I made it to the west coast! California is a very beautiful state, and the weather that I’ve been experiencing has been very forgiving. It’s nice, warm, hot even. But it is not the heat of the desert. That is something I have learned about myself on this journey. I am not a desert child. Give me the mountains any day.

I left my cousins’ house in Florida, and the first stop was a place in Alabama. I’ve mostly been using an app called Hipcamp to find places to stay. I hurried down to Florida and regretted it, so I vowed to plan for two-night stays going forward. Discernment is key, because I did that and also regretted it! Alabama was beautiful. The land I stayed on was remote and private. Service was okay if I walked a bit away from the campsite, and up the hill a little, so it was not a bother for the planning of the next leg of my journey. They did offer an outdoor shower, but at 52˚F and only warming up to the 60s I didn’t want to risk getting pneumonia right as I began traveling and decided I would hope for a better shower at my next stop.

As I drove over the big rivers and deltas of what I assumed was the Mississippi, I thought about what our forefathers might have thought as they faced these great rivers. They built bridges and claimed them conquered, but as I traveled across them on our concrete pathways in the sky, I knew that if they fell, if something were to remove our access to those bridges, we would not be so smug in our idea of conquering. Now, while Alabama was pretty to look at as I drove through, I could not say the same for Louisiana. I will take the fact that I only drove through it, and did not take the time to explore deeper parts, but from the highway perspective, Louisiana seemed very run down and depressing, like an attic room that once stored things that were actively in use, but has since been forgotten about and left to grow cobwebs, windows cracked to never be repaired again. I’m not sure I saw enough of Mississippi to judge her. I was still feeling depressed from traveling through Louisiana, and it was so fast that the next thing I knew, I was in Texas.

My next stop did offer a better shower. It was in east Texas, a little RV park that looked like some people lived there full time. I was actually greeted with a “Welcome to the neighborhood” by someone so that was nice. It also offered motel style rooms and little cabins to rent. There was a pool that was nice, clean but small. No one was using it though, so any woman reading knows why I didn’t put on my bathing suit and hop in. There were other amenities that were left being unused – a volley ball net, some horse shoe toss pits. It wasn’t a bad place at all. The owner warned me when I asked about the showers. She told me that they are cleaned by men so… we shared a laugh and I made sure to not touch the sides of the stalls. It was indoors though! And the water was hot. Our van wasn’t parked in the shade though, and as I made another circuit of the place with Rex just to cool off and do something else other than sit in the van, I wondered if staying two nights was worth it. There was really nothing there that Rex and I could enjoy. I don’t really feel safe, even with Rex, doing things like walking a trail I see, by myself. If someone else sees me traveling alone, then sees me walking off to explore a trail by myself… I’m not going to put myself in any situation like that.

I’ve made some friends online and was able to meet one of them at my next stop! In Katy Texas, my friend Faye lives with her son in a nice condo she opened up for Rex and I. I was going to stay only one night, but realized that I wanted to take the time to see her, get supplies, do errands like laundry, and also have time to hang out, so one night turned into two. We enjoyed each other’s company and I planned my next stop. It had really beautiful pictures to sell it.

However, I didn’t realize what Middle-of-Nowhere really meant until I drove through Texas. My next spot was a campground right outside of Big Bend National Park. The gas stations are Hundreds of miles apart. I don’t have Starlink. I wasn’t able to connect to the internet at all and when I pulled into my campsite, I had a half tank of gas and no idea where the nearest gas station was. I hadn’t seen one for a scary long time and when Rex seemed to be begging me to put the air conditioning on, I couldn’t for fear that we would run out of gas in the middle of the desert. Even though it was March, the temperature was more than 100˚F, and though the stars were unimaginably beautiful, and so bountiful that no planetarium could ever show the spectacle that I was able to see, I was sure that I made a mistake planning two nights there.

What were Rex and I supposed to do all day the next day!? I was not about to go hiking out into the desert, alone with my dog, and no service on my phone. I enjoyed the stars for one night and the next morning, I got us out of there. When I was closer to the highway and was able to get service, I found the nearest gas station. I was only 7 miles away, and I had the option to go back to my campsite, but again – what were we supposed to do? No. The gas station was a one pump station that I was surprised to see a credit card machine on. There was a goat pen outside that housed two goats, one of whom I think was Clay, and if I’m not mistaken, he was also the town mayor, so that was cool. I booked a hotel room in New Mexico and got out of there, passing the dust road that my campground was on, and said “Lesson Learned” to myself as I passed it by.

The La Quinta in New Mexico was really nice. I was surprised because of the price. At $84 a night, that seemed cheap to me. The shower was nice and it was clean. I was able to plan my next route in comfort. Even Rex enjoyed the comfy bed and air conditioning. I was clocking 7-8 hours days at this point. Get Me Out of the Desert!

