Thursday, October 11, 2018

Summer is Over: Conflicts of Interests -- Oct 11, 2018

Yep!  The temps dropped 20* in one day and unless we have a fluke "summer day", they are telling us summer is definitely over!  Much to my dismay, I must add!

I've been remiss in posting due to several issues.  I am still dealing with "paperwork".  It is making me a crazy person!  LOL!  Well, crazier than "normal".  I would be dealing with this no matter what else was happening in my life.  It is a necessity to get it straightened out.  Speaking of other things happening in my and Bo's life, well............I had originally thought we would head out to Arizona for the winter and reside at our old stomping grounds outside of Yuma with our daily spectacular view....


I would have met up with lots of old friends, enjoyed the great weather, played desert golf every day, hiked, saved tons of money, etc, etc.  All good!  BUT, after carefully analyzing all of the pros and cons, I finally decided that some aspects of doing this in the van vs. an RV like I had lived in before, were going to be less than optimal.  RVs are, of course, self contained.  Primarily speaking of kitchens and bathrooms.  This obviously isn't the case with the van, at least my van.  If this winter was going to be anything like past winters out there, we would have been plummeted with sand storms and high winds more often than one would like to experience having all of your cooking apparatus outdoors.  Our little hunting blind tent would fly away like Mary Poppins!  And while there is a bathroom, we're talking about being out on hundreds of desert acres.  Unless you are parked right next to the bathroom, which can get pretty congested (and you know how I am about other campers being close to us!), driving to the restroom is the only option.  That just isn't feasible.  

So.......we are staying put at home base for the winter.  Frankly, I am not really thrilled about this.  This decision entails finding a place to live which has been a huge struggle.  1)  It's a very small college town.  I could list 100 reasons why non-college students have a very difficult time living here, but I won't;  2)  for me, it is claustrophobic after having been out in the wilds all summer in the wide open spaces;  3) personally, I find it pretty boring here,  But to be fair, nothing compares to being able to travel around exploring new places all the time; 4) and lastly, WINTER!  ACK!  Nothing more needs to be said about that!  I'm a bit disgruntled!  LOL!

BUT, the upside to all of this is I can concentrate on my other interest which was difficult to do in van life -- ART.  Sure, I could paint a small picture or do a little drawing from the van, but I'm very much into mixed media which means lots of different supplies spread out all over the place and several different projects going on at once.  Not particularly van friendly.  And it's a great winter activity since I will never go outside except to walk Bo and get groceries as infrequently as possible!  I have a lot of projects in mind.  

This blog, of course, has always been a "travel blog" about our nomadic lifestyle.  I have no idea if you all want to follow along over the winter with my creative interests.  I can only know that if you leave a comment.  Don't feel obligated to say, "Oh sure, I'd love to see what you are doing!"  It would be nice, but if you really aren't into it, that's really okay!  

To wrap up this summer's great excursions, I'm going to stop talking and walk down Memory Lane...we drove over 3000 miles and hiked just about as many!

















 





 









Just some of what Bo and I can look back upon all winter while waiting for spring to arrive!  Thanks for traveling along with us all summer!  I'll post here and there if anything interesting is happening.  

Take care, enjoy a pretty autumn and (I can't believe I'm saying this...) start preparing for the holiday season!  Yikes!

HAPPY TRAILS!