GPS, I LOVE YOU BUT…

Another fun adventure today.  This time in the Springfield, Missouri area.  First, we headed out to explore the Ozark Mountains but we got sidetracked when we stopped in Camping World and as we left Charlie, the salesman said, “You should take time to stop at Lambert’s Cafe.  Only if you go, go early as if you wait until 5 p.m. you won’t get in until after 8 p.m.”

Having Lambert’s Cafe on our to-do list we looked at each other and decided lunch first would be a good idea.  Now if you have not heard of Lambert’s Cafe in Springfield, you are missing something fun and good!  We first became aware of it on Diners and Dives.  Its reputation is known for its down-home cooking and throwing the rolls at you.  Yes, I said throwing the rolls.  Hot Rolls.  So hot that when you catch them you are shocked at the heat!

The food was good old-fashioned comfort food.  Fried chicken and hamburger steak were our choices and they brought enough for two people to eat off of one plate.  But that was not all.  They have what they call “pass arounds.”  People would come by with a large bucket of either fried okra, macaroni, and cheese with tomatoes, fried potatoes, or black-eyed peas on top of that and serve you up just as much as you like.  Still not full?  Well just let them know and they would have brought another entree portion of the meat!

At 11:30 a.m. we found the place packed! We managed to get right in and served.  When we left an hour later we found a waiting line already out to the parking lot!  The place was jumping but I tell you if you ever find yourself near Springfield make it a point to drop in!

 After our lunch, we plugged Ozark Mountains into our GPS.  It took us through Branson Missouri, which was an interesting place to drive through.  I hear the shows are great but the town leaves a lot to be desired in looks.  It feels and acts more like a circus!  And if you ever go shop around.  We stopped at a Visitor’s center just as we entered Branson and it turned out they were a sales company disguised as a visitor center wanting to sell you tickets and accommodations with promises to save you 50%.  As we drove through we saw signs that announced 70% off ticket prices.  Duped is how one must feel if they order tickets ahead of time at full price!  There were ticket brokers from one end of town to another!

The peak in the Ozark Mountains

Once through there and Table Rock Lake, our GPS continued to direct us to the “Ozark Mountains.”  Let me say right off, that relying solely on GPS can be risky.  We found we also needed maps and at times with the maps and GPS we were making adjustments.  Today we had no maps.  So we let the GPS guide us into the hills and hollers of the mountain.  Rolling hills, peaks that looked down over rolling hills, and poverty are what we found.  We found the GPS directed us to a dead-end street somewhere in the mountains.  I guess that was the middle of the Ozarks?  We found it does this when we just put in a town…it directs us  to the center of town and says, “You have arrived.”  We reached an area where we had no service so we had to pick a direction and drive, laughing that we could find ourselves lost forever in the hills we kept driving hoping that service would return and we would find our way out.  We eventually did of course but discovered we came out somewhere down in Arkansas!  Another state on our list!  

Having a GPS is great when it works, but learning to never take it for granted is important!  Keeping a road atlas and/or local maps with you is all important because the GPS will sometimes take you down roads that in itself could be an adventure!  Ask us about it sometime!

CAMPING…AN EXERCISE IN FLEXIBILITY

Camping I’m discovering is an art form.  One that with experience I’m learning to navigate joyfully.  I have discovered a hardiness to campers.  Oh, I’m not talking about the big RV kind of camper, where people have taken all the home conveniences with them…no, I’m talking about the tent and pop-up people who get challenged now and then by the conditions!  Too cold, too hot, too wet, too windy but mostly too cold…goose-bump cold…toes crying for help cold…those are the campers I am talking about!  I am enjoying not being in my comfort zone, stepping away from routine and seeing and experiencing so many new and wonderful things.

