Day 101 22 September 2022 Camden, Maine USA
Dearest You, Hi. Happy Equinox! I have landed in Maine, and am very pleased to be here. Thank you, M & R for the invitation! Most of the foliage here is still very green. And, happily, I have arrived in advance of the leaves turning colour in autumn in Maine .. 1 of 2 defining components of fulfilling a bucket list promise I made to myself in 1976.
A bit of herstory .. from December 1975, I lived and traveled in Nepal and in Northern India for 6 months. When I returned to the US, along with extraordinary experiences and lifetime lessons, I brought within me varied intestinal parasites. In the bush, living rough as I was there, it was ‘normal’ for everyone to have digestive issues. On my way back to the USA in early May, the flight from Kathmandu terminated in England, at Heathrow Airport. Overnight, I was in a very tidy hotel room with a memorable white-tiled bathroom. That strikingly clean context brought to my attention just how ‘NOT normal’ my digestive tract had been for half-a-year.
My flight the next day was to Boston, MA. I flew there to visit a dear, long-time friend and her boyfriend. He was an intern at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital – which, at the time was either the only, or one of the only, USA hospitals with an ‘exotic diseases’ department. Lucky me! Truly. In Nepal, I stayed and traveled with a friend who was working for the Peace Corps. While he and his colleagues discussed treatments they were being given for whip & round worms, ghiardia, amoebic dysentery, +++, I attentively listened and familiarised with what the US Government issued to help them manage their gut health. When I landed in Boston my friend’s partner connected me into the exotic diseases unit and the search for various ‘beasties’ causing havoc in me began. Whip and round worms were relatively easy to identify and treat. Fortunately, I didn’t have ghiardia. And I clearly did have some form of amoebic dysentery.
Identifying the specific amoeba was vital, according to doctors I saw, as each amoeba causes symptoms similar to mine, yet each affects different organs or systems in human bodies. Left unchecked, un-treated, not only is it predictably debilitating over time, eventually organs or systems irretrievably ‘breakdown’. Pinpointing the particular amoeba I carried proved to be complicated and so I ended up staying longer for testing in Boston than originally intended. One day, knowing that most-recent test results were another few days away, I borrowed a car and drove up the coast to Maine, to Bar Harbour. Fresh sea breezes, green green and clean environments, neat and tidy communities were refreshing to me after rough-and-basic, hot and humid jungle and chaotic overseas environments I’d been living in for 6 months.
On the Maine coast, as I took in the wonder of such extreme contrasts, I suddenly realized that my entire worldview had shifted. Recent exposures had birthed new consciousness in me for how things are in places other than what I had known for 24 years. And my desire to know more about a lot more ignited. I felt my body shift and begin to relax, adjusting to where I was, now, which for me was a newly ‘new’ culture and environment, in the USA. In those moments, I promised myself that – one day – I would return to Maine, in autumn to experience what the magnificence of deciduous forest foliage turning colours might be, while I ate lobster.
That was 1976. And .. now .. it’s 2022 and here I am. What a blessing to be able, 46 years after promising myself to be here now, to be here now. And to be in a lovely home owned by such dear long-time friends is a welcome change to living from the back of my car or in a budget motel. Part of what I love about this year, and this RoadTrip, is that I am experiencing contrasts rather regularly (sometimes mild and, at other times, rather extreme). Extremes, so far, have included weather; traffic, driving styles (I feel grateful to have lived through some of that); highway conditions and road rules; prices, standards and availability of motels/hotels, restaurants, groceries; friendliness or hostility of locals to travelers; my own and others’ expectations; laws regulating use of substances (cannibis, alcohol, other); attitudes toward ‘government’ involvement in citizens’ lives’; rules and regulations governing residency, voting; connectivity (internet access and quality of service).
I continue to ask my five questions of anyone who seems approachable for that. And, consistently, most people find the enquiry intriguing, worth thinking about and very difficult (if not impossible) to answer in-the-moment. What I SO appreciate about everyone who has given me the time of day with this, is that some people actually HAVE answered me in the moment or sent me their answers via email afterwards. It’s so instructive to me to listen to what friends, family, acquaintances and strangers I have met so far in this country are thinking. And there are other things about this part of what (and how) I am doing my travels that are bringing me insights and sensations that nothing else could, or has (so far in my life).
An experience illustrating that occurred for me on a moonless Michigan night. A young man working in a convenience store/petrol station, late on a dark night, in a remote forested location near one of the Great Lakes, took time to talk with me and share his thoughts. He is notably a sensitive soul, thoughtful, 19 years old, likely not widely-traveled yet in life and initially tentative to engage. Once he did, we had a very interesting, easy and meaningful (we agreed, for us both) exchange of ideas and beliefs. When I asked him Question #3: ‘How do you envision these things changing?’ he replied, ‘Civil War’. I clarified with him what he meant by that and then his phone rang and he responded to the caller, ‘Oh, we’re just discussing politics’. I asked him who that was (as it was obvious we had been observed talking) and he said, ‘My boss. He’s outside and was wondering what we are doing.’ I offered to end our conversation and leave so he could ‘get back to work’ and he said, ‘No, no need, he was just wondering’.
