Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

Lumberman's Monument, Tawas, Michigan

I'm back from my travels and reviewing my fun, adventurous, kick ass trip:

• 58 days on the road
• 4,747 miles traveled
• 1 time almost ran out of gas
• 4 nights tent camping
• 1 night staying in a KOA "log cabin"
• 6 nights in different low budget to high budget hotels
• 2 nights back at home to regroup
• 25 nights at friends' homes
• 15 nights at family member's homes
• 4 nights at watercolor camp
• 10 places played Pickleball

I ended up taking the following route both by land and air:

I drove (my Subaru Crosstrek) from:

Reno to Winnemucca, NV to Boise, ID to LaGrande, OR to Portland, OR to Seattle, WA to Portland, OR to Ashland, OR to Trinidad, CA to Ft. Bragg, CA to Willits, CA to Reno, NV to Elko, NV to Holladay, UT to Rawlins, WY to Ft. Collins, CO

My wonderful friends Hans and Cindi Coester were super generous to me while I stayed with them and also let me store my car in their garage for three weeks while I continued my trip by air.

Cindi & Hans Coester and their son Jake and doggies Moosie and Zee

I flew from:

Denver, CO to Minneapolis, MN to Chicago, IL

Drove (my dad's uber cushy, huge Ford Explorer - thanks Jer!) from:

Glenview, IL to Ann Arbor, MI to Tawas City, MI to Ann Arbor, MI to Cement City, MI to Chicago, IL

I flew from:

Chicago, IL to Denver, CO

I drove from:

Ft. Collins, CO to Green River, WY to Salt Lake City, UT to Elko, NV to Reno!

I played Pickleball in:

Portland OR, Ashland OR, Eureka CA, Cottonwood Heights & Holladay UT, Chicago suburbs and Ann Arbor, MI (at the same recreation center I used to swim in when I was in college - that was a real TRIP going back there 30 years later!)

Pickleball at Washtenaw County Rec Center, Ann Arbor, MI

Some things I learned on this trip:

• I would definitely do a trip like this again, but maybe for a month instead of two months.
• I would like to camp more next time and see some state and national parks, but only if I have a friend camping with me.
• Anyone with a reliable car and a phone with a map app can do a trip like this, even solo!
• I gained a lot of confidence venturing out and being on the road by myself.
• I learned to be comfortable in a constant state of transition.
• The Pickleball community is almost always very welcoming to a stranger just walking on the court.  
• My organizational skills came in super handy in my car and in all the different places I slept.
• It paid off sending all those Christmas cards for all those years and keeping in contact with friends and family members.

I felt a tremendous sense of gratitude coming home to my familiar, comfortable, beautiful home and space.  And being home, I truly believe that the Reno/Tahoe area is among the most gorgeous places in this vast country filled with such diverse landscapes and scenery.  Now it's my turn to host.  Come visit me, friends and family, in Reno!

Heading East - Rebuilding a Life

Brighton Ski Resort, Utah - with Ally

My pitstop in Elko helped me get further down the road to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Leaving the Ruby Mountains in the rear view mirror, I stopped at a rest area along the way to check out the salt flats.

Salt Flats

I arrived in Holladay, Utah (suburb of Salt Lake City) at my dear friend Ally's house.  And bonus, her daughter Maddie was there!  We three enjoyed girlfriend gabbing, hiking, dog walking, dinners and pickleball for a couple days.

                                               Dog walk with Wes and Pickleball in Cottonwood Heights

  
She paints!


Maddie

 

Ally

Brighton Ski Resort

Both Ally and I went through divorces at about the same time several years ago.  We both ended up selling the family homes in Danville, California.  We both ended up moving to the healing mountains.  Ally to Holladay, UT and I to Reno, NV.  Ally grew up in Holladay and still has a network of family and friends there.  I didn't know anyone in Reno when I moved there except my son who was at UNR at the time.  I've since built a network of friends through yoga, pickleball, art and neighbors.

Changing the environment has a lot to do with the forward progression, and so has making new friends, relying on old friends and family, creating art, practicing yoga, meditation, journaling, traveling, finding new activities to stimulate the brain and body.  These divorces can kick our butts or propel us forward.  I choose to move forward, so has Ally.  

