I had lobster tacos at a local eatery named CLAWS the other day, fulfilling my 40+ year vow to myself to eat lobster while watching trees change colour in Maine. Long queues of customers have been waiting each of the three times I planned to stop there during previous trips to Rockland. This time, I was fortunate. Found a lull in the flow and only had to wait about 20 minutes for my lunch. 

Fulfilling the intention of lobster/leaves turning colour was a good decision. I have made good on my promise to myself in this regard and, while the food was okay, the sense of ‘mission accomplished’ was delicious. The rest of my stay here is a bonus already. I am learning all sorts of new things about things that I didn’t know about before. 

First, I have experienced and was just told by a local that some of the homes here shift and change somewhat dramatically with weather. Because they are largely constructed with wood and because there are regular fluctuations in humidity and temperature, many of the structures ‘move’. This is discernible by listening to the house or building ‘talk’ as it moves. Small indicators reveal the truth of those changes, subtle as they are. 

Things like keys not working in locks that worked perfectly a week ago. What happened? The doorframe shifted, hence .. This has been both fun and slightly frustrating for me to experience. When I take care of someone’s property and belongings for them, I am very conscious to keep things as ‘safe’ and ‘secure’ and ‘cared for’ as I am humanly able to do. 

That, and knowing that homeowner’s insurance coverage is null and void when doors are not locked, in the event of natural or intentional damages or intrusions. So, in my perspective, there are multiple good reasons to find solutions to this shifting equation. Which brings me to the notion of ‘safety’. I have been encountering this consideration since the moment some months ago, when I began sharing my intention to take a solo roadtrip. ‘Is it safe?’ ‘How can you be safe sleeping in your car?’ ‘What happens if someone ‘tries’ something?’ ‘What about car trouble or breakdown on the road?’ and and and. 

There were road safety considerations all along the way – wildlife crossing signs in every state in the Rockies and across the north and eastern states of S. Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York and Maine. There was regular evidence of roadkill and I saw live deer, antelope, free-range cattle and small mammals often enough to make the signs believable. 

Driving was beyond hazardous, as I described in a previous Installment. The long hours of my last 5 days on the road before arriving at my destination here in Maine exacerbated stresses already present. These included seriously dangerous (what I am calling) ‘video game driving’ – quick moves by the VGDriver who is tailgating to then (without warning or indication) pass from within 3’ of the BACK bumper of the car in front to the VGD’s car immediately appearing within 3’ of the FRONT bumper of the car just passed. All of this is done at speeds of 65-100 miles/hour! 

Then, there are the very real hazards of drivers who are drunk or drugged (or both), sleepy and/or fiddling with sound systems or cell phones. Couple all of this with the fact that, on almost all of the highways I traveled, there was heavy roadwork being done to ‘beat winter’. States are at the end of budget cycles. To ensure that needed repairs are done and that budget will be spent by year-end is a strategy long-used to guarantee budget line items are approved for another year. 

All of that is great – newer, good roads are truly needed in all the places that were under repair. The thing about that is that, 2-3 lanes are suddenly each funnelling down into one. Separated from on-coming traffic by nothing other than a line and a prayer, at 45-50 mph, big semi-trailer trucks, small and large cars, motorcycles and huge RVs all passing headlights to headlights in the dark nights and/or thunderstorms makes for uber-dangerous driving. 

Oh, and there were no side-of-the-road markings drawn yet as the construction wasn’t complete. Sheesh! I am so blessed to have made it through all of that in one piece, with my car also intact. It’s unfortunate that it was so stressful as I do love to drive on open roads, normally. So, there’s solo sleeping in my car safety & security (S/S); driving S/S; locks on house doors S/ S; and now we come to what a great many people seem genuinely concerned about .. talking to/interacting with strangers. This is especially in regard to connecting with people who are (seemingly) homeless, or wandering without obvious intent or destination. 

I have had to answer the question, ‘Where are you living?’ many times over the past many months, when applying for a car loan, bank accounts, credit cards, mailing address, library card, driver’s license, car registration and plates, and and and. When I reply/replied: ‘In my car’, the reactions have generally been shock, discomfort and /or dis-belief. I feel very lucky to be able to ‘make like a turtle’ and carry my home with me during this part of my adventure. I have wheels and a place to shelter in, the ability to travel (with enough money to afford petrol). 

I am able to move around acceptably well, am obviously well-fed, watered, clean and well-mannered (for the most part). Educated, confident, healthy. And, my current choice of a lifestyle places me far enough outside of norms typically expected from this demographic so that most people are confused by my reply about where I live. I have noticed that this ‘shock’ tends to send people one of two directions – away from, or toward, me. Not much has been happening in the ‘middle ground’ so far. ‘Away from’ looks like confusion leading to embarrassment and/or judgement, leading to fear of what isn’t immediately understood and seems too ‘different’ and then to a sense of not being ‘safe’ somehow to engage; followed by distancing. 

The other direction, ‘toward’, is rare and welcome. These responses generally have a flavour of being intrigued by what isn’t obviously ‘normal’; by innate curiosity; from people who have a sense of ‘adventure’; a liking for ‘anomaly’; outliers seeking other outliers; people who are interested in oddities, rebellion, divergent thinking. i think ‘middle ground’ might act somewhat similarly to ‘toward’ if it expresses itself through genuine interest delivered in question-form. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘How long have you been doing this?’ “Where are you going?’ ‘Why are you doing this?’ The ‘toward’ responses do include questions of whether I am afraid when I am alone, traveling, sleeping rough.

 Often the projections I field reveal fears that seemingly adventure-hearted characters harbour and are curious about within and about themselves. To be fair, some of these concerns are based in real-life concerns about which I am also aware – things that, if I were to give them power and precedence, would stop me from doing virtually everything I do in life, at least so far. Yes. I am very aware of realities of real, honest-toturtles sorts of dangers from crazy people, flash floods, snake and spider bites, forest fires, hungry bear, angry moose, nuclear weapons and apocalyptic meteor strikes. Honestly, I generally feel safer in my car, being on my own, in the woods or somewhere remote than I do in a camping area or RV park. 

May be due in part to the 3 summers I spent living alone in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho when I was in my early 20’s. I was a fire lookout and dispatcher for the region. I was 25 miles from the nearest road and a 5-mile hike to the ranger station. My at-a-distance-most-of-the-time companions were wild animals – bear and smaller mammals and birds, eagles, hawks. Enough about me. I am interested in your thoughts about safety and security. 

Anything that you think about in these regards. For yourself, your BeLoveds, for your neighbourhood, community, nation, world. Anything. And also, I am keen to receive your answers to the 5 questions I am asking anyone who seems willing to share their thoughts with me. Here are my contact details and the questions. I look forward to receiving your answers one day soon. 

Thanks, in advance. 

Diane Wilcoxson; diane@betterthink.com

1. What do you cherish about this country? (*Friends, others who are not Americans or wish to think about and comment about their own country, or the world instead, are very welcome to do that.) 

2. What three things would you change? 

3. How do you envision those things changing? 

4. What are you doing, or willing to do, to help change those things? 

5. Anything else you’d like to tell me? Blessings and Love. Diane