At the end of our 5-minute chat, we agreed that we would remember each other. And we will. I know I will remember him. I was touched deeply by his sensitivity, heart-felt convictions and candid sharing. I have spent an impressive amount of time completely on my own over the past 3 years. On the Myers-Briggs profile, I display a large bandwidth on the ‘Introvert – Extrovert’ continuum. This reflects how comfortable I am being fully alone for long stretches of time and how much I also am and can be nourished by fully engaging with others when I do. So far, 3 months +, into this road journey, my introverted ‘self’ has been very well-nurtured.
Thanks to internet and to friends engaging with me in that way, and the occasional in-person interactions I am having with others, the extroverted ‘self’ is okay. That said, I am really ready to be somewhere where I can entertain, and host and really indulge in and enjoy being with others in up-close and personal ways. Thought that might happen while I am here in Maine, and it isn’t going to after all. I have invited you to visit me here, and must rescind that invitation with a most-sincere apology. It isn’t possible for me to host you here after all. That said, we can certainly rendezvous somewhere here in Maine. We will have to get busy very soon and be lucky to find a place to enjoy autumn leaves and lobster.
This season here, apparently, is fully-subscribed by countless others who also come to witness the beauty and miracle of this time of year in Maine. If it’s even possible, we will have to book somewhere to stay very soon. Twelve days ago, driving through Maine to get to where I now am, I had a genuinely unique circumstance so far in my travels. For two days, not ONE room was available for less than double ‘normal’ pricing, and only ONE room was available for only ONE night (at U$545). This situation was true in all of the 24 motels / hotels I visited or called to book something for myself. Promise: even for the sake of telling this story, I am not exaggerating, even a tiny bit. This experience adds to my resolve to manifest a wonderful place in NE Wyoming when I return there (sometime next spring / summer) to live. A place where I can host you, and you and you and you! It will be SUCH a pleasure for me to see, entertain, house, feed, water, cook for and laugh, love and live with you visiting me there, freely with fun and freedom to enjoy each other as, and for as long as, we will.
So, may I ask you please to hold a vision with me of me having space, a perfect situation and the wherewithal to make that possibility a reality.? Then, and there, we will have all of the fun and interactions that make sense to us! Amongst many options, I am contemplating taking a part-time ‘job’ while I am here – for 2+ months – to bring in a bit of revenue and also to get me into the community more than I otherwise will. This lovely property is situated remotely from other houses and is a bit of a drive to the nearest town. So it requires deliberate journeying to connect with others. Not sure I will end up doing this, and may. Think I would enjoy something a bit physical, organizing shelves or other, which satisfies the Taurus in me for regular, physical movement, the Virgo for organizing and attention to detail. The Libra wiring in me will be satisfied by a balance between time alone and time in / with community. And, I may decide to meet those requirements in other ways. It’s early on in my stay here (have been here less than two weeks), and am decompressing from the rigors of my previous 100+ days.
Throughout this RoadTrip, I have been well-rewarded by wildlife appearing here and there, particularly deer. As soon as I drove into Colorado (where I lived from ages 5-21), a beautiful doe (deer) raised her head and (I felt) looked straight at me. That I saw her while driving was a miracle, and that we had ‘that moment’ felt magical. Deer have been a ‘special animal’ for me since early years of life. They have graced my roadtrip in every state from 11 August, until now. Just a few days ago, on my first morning here in Maine, I pulled back the bedroom curtain to see two does and a fawn eating a bit of greens growing in a box just 10’ away.
They didn’t run away and, again, looked steadily in my direction. The following day, a very large and extremely healthy, beautiful doe spent a long while foraging down a slope toward the pond. When it sensed me looking, it ‘looked’ upslope in my direction for some time and then moved away slowly. I am aware that it is very likely anthropomorphic to assume deer ‘look at me’, and yet, countless tales of deer and people interacting use this sort of description to describe how ‘personal’ and ‘meaningful’ the steady gaze of a deer ‘feels’ to individuals experiencing it. Deer always inspire fascination for me when I see them and deer animal totem connotations are some I treasure and learn from continually. And now, a switch of focus, onto You.
What about You? I am curious how you are, what fills your heart, mind and days of late. I’d love to know how you are navigating in these very intense times – cosmically energetic times with several planets in retrograde motion – political times with myriad changes occurring – social times with norms and mores being challenged and rearranged daily – financial times as our systems deteriorate, further revealing cracks and fissures within institutions we used to trust – legal and law enforcement times in which so much of what used to be ‘normal’ to expect is not even remotely that way now – and, and, and ..
And, interestingly, as I list those parts of life, I am moved to share that I have very recently come to recognize that things are far more positive and a cause for intelligent optimism in me than I have felt for quite sometime. I invite you to tell me how you are. What fills your heart and mind these days. How are you ‘reading’ these times – are they cause for optimism for you too? Or, are they cause for something else? If so, what is that? Know that I love you. Thank you for reading this far. Please, let me know if you prefer I not send you RoadTrip Chronicles. I am happiest knowing you like to receive them, and read them; or that you prefer not to and don’t.
Big hug. Take good care of you.
Diane 🌹
PS. I promise to share some photos of the autumn forests here when they are in full colour display. Today, here are 3 photos of various aspects of Native American Indian cultural influences I experienced while traveling through South Dakota. It’s clear that some of the communities in that State have made efforts to bring this part of USA history/herstory to light and begin a healing process of reconciliation