That put me at Quartzite, Arizona, the van lifer mecca of the United States. I found an RV park that, from the pictures, looked like it was rows and rows of RVs, lined up as close together as they could be. The owner, Dawn, called me to confirm my stay and wanted to make sure that I knew they were a no-frills place, the “park” in RV Park referred to, you know, parking. I assured her that I was only staying for one night, and was simply grateful for a place to park and not be harassed. I pulled in and parked, seeing all the empty spots lined up. I assume that spring had sprung and the heat turns up so most people left already.

I let my niece know that I was in Quartzite. She has been living this lifestyle for a long time, although I don’t know for certain whether it’s officially by choice or not. She’s not a favorite in the family, has stolen from us, threatened us. She has fought with all of us beyond normal family fighting. Full disclosure – she, in her 30s, fought with my mother, in her 70s, to the point where the judge overseeing the restraining order hearing could still see the bruises on her arms a week later. I needed to contact my niece when I could no longer pay for my sister’s cell, and since there was no fighting, I let the contact continue. Well, that night, as I sit parked a mere 9 hours from her, she began fighting with me about the money that her mother is going to be getting from the sale of our mother’s house. My niece doesn’t feel her mother deserves it, and while that may be true, it is by rights her mother’s money. I ended up hanging up the phone on her tirade and when she began calling back, I texted her that I didn’t want to talk to her anymore. She began sending me vaguely threatening texts, not enough to get her into trouble but I knew what she was trying to say. “I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you, sweetheart.” The thing was that she was right. I told her where I was staying, and she could meet someone in a town with a population of 0. Not only could she find me in under 10 hours, but she could also call on a degenerate to harass me. I convinced myself that no one would help her harass me without getting paid. And as she expressed on the phone, she’s “broke.” I did sleep that night, but was super glad that I had only booked one night. My next stop was going to be Oceanside, California!

My best friend, TC, lives there. He is a friend that I have met through the internet. He’s a retired carpenter who owns a house he shares with a friend and her son. He wasn’t able to let me stay at his house overnight, but I was able to book a spot in paradise, only 15 minutes away from him. I was planning on hanging with him a while so I booked 3 nights and I am so glad that I did! This place didn’t have a shower, or even a bathroom, but I knew that there was a Planet Fitness nearby, and I had gotten a membership there just for this journey. The space was a tight fit, but there was an outlet in the gazebo that I parked next to, and had access to. There were other spots on the property, very far apart from each other. There was a paved road that had pathways off it that led through the property if you were feeling adventurous, hammocks to sway in if you were feeling lazy along the way. The owner came to greet me when I got there and she explained that when her and her husband bought the place, they thought it was too beautiful to not share it. I was so happy that they opened it up to me and other hipcampers. I was able to hang out with my best friend in person for the first time, get my supplies re-stocked, do other chores that needed to be done and book my next stop. I was warned about the traffic going through LA, and I had always heard about how bad it was, from movies and people who lived it in real life. I guess I got lucky because I did hit a patch of traffic that was slow moving, but it was kind of like driving through the Oranges in NJ. Not as bad as Route 17 on a Saturday, or the NJ Turnpike on a Sunday night after the first nice weekend of the summer. It was a Saturday morning, around 10ish I guess, that I was driving through it. Maybe I was just lucky?

I’m currently resting on a farm in Creston, California. It’s big and luscious with rolling hills to explore. There is a small herd of cows that walk around freely, as do the 3 horses the owners have. They have a wonderful set up here, and the owner, who was a chef in her former life, prepares breakfast and brings it to you in the morning! Today she brought me a half dozen eggs from her chicken and some homemade blueberry almond granola. She explained that she’s recovering from falling off a horse so the breakfast was not what she usually makes, but it was more than any other place has offered me and better than the continental breakfast offered at the hotel (these are REAL eggs!).

I’ve booked my next place to be parking on the bluffs of the pacific coast. I will be able to walk down to the beach with Rex, and see the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean. I am looking forward to that. I have a cousin who is older and she is struggling in her current living situation. She lives in the northern part of California and goes into Ashland all the time. That’s where I’m headed but I don’t even have an address to go to. I would love to set up roots there, but I would like some sort of guide. She is not a guide for setting up roots, as she has lived her life as a traveler of many lands. She has been everywhere and done everything except for settle down. Now that she’s older, she’s kind of regretting it because while she has social security coming in, it’s not enough to live alone. She’s in a relationship that has reached its shelf life and she feels like she can’t go anywhere else.

After hearing my cousin’s plight, I reasoned that she could come with me into Oregon. We could get a two-bedroom place to start, and she can help me achieve my dream if she desires it. I am no stranger to living with and taking care of an elder. I have my experience with Mimi to attribute that skill to. I want to futz around in my land, take care of my animals and have that be how I pay my taxes and my bills. I want to use what I need and sell the rest. I have other skills I can throw in there, like my doodling. I can make adult coloring books to sell. I can get goats for my farm and learn how to make different beauty products using goat milk. I can see us living in harmony on 2 and half acres of land. I don’t know where I’m headed with my new life, but I’m intent on it being bountiful and beautiful.

Update: This was originally written and put to drafts on March 22nd. I’m finally getting around to posting it.