Beaches

I love beaches.

I’ve found some wonderful beaches in my lifetime.

I cherish my memories (and my photos!) of them.

After traveling the last few years and living on the road for a couple of those, I am sometimes asked to name my favorite place.  That’s SO tough to do because there are so many factors that contribute to my feelings about a place.  

The same is true for beaches.

I do have some favorite beaches - and for various reasons.

There are the most beautiful beaches - picturesque beaches and idyllic beaches. There are also beaches that are amazing to live on - for a day or a week or longer. AND there are beaches for walking - which might be my very favorite things about beaches.  Said another way, beach-walking is one of my favorite things to do.

When trying to entice me to go south for the winter, my man did an amazing job of finding beaches for me to walk.  So I am celebrating the last day of February by remembering some of them.

My nominations for most beautiful beaches:

- Sturgeon Bay, Bliss, Michigan

- Playa Rincon, Samana, Dominican Republic

- Isla Vista, Santa Barbara, California

Beach camping:

Port Crescent State Park, Port Austin, Michigan - has become a favorite camping destination in the early autumn when the campground is empty and quiet.

Pacific Coast Highway, Seacliff, California - provides a single lane of campsites overlooking the ocean.  What a great spot!!!  And what a way to begin a new adventure!

Living at the beach:

- The Cove, El Frances, Samana, D.R.

- Dauphin Island, Alabama 

- Emerald Isle, North Carolina

- St. Augustine, Florida

- Big Sable Point Lighthouse, Ludington, Michigan - work and live in the keepers' quarters for 2 weeks

Relaxing on the beach:

The Cove

La Playita

Las Galeras

Emerald Isle

Beach-walking:

Sturgeon Bay

Port Crescent State Park - campground and day use park

Dauphin Island and Emerald Isle - sunrise beach walks

Las Galeras

Playa Rincon

           Photo credit to Bob Sims and Stacy Brown for some of these shots.

A fun day

(Through little eyes...)

We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma this week.

Grandpa let us play in his camper after school.  

One day we made birthday cards for Aunt Stacy.  

Yesterday we drove over to Aunt Stacy’s house and slept in the pickup camper with Grandpa last night.  Big Sister read a story to Little Brother before we went to sleep.

This morning Sis woke up and found the birthday card that she made.  She climbed down the steps from the camper, walked across the yard and up to Aunt Stacy’s porch to give it to her.

Donuts for breakfast with Aunt Stacy.

YUM!

Then some fun play time with our cousin.

Yay!

On the way home (back to Grandpa and Grandma’s house) Brother gets to use the iPad for the first half of the trip - until we got to the train tracks but then he gives it to Sis early - maybe because she did that for him yesterday.

Stopped at McDonald’s Play Place.  Fun!

We got "real" phones in our Happy Meals.

We were nice to each other on the way back to Gramp and Gram’s place.  Gram says we deserve stickers for that!

Later we watched for the trolley and finally got to ride it! We had watched and waited other times but it never worked out before so we were happy that it showed up this time.

We were the only ones on the trolley.

We rode all around the city.

Hey, there’s the Farmers’ Market and the library and the art institute and the Youth Theater.  And there’s the weather ball!  It’s yellow tonight.

It is free to ride the trolley but Gram gave us some money to put in the tip box.

We got back home almost exactly at bed time so we hurried to get our teeth brushed and PJs on and we didn’t even talk very much before we fell asleep - because we were so tired.  

What a fun day!

(Photo cred to Grandpa Bob Sims)

Living in a campground

I like living in a campground. At least sometimes I do. I like how the place fills up with families on the weekends. It's fun to notice the variety of camping rigs and equipment, to observe the newcomers unloading bikes and rubbers rafts, expanding their sliders and rolling out their awnings - and maybe even pitching their tents. Before long there are sounds of happiness and the smell of campfires.

