodbyes’………

It is always hard to say ‘goodbye’……..This week we took the time to visit with family and friends, neighbors and Church community, and say goodbye before we head out on our next trip. As I write that, I am struck by the fact that we so often go about our life without really making the time to visit and appreciate those closest to us.

This week, we cherished our family and friends……having one last lunch at Mom’s with my sisters and a couple of dear family friends. We ate…we talked…..not about anything in particular…..then we said ‘goodbye’ with hugs all around. It was hard to leave……

So too, in visiting with our friends…….we shared conversations……some meaningful….some, just sharing a moment…..but all, an attempt to say a heartfelt ‘goodbye’ or ‘see you soon’…..’keep in touch’ and most importantly…’we will miss you’. 

Leaving, so often, brings a new perspective……..We see the things around us with new eyes. The Spring is prettier…the flowers brighter…..relationships, so much more important.  We study  everything a bit more, trying to make memories…….knowing that we are leaving, makes home all the more precious.

This feeling……this renewed appreciation for life……is one that I want to hold on to.

February Daffodils

February……in Louisiana, it is not quite Spring…..but the daffodils are blooming, providing a bright splash of color in the landscape. My mind drifts in and out of my usual February funk……

Daffodils – always a symbol, for me, of the cycles of life…….of dying and rebirth…..and of mood……of dormancy and creativity……of heaviness and lightness……of color in contrast to winter starkness……

February -  a time of transition…..when the wet, rainy cold (or at least uncomfortably cool) gives way to the warmer promise of Spring……but it is elusive, transient and always shifting. February, for me, is about living in the the ‘not quite’…….

And those February birthdays……a celebration of life…..but a clear reminder of time passing…..another year come and gone……

And death…the February anniversaries of deaths and the birthdays of loved ones who have died…..

All of these thoughts, mix in my mind……mood as changeable as the weather……

This February, we are living the ‘not quite’ – as it is ‘not quite’ time to head off on our next trip….not quite time, even to get packed up. Not quite time to say goodbye……And I find myself, as in each year at this time, trying to make peace with the February blues.

I picked up a book that I had read several times before, “No More Words” by Reeve Lindbergh…..a journal of  her caretaking of her mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh (wife of Charles Lindbergh) in the last years of Anne’s life. It is a book that speaks to transitions with warmth and humor and insight. And I am reminded, in this book, of the importance of the “Right here, Right now” ….a Buddhist meditative practice….of breathing in and breathing out…right here…..right now……and trying to stay focused on being fully present in the moment. Never as easy as it sounds……

And, while sorting through my books, I came upon a card that I had been using as a bookmark that has a quote which strikes me…….”Life is not a problem to be solved, but reality to be experienced”  - Kierkegaard.     I can’t get this out of my head….I stick the card on the ‘fridge, sure that it holds some clue to this February mood; and in it I find a measure of absolution.

This week, Fred and I chose to step off the treadmill of life, (literally, as we blew off our gym routine) in favor of more leisurely, conscious time spent enjoying the here and now.  We slept in, ate good breakfasts, instead of the usual cereal….in fact, made a point of enjoying tasty food for each meal…..and decided to consciously savor life.  We embraced our life at the cabin, setting aside the usual routines; letting each experience be fully felt and cherished. On pretty days, we worked outside, and on rainy days, we cuddled on the sofa, warm and dry, and counted our blessings. On one day, we drove up to El Dorado, Arkansas to visit the cemetery where Fred’s parents and grandparents are buried, then ate at a favorite sandwich shop downtown and talked about all the times Fred had visited El Dorado as a boy.  We spent the week together and talked of life and death, of time and transitions, of love and family and the ‘leave-takings’ of our life. We spent time visiting with family and celebrating.

Another quote….this one from Anne Morrow Lindbergh….”To leave, is to die a little”…… And I know that I am thinking about our up-coming trip and how difficult it is to say goodbye……to our family here….to our beloved cabin……to our church group and friends…..and then to our kids, as we will see them for all to briefly a time, then have to say goodbye again.

I think that it is our human tendency to protect ourselves from the sadness of ‘goodbye’ by getting busy with the everyday things that occupy us. We put up walls and keep a distance……yet, this week, as we immersed ourselves in the fullness of our life, I felt that it was easier, somehow to let go……that the experiences felt more ‘whole’….more complete…..and I felt more at peace. Being fully present made the upcoming ‘goodbye’ seem a bit easier. Perhaps this is what was missing with those relationships which I grieve in February….a sense of completeness…. a feeling that the relationship had not been fully lived and appreciated.

My thoughts come back to the daffodils, and the recurring cycles of life…….

Our relationship with a person does not end with their death, nor is it unchanging. These relationships might lie dormant in our thought and feelings, then spring forth, anew, in their season….sometimes with a familiar regularity (as February is for me)….other times, at random…. We are able to experience these relationships from a new perspective…. in a way, re-experiencing the person with the present-ness and focus of the ‘right here, right now’ …..and, in doing so, we create a new reality…..a greater sense of completeness.

For my part, I am going to try to remember to live more ‘intentionally’,  to spend more of my time fully feeling and cherishing my life …. good and bad, happy and sad, with all of the comings and goings. And I will pick a bouquet of flowers and bring them inside to cherish, however briefly, without thought of their dying……and I will be brave enough to be open to life……to feel…..right here…..right now…….

The Hawk

The other morning, as we were just getting back from the gym, we spotted this Red-Shouldered Hawk perched on our garden fence post. He had just swooped down in the garden, and had snatched up a bit of breakfast (a frog, I think). I scooted into the cabin to get my camera, and quietly stepped out on the porch to take some pictures. The hawk seemed unconcerned, as he continued with his meal (OK, I know it’s a bit gruesome, but fascinating to watch wild creatures).

We watched until our hawk had finished, and then he flew back into the woods. We often see the hawks flying overhead, or perching high in a tree, or zipping into the woods around our cabin, but this is the first time that we were witness to the hunting/feeding behavior….and a bonus to be able to get pictures!