1 August 2023, Day 440

What an interesting time I have had since leaving Maine on 1 June. 

Since then, I have driven, mostly on country roads & secondary highways from Maine into & through Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana.  Am now in San Antonio, Texas for awhile visiting my Sister & her family.

I’ve car &/or tent camped in remote forest pull-outs, a Walmart parking lot & State Parks in every state, except Maine.  

People along the way have demonstrated a wide-range of welcoming & kindness. 

I have had some ‘miracle moments’ in the most unlikely circumstances & places with animals, Nature & humans. 

In all, these 2 months have been challenging (especially with now more than 35 consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures); rewarding (stories to come); & instructive (will share some of what I am learning now & in future RTCs).

I am leaving San Antonio in another 6 days.  This has been a blessed respite from the heat of days here & where I am headed.  If I were to wait for cooler weather, it’d be September before I would travel again.

New Mexico is beckoning me – as a place to settle in for awhile & to work, live, have some fun, reconnect with the energies I was ‘born into’ this lifetime & explore the beauty of this state.

Eventually, I imagine returning to live in Wyoming, though not until I have explored The Rockies to my heart’s content on this leg of my journey.

As I’ve been traveling, I have met some extraordinary people.  One of these experiences happened in a very remote location in Alabama.   Just as I finished fueling my car, someone pulled on my shirt sleeve.  Fortunately, I must have been feeling ‘safe’ as I didn’t react other than to turn in the direction of ‘the tug’. 

There .. I found a slim, short woman, with sparkling blue eyes, who looked ageless (closer to ‘pretty old’ than ‘ageless young’ in her way of being) grinning toothlessly at me.  She spoke in ways portrayed in films as ‘hillbilly’.  A hat was on her head & she wore a blue work shirt, jeans & boots.

She said, ‘Are you REALLY from Wyoming?’  I answered that I lived there long ago & was planning to live there again which is why my license plates are from Wyoming.   She then said, ‘My!  You are a LONG way from home!’  ‘Yes’, I replied with a grin.  ‘Well, welcome to Alabama!’, said she, warmly with heart-felt enthusiasm.

‘You have the prettiest eyes I have ever seen!’  (How I answered that I do not know.) 

‘Are you staying here for a while?’  ‘No. I am heading to Texas to see my Sister.’ 

‘Well, now .. you come back here someday & spend some time with us in Alabama, ya hear?’  

Then, off she went.  Leaving me feeling as if I’d been ‘touched by an angel’. 

I had some stereotypical moments in ‘The South’ & some sacred moments too.  Some, like the sparkly-eyed woman in Alabama, were with people.  Others with Nature.  

These are my first travels through the Southern States.  What extraordinary natural beauty I drove through.  Oh my goodness.  It’s SO beauty-full in the parts I have seen, for the most part. 

Seems that Louisiana road rubbish laws are either non-existent, or not enforced on secondary highways & country/forest roads.  I saw more rubbish there than in most other states so far.  Texas too, in some places were ‘trashed’ more than I witnessed in other states. 

Animals have been special along the way for me .. wild, feral & domesticated animals. 

Deer pop up at the most special moments (thankfully not in front of my car while I am driving country or forest roads).

Deer have long signified ‘well being’ & ‘welcome’ for me.  Since early childhood really.  We would see deer very near to our home in the mid-50’s in Colorado.  I always thrill to how graceful & swift they are.

Pets have been fun to experience as I visit/stay with friends, family.  A cat, 6 dogs,  so far, have demonstrated various things about unconditional love to me as I stayed in their space with their people.  My Sister’s two dogs – one a 10-year old Boxer, the other a 7-year old English Bulldog, harass me to pet them every chance they get & it’s a behaviour other pets also demonstrated during my home stays.  I don’t remember my dog or other dogs in the past being so insistent on constant attention. 

Perhaps it was Covid that influenced that, I don’t know.  It’s merely an observation based on decades-ago experience of my own with ‘my dog’ & now decades later with others’ dogs – all of whom are lovely animals & great teachers about unconditional love. 

Thanks to you who have shared your pets, homes & love with me along my way.  I am deeply grateful to you for the safety, companionship, inclusion, food & lodging you have offered to me. 

I could not have survived car camping in the recent triple-digit weather.  I had 3 full days & nights of it before arriving in San Antonio & felt the ill effects of 24-hour high temperatures on my physical well-being.  I can honestly say I have never been more consciously grateful for air-conditioning than I have been recently. 

Communities must create safe spaces for everyone & wildlife in times like this & we must be doing it now – not just talking about or thinking about doing it.  The times for that are here, now.  As you/we know, climate change experts & weather forecasters are predicting that this trend toward hot, dry, fire & drought or cold, too wet, flooding will continue & increase in times ahead.

Air-conditioning is obviously not the only, or best, universal solution for this.  In fact, most people do not have it.  Too, energy grids all over the world are stretched already with consumer demands for electricity.