I also like the Monday mornings and Tuesday mornings when it is relatively quiet and peaceful again with mostly just the regulars around. The seasonal people - some of whom leave for work between 6 and 8 a.m. and many who are retirees. People that we have begun to know a little bit. Several work in construction and several at the Michigan Renaissance Festival a few miles away which just opened for the season. One neighbor walks across the highway to her job at the animal hospital behind Frosty Boy and McDonald's.

There might be a few "campers" still scattered on sites here and there - maybe because it is vacation week for them - or maybe they live close enough that either mom or dad can commute to work from here.

On the mid-week mornings I don't meet many people while walking around the lake and I don't have much concern about being overtaken by golf carts. The pontoon raft is usually empty and silent and still on Tuesdays. The rentable log cabins may or may not be occupied during the week.

...

There is a bi-weekly rhythm around here. The atmosphere changes. When the rigs start pulling in on Thursday evenings it begins to feel like the weekend.  And when people start hitching up and packing up and pulling out on Sunday morning and throughout the day, it's as if normalcy returns - but with a twinge of sadness. I always feel a teeny bit sorry for those who have to leave so soon. To go back home and back to work and the real world. The week-end must have seemed so short. Once again I'm glad that we live in a campground - and we don't have to pack up and go anywhere. Because we are already home.

 

The campsite with the leaning tower

This place. Nice place. The campground, the campsite.
The campground seems like a good place. Relatively quiet and peaceful, but with friendly activity and nice people - lots of them from Michigan but also from a wide variety of states - as well as Ontario, Canada - many of whom have been coming here for 20 years or more.

The campsite itself is interesting - small and constricted. It is nearly impossible to park a rig on it - what with the ground being all uneven and filled with huge tree roots - not to mention the cement slab right in the middle of the site. Talk about an obstacle course - without any good place to go. One of those obstacles is the greatly leaning utility pole complete with square canopy-type roof extending on all sides. Our immediate interest in that pole was to keep an appropriate distance between it and the upper corners of the RV and to calculate the space needed to extend the slider. A more subtle concern involved wondering if that leaning pole was in fact safe or if it would keep leaning farther and land somewhere on top of our abode. I was assured that this is not hurricane season and it seems solid so it should be safe. These calculations and wonderings and decisions were all negotiated in the dark, by the way.

We quickly realized the campsite is unique in another way - besides being the teeniest site in the whole place. It also is on the main corner of the campground just inside the entrance and nearest to the office. Basically all roads lead through this corner and past this site - from every possible direction in the campground - probably a mixed blessing.

I like the site okay, but it is fun to wonder if we might want to try a different site on any subsequent return visits. It could be nice to be back in the woods with more space and privacy and closer to the path to the beach. On the other hand, it also could be fun to be out front right along the road with an even better view of the boat traffic across the street. From our little site we can see some of the marine activity, but also have a bit of wind protection from that front row of campers.

For this year, for this month, this teeny little lot serves our purpose quite nicely. I can see enough of the boat traffic to be fascinated by it all. I love being able to see and hear the car ferry, the Marissa Mae Nicole, as she comes and goes across the mouth of Mobile Bay every ninety minutes. Then there are the tenders, Ms. Joy and Gulf Glory, that service the dozens of drilling platforms out there in the Gulf. These powerful boats come and go at all hours of the day and night to the Exxon-Mobil supply depot right there beyond the fence. Crew members load and unload supplies as well as duffel bags to and from their vehicles parked out front.

'Tis a good spot to live and write and to explore walking lanes in all directions - whether to the aquarium or the fort or the beach. It's not hard to be content in such a fascinating place.

...

And then came the scary night. The forecast called for a hard freeze and the wind became ferocious. RVers compared notes and did everything we knew to do to protect our plumbing and our rigs from damage. At our little lot we were grateful for the almost unbroken line of rigs out there along the fence offering a bit of protection from the mighty winds sweeping down the bay and raging ashore. Still our little abode shook violently in the gale - until we chose to retract the slider which seemed to help considerably.

But what about that leaning tower? That utility pole that was already leaning toward our rig? Would this violent wind bring it crashing down on us? Further inspection was done and I was once again assured that it looked stable.

