I'm a Camper (I meant to capitalize that.) I mean Born a Camper! I was born in 1960 and both my parents got vacations, and weekends. Together they made enough for regular things,but not vacations with the accompanying motel bill.
So We Camped! We went through several tents and camped at some great places (When we were camped closed to home we took our Honda dirt bikes.) That was what was fun, back then,before computer games and air conditioning! Everyone had certain jobs setting up camp when we were bigger. I have to blame my camping habits on my parents, for how I set up a campsite.The order off it all anyway. Get the tent up,set up my kitchen,etc. etc. Cutting my finger first threw me outta my regular groove.
I was camping across country.I would turn 41 on this trip, so it had taken me awhile to get up the guts to do this.Plus it was a convenient time as I also had somewhere to be on the West coast on 7/11. I had always looked at I-40 and wondered what was down the road,so I decided to go see. Basically I going to great sites Id always wanted to see along I-40.(I had stopped and bought a National Parks Pass at The Great Smoky Mountains visitors center).I would be going from National Parks and States Park where I tent camped, to Koas where I put myself up in a nice wooden Kabins (or Kabins as they are spelled in KOA speak, ok spellcheck? ) for barely more money that a tent site in the woods.And everyone felt I was safer, When I got to Newport Beach I would stay in a nice place.The Newport Beach Hilton.( I was going to attend The USAG National Gymnastics Symposium ) I had no companion. Usually I camped with my husband, kids, or here recently a yoga buddy. But I had camped alone alot, so I was ready for there being no one around to talk to, and I was getting used to camping out of my Jeep. It had a few flaws. For one I carried all my camping supplies up in the car top carrier. I had to crawl up on top to get my stuff for the night, and I had no one to hand it to. So course I had to wind up dropping it.... gently...I hadn't thought of those little problems when planning this trip.
My family gave me an early Birthday party in June,and everyone brought camping supplies.You know propane, a new sleeping bag, camp-friendly food,film,film, and more film. This was about 1 year before I went totally digital.Of course my family and husband had a few concerns with me traveling so far,and being gone for so long, but I was always a free spirit and those who knew me knew there was no sense trying to talk me out of it.I got my first cell phone to avoid the long distance charges that calling home every night would cause.
I left on the 30th of June 2001.After a farewell breakfast at a friends restaurant I hopped on I-40 around 6 am EST and hi tailed it outta the South. When I got to the Great Smoky Mn ts National Park I went in and bought my best investment of the trip.A $50 pass for ALL the Nat. Parks in the country.I had every intention of hitting as many of them as I could.The first night and I got to Nashville KOA around 7 and called a friend who had moved to Nashville to become a country music star.After I got a good campfire going I opened a beer and waited on my friend to show up. He got there and we sat and talked for awhile. He was really getting into computers, and I listened to alot of stuff that made no sense then...but after 11 years and 2 crashed computers make lots of sense.I left the next morning rested albeit a little hungover.although after looking at my trip journal I see written in big letters. TN DOT SUCKS!! Lol.
I made it to Amarillo the next day. The KOA was nice. Set back aways off 40.There were no trees though and tent campers usually like trees.
Of course tent campers(I) rarely stay at KOAs because the sites are so close together and RVs are in abundance. I have nothing against people with enough money to buy my house and drive it down the road to camp and try to be closer to nature. And when you stay at a KOA you just accept that there will be generators running all night, but tent campers(I) like to hear crickets and stuff at night . Not electric generators!
I was staying at KOAs because I had discovered 2 years earlier on a trip to the Yoga Journal convention at The Rocky Mtn YMCA,(Estes Park, Co) that KOAs have these functional little Kabins that have actual beds in them.And yes some +have heat and/or air. But my main reason for staying in them was for the security.They usually have a full time host who lives there,a nice bath and shower facilities, sometimes even a pool and hot tub My friend and I had taken respite in them the year before on that trip to Co. The hubby said he would rest easier if I would stay in a few Kamping Kabins during my trip. All that sounds great but ....wonder how true I reflect 10 years later....". I noticed a nice looking man in the Kabin next to me. After waves and introductions he got us a couple beers and we sat on his porch swing and started talking. I found out his name was Carl and he worked for the deputy in some county in Ca. He was on vacation with his 3 kids....in one of those annoying RVs I was talking about and had reservations at this KOA. When I asked him where his RV was? , he said "damned if I know. We got hi-jacked as soon as we hit Arizona." Carl stopped to help a car change a tire and 2 men held him up at gunpoint. They put him and his kids out on the side of the road and took his RV. They took all their possessions, even his wallet! This dude was a cop at that. This was an early in my trip;a reminder not stop to help a broken down car! Call the cops!Keep driving!That is against my nature.