First, I am in awe to discover so much of our country is desert or mountainous and those living there face challenges that many of us in the metropolitan areas take for granted.  I can go shopping 2 miles down the road…these people have to travel great distances often over an hour away just to stock simple food items.  Water that comes from a faucet, without thought  to many of us (unless you have a well then you tend to be more keenly aware of what is going on), but all the same the convenience of just turning on that faucet to cook or shower…for many that we have seen out west it is an ordeal making water something you don’t take for granted.  In the mountains, we saw signs for winter preparation encouraging the locals to fill out forms to place their order for case-lots of goods to have in store for the long enduring winters.  Men, paying $20 for 4 cords of wood that he could pluck from the National Forest to enable warmth for his home in the winter.  Hardy men and women…strong stock…tough…I am completely in awe of their hardiness in living everyday life.

Another thing we noticed is that not many local newspapers carry much about politics.  It is mostly news about townspeople or the local municipalities. It struck me as we noticed the lack of national news, that this is what Newspapers use to be.  Papers touting what the local community people did along with the local municipalities activities.  These are the events that have an effect on everyday lives.  I do a lot of old newspaper research for my family history projects and have commented before that newspapers of old were basic gossip rags.  Maybe if they went back to more of that they would sell more newspapers.

The biggest thing I have seen in my travels is that all campgrounds are not equal.  When one camps the way David and I are camping, clean showers and bathrooms are the most important.  Laundry is a luxury and we look for that when we need to do laundry but for the most part, it is the bathroom situation.  We have stayed at National Parks and State Parks (more often than not they are cheaper than privately owned ones) and find they are often cleaner in the shower and bathroom area than some of the paid-for camps we stayed at.  Just saying to the campsite owners of the world out there, if you want repeat business then clean up your act.  I know people can be slobs but if you provide a respectable facility people would take better care of it….(I would hope!)

Other things I have learned while camping is to try not to forget your underwear when you go to the showers.  The first couple of times I did this, really caught me off guard.  What do I do?  Now I keep a pair in my shower bag, just in case.  I’ve been good, this last pair I put in the bag has been there for two weeks.  I am getting better.  (Note:  this morning I forgot my underwear.  That will teach me to feel too cocky.  That being said I still could not use the pair in my shower bag because they had gotten wet from my body wash bag…go figure!)

I also need to remember to take a good towel for drying off and one to stand on once you are done in the shower.  With showers not all equal, most all showers throw as much water outside the shower stall as in, so finding a dry spot on the floor can be impossible…besides some of the floors were not something you wanted to put your clean wet feet on anyway!  

I have discovered also that I have a balance problem.  Standing on one foot, with nothing to lean against (at least nothing I wanted to put my naked body up against), trying to put my one foot inside a pant leg and not let that pant leg touch the wet floor is challenging to this 70-year-old.  I must say though, after 3 weeks of practice I am getting better!  I have learned a new one-foot dance in the process!  

The latest lesson to come our way is that if you choose to camp in the desert, watch where you walk.  Last night as I returned from the bathroom I was suddenly in crazy pain with something sticking in my feet.  Apparently, in walking across the lawn I was unaware of this weed with tiny little sharp stickers that immediately stuck to my shoe top and bottom, pant legs and anything else it managed to touch.  I’m still finding remnants on the rug with my bare feet!  

There are many joys too in this camping arena…like right now sitting here typing this, the neighbor to us is serenading the space with his guitar and singing…a wonderful thing!

With the road trip not finished yet, I am sure there are more lessons to learn, but the greatest is to let go, be flexible, not take life too seriously and have fun!

9/21/2017

AAA LET US DOWN

This writing finds me driving down highway 40 in Texas….okay not driving but a passenger in the car…just saying…anyway yesterday our adventure was a bit more challenging than any time on this trip but we both felt pleased with how we handled the situation as well as how it turned out.

We got our first flat tire.  The camper tire went out and the question carried in David’s mind “What would happen if a camper tire blew,” was answered.  Fortunately, his driving skills and his ability to act without question saved us from having anything bad happen.  We were able to pull off the side of the road far enough to stay out of harm's way.  After a brief moment of “Oh shit, what do we do?”  We both went about doing what we could.  He spent time figuring out if he could change the tire himself, and I got on the phone to AAA.  

