On the Road!!!!!

We are now on the road!  I intended to write a week (or a day, or an hour at least...) before we left Oklahoma, but you know how things go. I used every last second for purging belongings, packing, seeing loves, etc.

We rolled out of Oklahoma City on Monday, April 8th. We made it all the way through the (seemingly neverending) Texas panhandle and into Las Vegas, New Mexico just after dark. Our Jeep was having some trouble so we boondocked (parked for free overnight) in the Wal-Mart parking lot and woke to the Jeep's check engine light. Awesome. We made it to an auto shop, where we parked Scampi in the back salvage area and stayed for 32.5 hours while our wheels were repaired. Not the loveliest start to the trip, especially since we weren't hooked up to electric and the night temperature stayed around 12 degrees F. But we made it, and the Jeep needed to get that final tune up before attempting our uphill climbs.

The mountains just North of Las Vegas on our way to Taos were absolutely gorgeous. Snow flurries floated around us as we ascended and the sun met us upon descent. Here we have been for a couple days...I'm not interested in exacting my times as its fun to get lost in the days. And speaking of, that's enough of the boring details. I'd rather show you things...

Before we left I photographed and videoed the Copperheads show at Kamp's

Clementine's crepe myrtle

content girl

warm rainy sunset in the Clem backyard

reflection, calming

neighbor s'more party, break from packing

The redbuds were just beginning to bloom! I'm glad I got to see this...

Driving out of OKC

playing in the snow in Las Vegas, NM

Rumi remembers her bite game from protection school

Snowy drive through the Carson National Forest

Door in Taos

Rae in downtown Taos

We stayed at the Taos Valley RV Park, this is the view looking North

taking Rumi for a walk, this is looking South back toward the RV Park

Taos, NM

I feel I should add, yesterday afternoon/evening I felt my first pangs of sadness. Missing "home," which actually isn't home at all but just a place where all my loves live, the area that is familiar. I am my own home. Rae, Rumi, our space together inside Scampi. But my chest was heavy with missing my family and friends and the vicinity of closeness. I know this is just the beginning of such. I know I'll not be ready when it fully sets in, there's no way one can be. You just feel it, hold yourself close.

My ex-husband, who I am still good friends with, texted me the day we left with a wish. It's a quote from Anthony Bourdain, whom we both adore...

"I wish that you will travel, see the world. That traveling will leave its marks on you, that it will change you. That you'll love much, discover yourself, become a more and more strong person, live your dreams, become the person you dream to be, and live a full life."

Those may be my favorite wishes among all that I have received before leaving on this journey. And so dear to me because we both had that wish for so long and nourished it alongside one another. But it was never time until now. And now is so, so right.

I will update again soon when we are connected again... Cheers, friends!