I left early the next morning because I wanted to see Stanly's Cadillacs.The amazing Caddys planted off an exit ramp outside of Amarillo. They are hard to find because there are no signs , and Texans don't seem to know where they are...or its some funny local secret... after stopping at a country store I found them. Wandering around in the Cadillac garden I thought about my husband.He and I had vacationed here last year when he suddenly decided to go to The Yoga Journal Event in Estes Park. He and I had wandered among these Cadillacs with our spray paint in our hands.He hadn't worked in awhile (2 years) and we had been living off a decent little inheritance check. I had kept my job and even started a new Yoga studio. I had been teaching for awhile,but all over town from this church rec hall to that persons basement, to the hospital and I was looking forward to having ALL my classes in the same place. Anyway that's a different story! We had just connected to the Internet 9 months before and I was sure that's what he was doing.Playing games.(I didn't know about chat!) I hadn't said this or admitted it to myself but this trip was also to think about our marriage. 22 years is a long time to spend with someone else.. and I was bored. He wasn't interested anymore.In me or in him getting a job. You know..Wheres the Love? Texas was only 98 miles off my trip but it sure took up alotta time!July 3 2001,Flagstone Ariz and I'm by myself more than half way across the country in a Koa where the bathroom is a good 2 miles away. I had driven like I was in a trance through New Mexico, (playing Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues most of the time). New Mexico was so....wide...so colorful, so beautiful, so amazing. I stopped at Petrified Forest/Painted Desert. It took me all day! Painted Desert is on the North side of 40 and it is vast....so colorful....so unlike anything I would have thought.It is a nice paved loop and comes back to 40, straight to the entrance of Petrified National Forest. As soon as you go into the Petrified Forest you realize that these trees don't stand upright at all. They are on the ground, turned to what feels like, looks like, stone.There are samples there from the dinosaurs. This is another loop back to 40. It was July 3 rd and you would have thought there would have been a lot of traffic...well maybe I just didn't notice the traffic, I was so dazzled. America is so beautiful and I have the pictures to prove it! Lol I may scan them and show you. Plus I bought a piece. It is beautiful and would knock out a would be assailant! Its in the corner cupboard for the lucky grandchild who reads this.Ha!
It looks kinda like this but smaller.
Petroglyph There was no air in the Kabins, I was tired and it was 99c at 10pm. I was too tired to worry about it...In a Kabin I could sleep in my underwear and my fire was just embers. It was time for sleep,but sleep wouldn't come. I had...what I considered to be an important BD coming up next week and I had no idea what would be going one. I should be in Newport Beach by then and studying for several test. Oh please Karen not on your birthday! But who would celebrate with me? Should I just keep quiet that it was my BD?
From Travel Journal July 4 2001 Day 5
Boy adventuring today......started out with Sunset Volcano (got some soil samples) and Lava Flows....Wipatiki Monument and Pueblo Dwellings.......then on to Oak Canyon to walk among the ruins.Good little hike then on down 89a to Sedona, found a bad waitress (yes it says bad), black and white film (and yes it says black and white!) ,and a great jeep road through Red Rocks. Very spiritual here among these rocks, different, went down to Montezumas Wall and hiked around.....saw lizards .....figured out two back to back country roads....mostly dirt for sunset pics.....got lost coming back to the Koa but was a full moon so figured it out. Shower, full moon, fireworks (and they do fireworks good here in Arz.) Ham and cheese all day!! Couldn't get much better!! Wonder why Dans not called? He had a date with Fran....makes ya wonder. KJG
OK let me clarify a few things here in 2012...I'm not a geologist but I do get into rocks, so as my film cans emptied of film I was trying to scoop up dirt.This day was Sunset Volcano. Sedona,and Oak Canyon.
It says a Bad waitress...that's what it means...i didn't doddle long in my journal.
And I Used to have to use 2...count 'em...2...cameras if I want to take black and whites because cameras didn't come with that option. So I just loaded 2 cameras.One with color and one with black and white.Usually loaded the oldest one with the black and white.
And about the Jeep Rd.....what I mean is...they used to have these Jeep tours of Sedona..The Pink Jeep Tours..and I just loved the brochure...so I staked out the Jeep tours place and discretely followed one to the beginning of the rd., where I let them lose me, and I would find myself on the map (i used an Atlas). Then I took my time and played in 4 x4 in my own jeep on the back roads. An East Coast Country Girl in Arizona!Ye Haw!
I don't get lost easily. and when I do I chill and follow my head. It usually will tell me which way is North.I love full moons, fireworks,and hot showers when I don't have to pay for the hot water.!! And I love ham n cheese.Hot is better but oh well.I hadn't heard from my hubby all day....but my Verizon Network was unreliable out west....and jumping ahead to the next day that is what is was children.I saw the missed calls Lol.I guess canyons , mtns, and cell phones didn't mix in 2001! Or today... And Fran was a really cool woman that dvg worked with. She was an archaeological major....she had all kinds of neat stuff. And Fran and dvg got together sometimes when I went on retreat..be it gymnastics or yoga....she kept him sober......not sexually no...but mentally...she was his ex boss from a company that had just been outsourced overseas.......this was on the edge of IM and stuff.....At least for some folk. i have no agenda here it was just time for that part of the story to come out. Besides that is not who my husband was talking to...her name is Lin not Fran.
And its time for that part to end....And this part to end......we will pick up here next week.
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