Sure enough, our leaning tower withstood the gale and the electricity kept working. AND the trickle of water kept flowing through the freezing night. All is well at this little campsite and we are grateful.

Too much stuff - for a small space

"Oh, dear; I brought too much stuff."

Now there is nothing new about that statement; pretty much every time I go somewhere I do take too much stuff.

However...

There is nothing quite like living in a small space to make it obvious that you have too much stuff. Most of my life there has been lots of "bonus" space to stash extra stuff. Probably most Americans have that privilege; we can haul Christmas decor to the attic, stash seasonal clothing in a guest room closet, maybe store picnic and camping supplies in the basement or the garage and cram the excess food into the pantry.

In my former life, closets were relatively big and drawers were numerous. I even had a whole room designated for storage!!!

But it's different in an RV. Space is limited - with barely enough room for the essentials, let alone anything extra. There are few drawers and the closets are teeny tiny. There is no such thing as a coat closet in the entry or an unused closet in a guest room - because there is no guest room!

We do have a pantry in our rig (at least we call it that) but it's considerably smaller than the walk-in one we had under the stairs at the big house. There is no desk and there is no office - so our table doubles as our desk and my briefcase is our portable office.

...

Because there is such limited space, it becomes super-important to keep our possessions pared down to a bare minimum. Whenever we consider bringing something with us - or buying something new, we have to find a place for it. We might even measure to make sure it fits and we know that certainly it will displace something else that was already assigned to that spot. Therefore whenever we consider anything bigger than a loaf of bread, we have to weigh all the pros and cons (and ounces and pounds!) to decide if it is worth the space it will require. But somehow it's the little things (the ones smaller than a bread box) that sneak into the bags and boxes to be loaded into the rig - without having gone through that rigorous auditioning process.

Amazingly we did pretty well last year - for being our first time. Maybe beginner's luck. Maybe the hand of providence. Unfortunately I'm afraid I didn't do as well this year. I ask myself how this happened and why I brought too much stuff. Here's what I think contributed to the problem. First of all, we ran out of time because we were moving out of the cabin and getting all of our stuff from the extra sheds into our storage unit - and then we lost a week to sickness. Not taking the time to make deliberate decisions leads to sloppy packing. In the early days of the fall when I had the luxury of time, I had started the loading process and making sure the rig was stocked - with dishes and pans and utensils and all of that good stuff. But then as we were pushing to empty out the basement and the sheds, then more stuff got loaded into the righ - including "another one" of this - without us realizing that it wasn't needed - or remembering that we already had one.

Oh, well, an extra towel can't hurt, right? You can't have too many wooden spoons, right? Wrong. Only a certain number of bath towels fit on that small shelf in the closet - like two or three. Only a couple wooden spoons fit in the silverware drawer alongside those other necessary utensils.

Now don't get me wrong. This rolling home of our is amazing with all of its little nooks and crannies hidden away in every conceivable spot. The lay-out is awesome and I have to say that the designers of these rigs are to be commended. The medicine cabinet is the best one I've ever seen and yes, we take full advantage of every inch. That shelf behind the couch is a life-saver as is that one above the kitchen cabinets. And the vertical shelving by the fridge... Well, I wouldn't want to do without that. And the silverware drawer that wraps around the kitchen sink... Well, that funky drawer just makes me giggle.

So this rig is well-designed and perfectly suited for our needs, but not for many extras. Actually on this trip, there is even less storage space because I gave hubby the rights to pretty much the entire cargo hold - for his piano - because this is an important season in his musical life - so that means I don't have places to put bins of extra stuff into storage. *gulp* Consequently I need to run a tight ship which probably means that I should find a thrift store where I can donate some of this extra stuff.

But, in the meantime, I still have a laundry basket full of clothes to put away, but no place to put them. Yet.

...