Change Is The Only Constant

I'm on Day 25 of this roadie.  Tonight I'm staying in my first low budget hotel on this trip.  $47 including tax at The American Inn in Elko, Nevada (ironically run by a lovely, little Indian woman). $47 gets me fresh towels, WiFi, a mini fridge, a microwave, a tv and Gideon's Bible. Oh, and a built in bottle opener in the bathroom door frame.

I was commenting to a friend about how many trips to my car I have to make at all the different places I go to gather stuff I need.  He said, "you will be so dialed in by the time you are done with this trip."  True, but the reality is, every place that I go is different and requires different stuff.  I am exceedingly organized in my car set-up though, and that helps tremendously.  In fact, I don't know how someone messy or disorganized could attempt a trip like this, living out of one's car and staying in different places most nights.  Change is indeed status quo for me right now and my organizational skills help me accept this new, temporary reality.  Ah, but is change ever temporary?

Since my last post, the Fall Equinox occurred, ushering in the first day of autumn, a change of season. How fitting that I'm in such a state of flux right now, during these travels.

Highlights from the last ten days!

Days 13-14 - Ashland, OR

 

Willow-Witt ranch outside of Ashland, OR

I felt like a bad ass because I was completely alone in this campground and I had to get over the fear at night of utter darkness.  It was also really cold in the mornings and at night, in the 40s (elevation 5000 feet) and why do we tend to feel more afraid when it's cold?  Shoulders tense, body tightens.  Had to breathe and repeat the mantra, "What would you do, Kerry, if you weren't afraid?"  And then I told myself I would relax and get a good night's sleep.

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Saw Henry V and played Pickleball in Ashland, OR

Days 15-16 - Trinidad, CA

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Trinidad, CA with Teacher Isobel, Talon, Cayenne & Andy Pruter

Got to organize their fridge AND play Pickleball in Eureka, it was a perfect day

Day 17 - 18 - Willits & Ft. Bragg, CA

   

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Willits KOA & Ft. Bragg Glass Beach, CA with my BFF Jamie

Days 19 - 23 - Emandal Art Stay Camp, outside of Willits, CA on the Eel River, no WiFi or cell coverage.  I experienced both FOMO and JOMO. (Fear of Missing Out and Joy of Missing Out) 

  

 Watercolor camp with Tracy and The Ostrich

 
Eva Nichols, our amazing and talented watercolor teacher, check out her YouTube channel

The five watercolor and ink projects we completed:

       

Days 24 - 25 - Reno to Elko, NV


Winnemucca, Ridley's Market

After a wonderful break from the connected world at Emandal, I returned to Reno to regroup for two nights before heading east to Salt Lake City.  I was a guest in my own home!  I stayed in my guest room for these two nights because I'm renting out my house to a friend while I'm away.  I have a really nice guest room, I should stay in it more often.  And, my house is WAY bigger than my car.

I have been a hostess for so many years, especially in my former, married life.  It's a nice change of pace for me to be a guest in other people's homes for a while.  It's not in my nature to ask for things, so it is good practice for me to call or email a friend and say, "hey may I crash on your couch for a night?"  So far everyone has said YES!  And that's so sweet.

Today I lit out of Reno, for the second time on this trip, and headed to Elko, Nevada.  I had a pit stop in Winnemucca at Ridley's because I know where the bathrooms are.  And here I am, at The American Inn, in Elko, Nevada, looking forward to a warm, sleepy night on a soft, lumpy mattress.

Whew! You Made It!

95 North

95 North from Winnemucca to Boise was golden desolate with very few places to pull over to pee on the 2-lane, no shoulder highway.  Not a lot of humanity on this 258-mile Nevada-Oregon-Idaho stretch with frequent areas of no cell phone coverage.

When I'm on the road alone I try to have one hour of head-clearing, present silence in the car per day.  No music, no podcasts, no phone calls, no screens.  Just undistracted driving and noting the scenery around me.  

