END OF CAMPING FOR AWHILE

Continuing from my last post, which was from early September, my friend Jim Lemkin had a photographic exhibit that opened at the APE Gallery in Northampton on September 4 and ran throughout the month.  

In 1965, Jim went down to Mississippi with other college students for Christmas break to work with SNCC on voter registration, since the 1965 Voting Rights Act had just passed.  His exhibit includes photographs from then, and also from March 2020 (right before COVID) when he went back to the same county to see how voting rights have changed, especially since the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013.  Within hours of that decision, laws began to be passed in the South to again make voting more difficult for people of color.  Jim hoped that his exhibit would spark efforts to make sure everyone can vote everywhere in the November election this year. I really loved the photographs and found the juxtaposition of then and now compelling. To see pictures from the exhibit, there is a short video with Jim at:  https://doesmyvoicecount.org.

Since I was in W. Mass, I decided to go to the BLM Standout which happens every Friday from 5 to 6 on the corner of Rt. 66 and Florence Rd.*  Friends from Rocky Hill Co-Housing started this earlier in the year and CAN has taken it on as well.  I made a sign to hold:

For 400 Years Black Lives Did NOT Matter.  Help Make Black Lives Matter NOW.

My friend Janice invited me to kayak at her home on Pine Island Lake.  It was a lovely warm day, perfect for kayaking.  On this lake, you can only use boats which live there, to avoid introducing invasive plants, so I was using Janice's kayak.  

Janice was very welcoming.

A family of ducks.  

For the fall, I travelled back and forth between Jim's driveway in Haydenville and Bill's in Philmont.  Jim's house is in the woods, overlooking a hillside orchard.  

I would often wake to deer, rabbits and other critters, right outside the camper windows.  

Beneath an old apple tree.  

Driving between Jim's and Bill's with the camper, the back roads pass through Otis.  I stopped to have a look at Lower Spectacle Pond in Otis State Forest.  The State Forest was the site of many protests one summer of an addition to a gas pipeline.  While we didn't stop them from putting in the pipeline, we cost them over a million dollars in extra security, which will be added into future plans for pipelines.  Hope that will discourage them!  The pond was pristine before they put in the pipeline and I wanted to see how it had faired.  Fortunately it looks just as beautiful.  I'll have to go back in the warmer weather and kayak there.  

While living in the camper in Jim's or Bill's driveway, I have to empty my waste tanks about once every 10 days.  This means driving to a place where they are set up for campers to dump.  Of course, you can Google the nearest one.  The closest one to Bill's in Philmont NY is at Taconic State Park, about half an hour away.  And there is a trail from the park to Bash Bish Falls.  So one day I hiked over to the falls.  Wow!  

You're not supposed to swim there, but there were a bunch of people swimming.  If I'd had my suit, I would have, too!  The gorge below the falls was very inviting and I clambered down the rocks for an hour or so.  Magical!

My cousin Bill has an old industrial building in his backyard, which needed serious renovation.  He had to figure out how to repair and replace the whole side wall of this section.  Luckily Bill and Arla are creative, and skilled in figuring out how to do most anything.  Here's a view from my camper:

One day, while the camper was parked in Bill's driveway, we had a heavy windstorm.  I came home to see that a tree overhanging the camper had lost two major branches - one 14" in diameter!  Looks like the lighter branches glanced off my little Turtle, but she is unharmed.  

In late October, I met my friend Marty at The Clark in Williamstown MA to visit the grounds and the museum.  

The Crystal

Even on an overcast day, the pools outside The Clark are lovely.

Diana

As the nights started getting colder, I began thinking about what I would do this winter.  While I did fill out an application to be a volunteer at Big Bend National Park in Texas for February, March and April, I haven't heard anything from them and suspect I won't until maybe December.  Once the temperature begins to drop, I either have to take my Turtle camper somewhere warmer, or I will have to winterize it and find a place to rent for the cold weather.  Reflecting on my options, I realized I didn't feel called or lead anywhere south.  So I decided to look for a place to rent near my cousins Bill and Arla in Philmont NY.  This is a quiet town near Hudson NY, only an hour and a half from Northampton (where I have many friends) and 2 1/2 hours from New York City (where my daughter and granddaughter live).  Philmont is known for cheap rentals, and I thought I'd like to be near Bill and Arla and their community.  There are many people in the area interested in the work of Rudolph Steiner, which includes Waldorf Schools, Camp Hill centers for people with disabilities, and groups studying anthroposophy, as well as anthroposophical doctors.  Since staying with Bill last fall, I have been reading some of Steiner's work and wanted to learn more.  I found a good place, in the house of a friend of Bill's.  Kendra is a sweet woman with two lovely young girls.  

I was very sad to do it, but I had to winterize my little Turtle camper.  It's little water pipes will freeze if temps get below about 25 overnight.  I love traveling and it has been such a cozy home for the last year, I didn't want to give it up.  I am hopeful, though, that I will be back to traveling again in a few months.  

Winterizing the camper was a trip.  First I drained the water out of all the tanks.  Then I needed to use an air compressor to blow the remaining water out of the 1/2" water pipes, the water pump and water heater.  Luckily I found a step by step video online.  Should take under an hour.  Bill loaned me his air compressor and a socket wrench to unscrew the drain on the water heater.  Except it wasn't deep enough to turn.  So Bill suggested I drive into Hudson and buy a longer one, which I did.  Still not long enough.  Bill was in the middle of cooking a special dinner for friends, but came outside for a second and I showed him how I was struggling.  "Oh, you need an extender!"  Which of course made it easy.  The right tool makes all the difference.  (But you have to know such a tool exists.)  And so it went for maybe 3 hours.  Next time I'll know what I'm doing and it WILL take under an hour.  Anyway, Turtle is all winterized.  In a little while, I'll move it into a good spot in Bill's yard for the next few months and put it's cover on.  All snug and safe.

Well, friends, I may not have much to report in this blog now that I'm staying in one place.  So you may not see any posts for awhile.  Although every day is an adventure wherever you are.  I'll keep you all posted. 

*The BLM Standout on the corner of Florence Rd and Rt 66 is now from 2-3PM, since it gets dark so early.