As I already mentioned, this is not a new dilemma for me. Instead it is an old familiar pattern that tends to reveal itself in new exotic places. In other words it shows up pretty much wherever I live. I am so very glad that I have finally been learning to live with less.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

"A place for everything

and everything in its place."
~  ~  ~  ~  ~

I remember that saying from when I was a kid and am more recently learning how important that is to my sanity and peace of mind - ESPECIALLY when living in a tiny place like this. Neatness and simplicity have such a calming and healing effect on me; therefore it is worth the cost of paring down my stuff still more.

...

Oh, and I just discovered that there will be a garage sale right here on the campground in a couple weeks - so maybe I can make some money on my "extra" stuff!!!

Beach-walking - Thankful Thursday

Even while living in southern California for 5 months, it seemed that I didn't get to do enough of my favorite pastime: walking on the beach. I found a few good beaches and a couple great ones, but none of them perfect for barefoot walking - and all too far away to access each morning for my daily walk.

So yesterday was to be a beach day. It ended up being off again and on again but here we are. We made it - and with our little house on wheels - only to discover that the beach is gone because of high water levels. Where there used to be miles and miles and miles of beach that I could walk each morning, there are only tiny sections here and there - nearly impossible to access. Well, drats! That constitutes a great disappointment.

So am I feeling thankful? Actually, yes, I am. We are still having a good time and there is so much that is good in life. For example, at least I can see the water from my window. And I can still walk through the lovely woods. And we have this great little place to live in. Being in here feels like coming home.

What fun it was to make such an impulsive decision to go camping. How cool that we were able to be on the road within a couple hours. That was a major accomplishment - both in terms of getting a decision made and in pulling the plan together rather quickly.

Life is good.

I am thankful.

And now I'm going for a walk.

...

Late news flash.
Good news!

After I typed this, my husband came back from his bike ride to inform me that he had discovered a beach that had not disappeared and was still walkable. So that's where I went to walk on the beach today. Yippee!!!

...
Thankful indeed.

Less than stellar mental state - Thankful Thursday, a few days late

On Thursday, I tried to come up with something I was thankful for. Thankfulness would not have accurately described my frame of mind. To the contrary, I was feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. I had heard myself complaining and griping and had been through a couple meltdowns. Not exactly an example of positive mental attitude. Certainly not anything to brag about. Nope, not something I would want my public to know about me.

In the light of all the discussion about Robin Williams' suicide, it occurred to me to be thankful that my mental state does not get broadcast for the whole world to see. This is not the first time that I have recognized the benefit of living in relative obscurity.

But there I was, not feeling very positive - and then beating myself up for the bad attitude. I knew that I had lots to be thankful for, so I wondered why I was so whiny. You'd think I'd be overjoyed at being home again; right?

We had just come down from an epic journey and were in the midst of what could be dubbed re-entry stress. We pulled in behind our log cabin Monday p.m. - not knowing what we would find inside - and not really knowing how to prepare ourselves for this transition. It reminded me a bit of having diligently and thoroughly prepared ourselves to live and work overseas for a year, but not having a clue that we should maybe prepare for coming home. Coming back home from an extended and/or intense time away carries its own unique stressors - particularly if things have changed much at home. And this time they had.

Before we left Michigan in December, we had virtually moved out of the cabin - and other people had lived here - so now we would have to move in again. Besides that, during our absence a load of stored possessions had been transferred from our storage barn into the cabin. Therefore we had to find new places for those items and move them out before we could begin moving in. That's what we did our first day at home. We commented more than once about how thankful we were that our friends had gone the second mile and hauled most of the stuff into the basement - so we did not have to immediately deal with all of that.

The next day's goal was to be able to sleep in our king-sized bed that night which meant searching for bedding, hauling it in from storage and getting it washed. I remember feeling thankful that I didn't need quarters for the washer and dryer. And I remember how happy my man was to be able to stretch out in that big bed.

But maybe I should admit that I also found myself feeling a little grumpy about the flight of steep stairs between my bed and the bathroom in the middle of the night. And I may or may not have been heard griping about the teeny tiny shower in here and mourning the loss of the roomy one in the RV.