Freshly paved, black asphalt

Bright yellow and white dotted lines

Sandy scrub

Dotted variegated green sage

Fluorescent green fields

Smooth, sandy surfaced rolling hills

Brown, black cattle 

Sparse tufts of trees indicate small, hidden ranches

Dunes meet mountains

Cruise control 75 MPH

Ghost towns

Gas $3.48

Beige, Beige more Beige against Blue Sky

And then, just like that, out of the moonscape and into suburbia as Boise sprawled out before me.  Riverside RV park was a green oasis nestled behind the fairgrounds in Garden City!

     

Boise Riverside RV Park in Garden City

I set up camp and picked up one of my best friends, Jennifer Jo, at the Boise airport.  We walked through Boise State's campus and ended up downtown at Wild Root Cafe that blared 80s rock reminding us of our college days. The Boss! Prince! 

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Boise reminds me of a higher end, casino-free Reno nestled into surrounding yellow mountains and offers more shopping and entertainment.  The houses and downtown neighborhoods are well kept with considerably less grit than Reno.

 

Downtown Boise, Idaho

Made it back to the Boise Riverside RV camp after dinner and found more tents set up near ours.  I was excited to have a snuggle buddy in my tent this night.  We giggled like college girls and drank red wine.  We planned out the strategy in case some of the neighboring RV or camp revelers surprise visited us in the middle of the night.  You spray the bear mace, I'll blow the whistle.

We were off to sleep shortly after being serenaded by the alarming sounds of fireworks shooting off a couple hundred yards from us at the Boise Hawks ballpark, post ball game celebration.  

The night before I drifted off to sleep to trucks and motorcycles whizzing down the highway in Winnemucca, and this night's sleep sounds were fireworks and beer drinking, pickup truck driving men partying next door.  

Ahhh, the sounds of nature...

Day Two!

One Day or Day One. You Decide.

80 East

Day One...of 60-day road trip.  I lit out of Reno at 3:45pm on a Thursday after teaching my last yoga class for two months.  Winnemucca or Bust!  It was a short, 2.5 hour drive.  Left the high desert and drove through more high desert.  Headed northeast.

Landscape was golden, with brown, grey and beige tinged mountains.  Little to no smoke, with mostly clear, blue skies. High 80s.

Little pink house in Winnemucca

Headed to a KOA campground in Winnemucca.  Never need to visit this campground again, unless I want a great bathroom and hot shower.  Other than that, it's just too much concrete and road noise. But, I found the trees, and that's where they have the tent sites.  Yay.  My yoga students were ribbing me saying, "Yeah right, you're gonna set up "camp" in the nearest Candlewood Suites." 

Winnemucca KOA.  Looks better in the picture than in person! Bathrooms are great though.

On this first night I am solo.  One challenge of being solo is figuring out when to set up the tent.  I pulled in before sunset and thought, Oh, I'll set up the tent and then go into town for dinner and a walk.  But I felt like my little tent would be too exposed sitting there all alone, and would someone steal it, or my sleeping bag?

So instead I headed for Riddley's (local supermarket) and had a hot, cheap chicken tortilla soup while standing at a high table in Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters coffee shop.  $5.00 for dinner, not bad, especially considering tomorrow's chai latte and scone will be at least $8. 

After dinner, I found a green park with grass and stretched my legs a bit.  This park had a golf course, a skate park, little league fields, a swimming pool and playground.  Lots of families and kids enjoying sunset while watching their little ones play football.

Little tykes football practice at sunset in Winnemucca

I parked near the skate park and watched some shredding for a bit.  I find comfort in skate parks.  I used to take my boys to them when they were growing up.  I appreciate the skate culture because of my oldest son and I admire the complexity of the tricks.  In some ways it makes me feel at home.  We had a half pipe in our home in Danville when the boys were growing up.  Other than the next door neighbor complaining about the noise, it remans a great memory.

Skatepark in Winnemucca

Who would have known that at age 52 I'd be on a solo road trip, enjoying a skate park vibe in Winnemuca, Nevada, on the first of a 60-day road trip? !

My youngest son Sam (age 22) stopped by my home before I left.  He said,  "Jeez Mom, you turned 50 and are doing all kinds of adventurous stuff!"  I smiled inside.

Because truly, if I had still been married, I would have never entertained this as an exciting option.  I probably would have scoffed at any divorcee planning this kind of trip.  Oh, how life changes...

Day One!