Now I have had AAA for years and the few times I have used it has been home and I have always been grateful for the service and without a doubt have felt no matter the cost the service was worth it when you are out on the road alone.  But to say I was a disappointed in how this action with AAA went down would be an understatement.

When I called, I got transferred to the area I was broke down, Alburqueke NM.  They had to verify my account, which I had no problem with, but then for some strange reason they started asking me about names on my account and began giving me a hard time because I couldn’t name anyone.  My daughter was once on my account and so was my late husband, but why that should matter is a mystery to me, because I am on the account too!

Because I was getting such a run around David pulled out his AAA card and we used his number.  It turns out that they would have to charge us to change the trailer tire.  I replied that was okay because we did not have a choice.  “Two 70 plus-year-old people needed help,” I said.  

The next challenge was trying to tell them where we were.  You see highway 40 does not use mile markers and we couldn’t remember the last exit we passed.  “Do you have any signs around you or buildings you can describe?” she asked.  “No, we are in the middle of the desert and there is nothing but tumbleweed and rocks for as far as the eye can see,” I replied.  Saved by my Iphone’s  compass and its ability to locate your position through the Longitude and Latitude they were able to pinpoint just where we were (Yea iPhone Compass!!!!). 

"We will call you with an estimated time of arrival as soon as we contact the driver.  Just hang in there, we will be there as soon as we can, “ she went on to say.

I hung up, confident we were okay and told David of the conversation.  In the meantime, he was figuring out if he could change the tire himself.  The motivation got high when I explained to him they would be charging us to come change the tire because we didn’t have RV coverage.  I had tried to explain to them that it was not an RV, but a small trailer camper…did not matter they would have to charge because we did not carry the extra coverage.

It was no time that David managed to pull off the lug-nuts and change the tire.  We were lucky.  We started down the road to find a tire place to pick up a new tire, and I tried calling back AAA to cancel the call.  Getting cut off twice, I decided that I would tell them when they called with an arrival time.  

It is now over 24 hours later and we still have not received that call from AAA to say when they were coming.  Needless to say, I’ll be contacting them to express my disappointment in this situation.  Since Pat has been gone, I have never been afraid to travel alone.  I had so much confidence in AAA to be there to bail me out of any problem I might find myself in.  That has changed.

ADVENTURING WITH DAVID

Okay, so traveling is an adventure, but traveling with David is not only an adventure but an experience never to forget.  It’s his sense of humor and attitude that makes this memorable.

Our traveling days have been anywhere from 4 to 6 hours when we move from one spot to another.  In this past week, we have experienced cold nights  (38 degrees) to warm nights (60 plus degrees). And that is just one spot to another!  So this morning we wake up and it was cold!  How cold you ask?  Well when I took my shower, the shampoo was so cold on my head it made it hurt and the body wash was cold enough to give me goosebumps!

By the time I got out of the shower, dried off and got dressed I began to adjust to the temperatures.  When I came back to the camper, I find David sitting in his chair, having coffee in the sun.  He turns to me and says, “Boy, where else could you go and have 48 degrees not feel bad because the sun is on you!”

“Yea right,” I half mutter…” where else can you feel like this?  I think when I go back home, and my heater goes out I won’t be upset as it will be just like camping!”

I must say he does watch out for me. When we arrive at a new campsite he insists strongly that we get close to the bathroom.  He says he feels guilty that I have to walk so far to go.  Me?  I call it the walk with the “night stalkers.”  I find I am rarely alone.  There was the one night when a young man, waiting outside the ladies room for his girlfriend, jumped out at me as I left the bathroom thinking I was her.  Made my heart rush for sure and he could not have apologized for making me jump.  I laughed all the way to the campsite!

During one middle-of-the-night potty run, I came out of the bathroom and was greeted by two deer.  I stopped, they stopped, we stared at each other and then both of us went on our way.  It was too cold and damp to stand there!