Yes, there was a bit of grieving over moving out of our little house on wheels. Even though it is compact, it is comfortable and convenient. This log cabin is lovely in its rustic nostalgia, but is not as safe or modern or practical or efficient.

We also realized that our exhaustion level was at epic proportions. Bob particularly was experiencing muscle fatigue from driving the rig through the mountains and across the prairie for days on end. We had been pushing ourselves pretty hard for nearly a month. No wonder the fatigue settled in once we parked the rig and slowed down our pace.

When I tried to post something for Thankful Thursday, I was feeling overwhelmed about where to start to make sense of my life and frustrated that I am such a slow worker. I tried to be patient with myself - letting myself be okay to accomplish just one thing each day.

I did start to write something to post that day, but was too tired to finish it. I tried again on Friday and Saturday between other projects. On Sunday I had the good sense to give up and take the day off from everything.

And now it has been a week since we arrived back home. When asked if we're feeling settled, I have to admit that I have chosen to be okay with "functional" so far. Feeling settled will have to wait another week or two. Yes, it feels like we should have made more progress, but it's okay. Perhaps the best part is that I once again feel sane - not so stressed out. Back to my normal healthy happy self. And I'm thankful for that.

...

Also I have chosen to notice things that I'm happy to have now. Things like:

• Fridge shelves big enough for a pizza box
• A washer and dryer on site; no quarters or tokens needed
• Space to spread out a bit
• Lots of hooks for hanging stuff near the back door & in the closet
• Empty space in drawers and on shelves - Wahoo!
• A lovely grassy back yard and the lawn chairs that I've missed
• A gas grill... Yay, pork chops!!!
• "His and her" desks - something besides the kitchen table

...
 Yep, I'm feeling thankful again. What a relief!

Heading home

Well, we have turned another corner and once again headed east.

Heading home.

I remember many journeys and many times of heading home.

I remember giddy excitement of looking forward to being home.

...

It's different this time and I find myself pondering why.

What was it about home that called out to us after a journey? Were there things that we had missed?

If we had been camping, we were probably looking forward to a hot shower - or other comforts of home. Or maybe modern conveniences.

Depending who we had been with, we might be missing people - friends or family - and be anxious to see them.

If we had been gone a long time, maybe we were looking forward to just getting back to a normal schedule. Or maybe we needed to get back to our own doctor or dentist and other services available in our home community.

...

But this time, things are different.

As for the comforts of home...

Well, THIS is home. It has been our home for over seven months now and it really does feel like home. This rig. This tiny house on wheels. It is fairly comfortable - and in some ways more modern than the old log cabin that is waiting for us. In fact, we have a bigger shower in here than in the cabin - so I'm not too excited about that down-grade.

As for family and friends...

Yes, I am terribly excited to see the littles (AND their mommy) and to bask in hugs and songs and laughing all around for days and days. And yes, we are looking forward to seeing our extended families and our good friends and enjoying more hugs and great conversation. But here's the deal. We have been wonderfully blessed to have time with dear ones while out here on the road, too. Time that we wouldn't have had at home. There were great times with two of our daughters and other loved ones. Plus we met new friends along the way as well.

Then there's the matter of our weird schedule upon arrival back in Michigan. We will arrive "back home" in progressive steps - stopping here and there along the way to visit kids and grandkids and siblings and to celebrate a momentous birthday - probably all before we even get "home." I'm actually kind of wondering when I'll feel like we're home. Will it be when we hit the Michigan state line? Or will it be when we get to our daughter's house where the little sweeties live? That's where my aching arms get to finally embrace the little ones that I've been so homesick for and where I can get down on the floor and laugh and sing and play and be silly. In a very real sense, I'm guessing that I will feel like I made it back home at that point.

It's certainly not that I don't want to go home to the log cabin. I bet I'll be pretty excited to get there. It will be fun to have more space and to find stuff that has been packed away in storage. It will be fun for both of us to have our own desk again. And I know that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy my comfy old beat-up couch.

