The Road Beckons

I always seem to face some hesitation, a subtle balking at leaving a safe nesting place to launch off into the unknown. I found my subconscious searching for excuses to delay my departure although everything seems to be well in place. Once embarked upon, the excitement of the journey takes over and the siren call of the road sings loudly in my ears.

This morning, I finished the last few items on my list, loaded the bikes and tucked the paddle board inside the RV. I had left a spot of oil on the pavement when I changed the oil yesterday, so I took a moment to scrub it off as best as I could. Pop cooked me up a final serving of his famous poached eggs to sustain me on the road then we eased Wilson out of his resting place and waved farewell as we hit the highway.

It has been a great visit with family and friends although it seems I hardly had time to visit with anybody. Many thanks to Dad and Sandy for the gracious hospitality and many enjoyable evenings hanging out watching Dr. Pol. I’ll have to get active and shed the freshman fifteen I loaded on during the holiday visit. PJ is taking a sabbatical from the road to help care for her mom in Rhode Island while I seek a bit of sun before regrouping.

Wilson performed excellently ascending the grade up to the Laguna summit, all ten cylinders hammering away as we climbed in altitude to over 4000 feet. The coastal scrub gave way to more high desert environments as we wove through canyons of boulders only descend to the valley floor on the other side.

The road signs warned of high wind areas and they were telling the truth. The RV was moved around in places as we crested the mountain and made our way down to the sea level elevations in El Centro. We stopped at a rest area just outside of El Centro and Cali got to walk all over the grounds. I had gotten some mud on my Reef sandals so I rinsed them then kicked them off outside the RV door. I made a sandwich, adjusted the SUP and slid into the front seat and took off down the road. I’d only gone a few miles when I realized I’d left my footwear behind but I had to go another 4 miles to get to a turn around worrying about losing my favorite flip flops. I beat feet back to the rest stop and they were still there sitting forlornly by themselves in the middle of the carpark. I jumped out, slipped them on and continued on to Yuma.

Another hour into Arizona and I pulled into an old folks snow birding RV park just on the eastern edge of Yuma. I had tried calling several times yesterday even leaving a message but nobody bothered calling back. The office closes at 4:00 and I was there a few minutes beforehand but they must have seen me coming and locked the door. Some locals loitering by the library told me us transients were to park over in the patioless gravel spots by the pool then settle up in the morning. I got myself set up then went for a swim in the nice warm pool. I did laps for awhile and floated around rinsing off the dust of the road.

I sat in my chair on my mat out front and watched the desert sunset over the hills to the west while talking with PJ in Warwick. I heated some leftover carne asada and made a few tacos while watching folks come and go. There’s lots of cool places for Cali to walk and we went on a long exploratory ramble after dinner. A peaceful start to the next adventure.