There is also a lot of self-discovery on this trip.  I am tougher than I thought.  I can handle being cold.  I don’t miss TV.  I love meeting new people (okay this has always been a given for me). If you stick a flannel sheet inside your sleeping bag it feels warmer!  Hot showers take away the nighttime chill.  You don’t need a lot to get through a day.  (So I wonder why I have so much shit back home!)  Eating simply (without available snacks) causes one to lose weight!  I don’t know how much I have lost on this trip, but with all the walking, moving and no snacking my pants now go on and off without unzipping.

At this writing, we are beginning to make the turn toward home which means the adventures are not done yet.  We have been on the road for almost 3 weeks now and it has been great fun.

Here are a few more things I have heard while camping.  They made me giggle…I’ll let you decide!

“I always like to measure before I stick it in.”

“No, I am not sure that is not poison ivy.”  (Are you as confused as me?)

“Too many rocks in the mountains.”

“We did it twice last year and couldn’t resist doing it again.”  (I couldn’t hear what they were talking about so my mind just took it away and I could not stop laughing!”

“I try and limit how much I unzip.”

That’s all for now…more later!

THE JOY OF DISCOVERY

Traveling through the Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Teton Mountains, along with the Crazy Horse Memorial, this visit has been a very special time for me.  Some spots left me with emotions without words.  The grandeur of these places has to be seen in person to understand the wonder.  

What is also awe inspiring to me, is the ruggedness of those who live and work in these places.  It is not an easy life.  Conveniences are hard to come by.  For those of us showing up here expecting our needs to be met around the next corner are taken back by the time and distance that has to be traveled to stock up on essentials.  Water has to be collected in 350-gallon containers carried in the back of pickup trucks or trailers to fill the cisterns back at their homes.  Most every house you see on a hill has no convenient water source.  Even some electric is hard to come by.  We saw lots of solar panels on homes.  

Our conversations with locals shared stories of snow four feet high on most winter days.  Imagine the stock one has to think of to be able to manage the time snowed in.  On most of the major highways we drove, there were signs that read, “When flashing road closed.  Turn back to (insert name of town leaving at that moment).  Imagine, the way storms can blow in suddenly and you cannot get home.  Living high up in elevation has its challenges and I admire the people who make these places their home.

Another awe-inspiring discovery were the bikers of this world.  Not the motor kind…the kind you have to pedal.  I stopped one man who proudly told me he was 68.  I told him I was in awe of his ability…riding on hills with 6 to 10% grade, 5000 to 9900 feet in elevation.  I was at times having trouble walking and catching my breath in this thin air let alone pedaling a bike up a hill.  We noticed many gray-haired people riding and each one left me inspired.  

We camped next to another couple while in Yellowstone who, like David and I, lost their spouses, found each other and were having the time of their life traveling and enjoying what days left to them.  They were funny and so enjoyable that David and I hope to catch up to them again somewhere in these great United States!

This spontaneous-follow our nose-no plans trip has been pure joy!  I am glad to be able to do this that I have always dreamed about but more importantly have found someone to share the joy of discovery with.  It has made it that much more special.  We are not done yet.  We have begun our journey home but if it goes like we came it will be a zig-zag one for sure!

LIVING SPONTANEOUSLY

Living the good life!

If I had to choose one word to describe this summer it would be “Spontaneous.”  Having to be flexible due to my temporary living situation and finding a traveling soul mate who has shown me living out of a suitcase can be fun has made this summer most memorable.  

Meeting David has been a joy and in such a short time he has taken me to places I had only dreamed about or read about in books.  We presently are on a road trip now…no plans…just following our noses and it has been wonderful.  We started out saying goodbye to a friend up in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.  Then decided spontaneously to head West…maybe Yellow Stone National Park.  But we have not taken a straight line…no, we decided to head up to the Niagara Falls, both the American and Canadian side.  Well heck, since we were there why not just drive across Canada and drop down the west side of the Great Lakes.  Since we are so close to Mackinac Island, why not go see that too!  And this is how it is going.  

Camping along the way has also been an experience.  I learn something new every day and eves dropping on conversations sends me into a fit of giggles….you tell me if I am wrong to laugh…I’ll share some of the things I have overhead while camping.