But maybe it's that I don't have to be there in that particular location in order to feel at home any more. I have now felt at home in other places as well as we have been practicing the art of building a life on the road - and a home on wheels.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty thankful. It has been an amazing journey. And yes, there will be wonderful things about getting home - wherever that turns out to be. And then I need to make those phone calls to set up those appointment for dental and medical check-ups! Oh, yes, we also need to pick up our box of mail from the post office and sort through it all.

I guess we'll know that we are home once we begin jumping into all of that "normal" work.

Oh, and when I can get back to my own hair stylist... Oh, yes, THEN I'll feel at home.

Campsites I have known

The campgrounds are different. One night we will be lined up with other campers in a grassy field. The next night we might have a lovely spacious wooded campsite with pine-needle-covered trails leading here and there. And then we may revert back to the truck stop style line-up on stony gravel without enough room to even open our slider.

These were in fact our first three nights of this leg of the journey.

But there is one really good thing about these different campsites: the fact that it we only have to step inside to be at home. What a blessing! Especially on nights like this when my body is so exhausted and restless and desperately needs to crawl into my own bed.

So here I go...

At home in the Yukon Territory...

Good night.

Life on the road, life at Denali

Location: Rainbow Village RV Park, McKinley Park, Alaska

Outside: Raining. Again.

Miles traveled: None today or this week. We are just parked behind the shops along the boardwalk.

Walked: Here and there and everywhere in the canyon and in the national park

Hubby is: typing

Milestones:

• Two weeks ago today we arrived at Denali
• Four weeks ago we were camped by the ocean in sunny southern California just heading out on this middle stretch of our epic journey
• Six months ago we were starting to move into the RV and preparing for the big trip

Recent happenings: Copious amounts of rain resulted in mudslides and flooding yesterday. One slide here just above the canyon brought a tree down on power lines cutting off the electricity all along the boardwalk for 3 1/2 hours. Flooding in the national park washed out chunks of the road leaving tourists and staff stranded in buses at the end of the remote highway until helicopters could rescue them

Unexpected: so much rain and such cold temps. Not sure why this surprised me - except that it is late June

Other surprises: Lots of snow on Mt. Healy

Discoveries: the General Store that carries lots of little necessities - for a price!

Makes me smile: Hearing the train as it comes through the canyon

Makes me sad: Such limited internet access

Makes me drool: pulled pork at the Black Bear

Blessings: my winter coat found in the cargo hold - which makes a great raincoat, our cozy rig, close proximity to the Black Bear where I can get internet access AND see my daughter

Reading: History of Alaska - Land, People and Events.  (Thanks, Karina!)

Watching tonight: Probably nothing much. Maybe a little channel surfing. My excitement last week about finally having TV reception after four years without has quickly dwindled into disappointment at the lack of anything worth watching.

Considering: whether to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Fairbanks for supplies or just get by with what we can get here in the canyon and give up an arm and a leg to pay for it.

Accomplishments: I finally took time to find the addresses and write little notes on that pile of postcards I've been collecting. AND I took them to the post office!

Lessons: People are often more interesting that they might originally seem.

Looking forward to: Stacy coming in two weeks!

Tourists and schedules

Thousands of tourists come to Denali. Most of them will be here for two or three days - or maybe a week. There are lots of things to do and see around here. You can take a flightseeing tour to Mt. McKinley or you can even land on a glacier. You can go white-water rafting or ride horses. You can hike for miles in just about any direction. You can shoot pictures of amazing wildlife up close and personal. You can walk the boardwalk and stop at all the gift shops finding the perfect souvenirs and trinkets. You can try a variety of menus if you care to go out for dinner - or attend one of the dinner theaters in the canyon.

The typical tourist has to keep moving - in order to see and do all that he/she wants to see and do - and in such a short time.

