YAY!!!! BACK ON THE ROAD
My last post from November explained why I decided to winterize my camper, Turtle, and rent space in the home of a friend in Philmont NY for the winter.
This has been a wonderful community to be part of, warm and welcoming. I don't know how I would have gotten through this Covid winter if I hadn't had people around me who weren't masking or social distancing. I know, I'm a BSN RN and well trained in infectious disease principles. However, there are many divergent ways of looking at this Covid moment and some of them make good sense, explaining a different way of understanding what we have seen, including the serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths which have been so tragic. I don't think I'm smart enough to really be certain which point of view is most thoughtful and correct. I do know that "science" is sometimes used to promote a very narrow view of what is happening which benefits someone's monetary interests. When it came down to what I would choose to do, my heart and my intuition said it just isn't human to mask and isolate and create so much fear in people. And so I went with the open ways of the community in Philmont. I also think that, putting all our Covid recovery eggs in the vaccination basket is going to make some people obscenely rich and overlooks many simple and effective ways to keep healthy, like taking appropriate vitamins, getting good sleep, hugging and being hugged, leaving fear out entirely and being in a warm and supportive community. We are most fortunate that the only cases of Covid in the county around Philmont were a few initial cases in the local nursing home, which was terrible enough, of course. I know this view is controversial as well as my decision not to get vaccinated. I am highly concerned about long term consequences of the mRNA vaccines, which we can't know for decades if not generations. Even the Johnson & Johnson, which uses technology we have seen for years, is difficult for the body to manage and I'm not planning to take it. So, my dear friends, I'm sure some of you will be worried for me, and I appreciate your care. I do think the whole Covid experience has been chaotic, confusing and everyone just has to make their own choices. I respect your choices and will wear a mask when I'm with someone who wants me to, and/or in a public place where it is required. Hoping you will afford me the same respect for my choices.
So what did I do all winter? Lived in my rental, got to know this lovely community, and helped out Kendra from whom I was renting, and her lovely daughters Diana and Athena (two young goddesses). I drank the wonderful water from a spring in Chatham, ate healthy food, studied anthroposophy, read a lot of novels, and went for nearby walks even in the snow.
It was a meditative and quiet time. Once a month I met my daughter Samoa for a hike in one of the parks midway between New York City where she lives and Philmont. We felt hiking outside was Covid safe.
And I spent holidays with her and my granddaughter, taking Covid precautions as best as possible. We walked on Dead Horse Beach, which was a dump site until a few decades ago, and the beaches are still full of old bottles and other detritus.
The only green spaces for walking in Queens, where Samoa lives, are cemeteries, some of which are quite old and fallen into beautiful decay.
And we walked on the beach at Far Rockaway, which looks in some places, like a post-apocalyptic world.
In February, I began to have the sense it would be time to get back to my travels soon. And then Samoa said she wanted to drive out west to see her "sister" Val in Nevada. I offered to take her. Well, she really wanted her own car and her Dad's friend Dick found her a great one. So we decided to caravan across the country together starting April 15th. We agreed she needed to get to Nevada by the end of April and that I wouldn't be comfortable driving more than 200-250 miles a day. We decided that could work, and set off!!
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