“My one end is bigger than your hole.”  (Now tell me how can I not laugh at this one!)

“I’m too far forward, I can’t reach my thing.”

“I’m glad you carry your stick with you.”

“I need more Vaseline.”

“I'm good. You sure got me going now!”

“You have to stick it in and pull it out. Stick it in and pull it out.” (I have no idea what they were doing, but I started to laugh so hard I got side stickers.”

“When it's cold I have trouble finding it. “

I think David is getting used to my spontaneous burst of laughter.  He is patient until I find self-control to share what took me there. I think he is beginning to think I am a bit daffy!

Traveling with David is a comedy all of its own.  We walked into a bar/restaurant one day and there were some rough looking bikers with their leather and beards.  David turns to me and says, “I use to be a biker you know.”  “ Oh yeah,” I replied in surprise. “What did you ride?”

“ An 18-inch Schwinn, with cards in the spokes.  It had a cool sound.”

When we were up in Maine, we left the campsite and headed up to New Brunswick, Canada.  Before leaving a lady told us that along the way we should check out this place where they had the best clam chowder she ever ate.  Not quite remembering, but thinking we might be close we turned into a road that took us on a small island, filled with lobster traps and middle classes homes.  As we drove around looking for a restaurant where there were hopes of finding this great clam chowder, we stopped and asked a guy who had just got out of his car.  “Hello Mister, someone told us we could find the best clam chowder around here.  Do you have any idea where this might be?” we asked.

“Well, let me think,” he says, “if you follow this around and turn left at the corner by the green house, and then take the second right…” pausing he gives us a funny look and continues, “You two look confused.  Follow me and I’ll take you there.”  With that, he jumps back into his car and drives us to the restaurant he thought we should try.  He was right.  Looking confused is our past time!

The funniest conversation I have had with David so far took place just as we were leaving for our trip.  I had not arrived at his place yet and he called to ask me if I could stop at Dick’s to pick up a canopy that was on sale.  I replied, “There are no Dicks between you and me.”  I then broke into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

There is just no good way to say it.  Who thought of ever naming their business Dicks.  Then as we drove through Minnesota we saw a chain of Dicks Family Food Marts.  Okay, there is more than one Dick!  I ain’t saying no more!

More to follow!

SO LONG DEAR FRIEND...UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN

Lake Wallenpaupack Dam

Standing on the deck's edge I take my last look out over the valley and Lake Wallenpaupack as I prepare to say goodbye to a dear friend and a boatload of memories.  Times like this remind me how fleeting time is.  I stand and try to sear in my minds eye the view but know that the moment I close my eyes or turn my back it will be but a memory that with time will be harder to recall. 

With Audrey leaving for her new home in Door County, Wisconsin this October, there will be no call for me to return to this area.  No reason to drive down the road and pass a memory of my own with Pat and the kids camping at Willson Camp grounds, or fishing and getting the worst sunburn of my life while falling asleep in the back end of the boat while Pat fished in the front end on Fairview Lake.  

Yes, saying goodbye is a bittersweet moment.  Aging can make these moments feel tougher.  In our youth, we thought nothing of turning our back on where we stood and move on.  The change came easy for the most part because we were making it happen and replacing it with some new adventure, place or friend.  Aging does not allow for such quick replacements.  It takes time and good health, often both of these are elusive to an old person.

This makes me feel lucky.  As change is big on my plate these days with selling my home and basically living homeless until the completion of my new livings space, I am recognizing the importance of being flexible.  Living out of a suitcase for over 3 months will help you understand that.  Living in another person’s home will slam that fact in your face quickly.  I found I am either doing something (like traveling or visiting friends) or doing NOTHING…which after awhile gets to me.  So, to keep myself grounded and moving forward I have been lucky in finding a friend who likes to travel as spontaneously as I do, so in between doing NOTHING I have been traveling and building a new friendship which has been a joy!

Until we meet again Audrey, I say farewell and safe journey to your new home.  I will cherish the times we have spent together and look forward to traveling again to Door County and the Coyote Roadhouse for their delicious Pot Pie!