But it's raining again today. Not great weather for being a tourist. Especially if you spent all those dollars and traveled all those miles to see the tallest mountain in North America, which happens to be obscured by clouds two days out of three.  However it might not be raining down there at the mountain. It is, after all, over 60 miles away - so it could be clear there. So maybe don't rule out the idea. Besides the other tourist-y stuff is not quite as much fun in the rain either.

But when you have only three days, you need to do what you came to do, rain or shine.

We, on the other hand, aren't really tourists. We can afford to relax because we don't have to see it all and do it all today and tomorrow - or even by the end of the week. We will be here awhile. So when it starts raining again, we can just curl up on the couch with a book and enjoy the cozy sound of the rain on the roof of our trailer. Ahhh...

We have the luxury of time. We might not have the luxurious accommodations at the resort lodge nor do we even have a fancy campsite. But we have our home on wheels and we have most of the conveniences that we really need. (See what I did there: equating convenience with need - as good Americans tend to do?) We have options. We can dig out our rain gear and go for our walk in the rain if we choose to - or we can just stay inside and enjoy the raindrop symphony.

Thankful Thursday - like it or not!

Thankful Thursday.

I didn't FEEL very thankful this morning. To be honest, fear and dread were rather near to the surface. I felt more nervous than thankful, but decided that this was a good opportunity to go ahead and BE thankful with or without the feelings. Fairly early in the day we got word that our little Tito was done with surgery and doing well. That helped me FEEL more thankful.

And then came the scary mountain roads. The ones that the guidebooks warn about in bright red italics. Oh, dear. The ones that start all kinds of thoughts bubbling in my head. Unhealthy thoughts. Negative thoughts. Out-of-control thoughts. What in the world are we doing? We must be crazy and irresponsible to attempt this! It was hard to FEEL thankful.

I remind myself that I have a choice. I can choose to "take every thought captive" to maintain sanity and a somewhat positive outlook. At least I can try. I choose to try - with varying degrees of success. I try to distract myself with studying the map or reading something unrelated or writing in my journal, but of course, I can't concentrate on anything else but this road. This stretch of highway. I avert my eyes - down to what I'm reading or writing. Or I try looking above the drop-off to the beautiful view across the valley.

Mile after mile. Nice level stretches when I could feel thankful. Long, steep downgrades when I had to discipline myself to stay steady and to breathe deeply. We stopped a time or three - just to stretch our legs and breathe a little more deeply and even to lay down and relax for a few minutes. And then we drove a few more miles.

Slowly we crept closer to our goal for the day. One more long windy stretch out of the way. One more 7% downgrade survived. And finally we made it. We pulled into the campground and I felt thankful. They honored our credit card* and I felt even more thankful. But I have to admit that the thing that might make me feel the most thankful is to have good internet. Wahoo!!!

...AND I am thankful for a gentle and patient man who gives me space to deal with my fears and who is such a good driver.

...

*Credit cards in foreign countries: It is wise to contact your bank and credit card companies to notify them of your upcoming travel - and even then you may have to call them to work out glitches.

Camping on the Pacific Coast Highway

 

 What a cool place to camp! On our right side is the ocean and on the left is the Pacific Coast Highway - just inches away. So close that passing trucks cause this rig to sway like crazy. Actually even a small car going by gives us some pretty good sway. Basically we are parked on the shoulder of the road - albeit a nice super wide shoulder with painted lines to mark the parking/camping spots. Our rig fits site #56 perfectly without having to unhitch - with barely inches to spare. The front bumper of the truck is about two inches from the line and the spare tire on the back of the trailer might be hanging over the line by an inch. Just a few feet beyond and above the road are the railroad tracks - where Amtrak trains come by every so often. Above the railroad a few hundred feet is the busy traffic of the 101 - the major thoroughfare between west Los Angeles and San Francisco. How cool to have most of the traffic sounds drowned out by the sound of the surf.

 

 

For the five months we have lived here in southern California, we have been fascinated by this phenomenon of campers lined up for miles along the PCH and have wished we could join them. Well, now here we are! Yet another unexpected gift!