It's been a rather quiet time here on the website over the summer, but that's been purposeful. After the rush of spring shows and festivals, Morgan and I took off in our trusty FJ and headed west. We had a very loose plan to drive a Southern route to California and then back on a Northern route, but otherwise to...."just wing it". We had a couple things we knew we wanted to see, but no idea how much we would experience in a couple of short months.
Camping most of the way across the country was challenging, with drastic climate changes, varying elevations and ever-present weather concerns. Without braving the elements, we would have missed out on so much. There were giant jackrabbits in Arizona, moose in Idaho, families of prairie dogs in California, coyotes in Nevada and swallows in Big Sur. Camping took us to whisper quiet gorges and canyons with no one for miles, and woke us at dawn in the fog on the cliffs of the West Coast.
On a road trip, my head is usually buried in my work. I always pack a bag full of half finished projects suitable for the car, because my hands always have to be busy. I approached this trip differently. I brought almost no supplies (just a few "in case"...because an artist can never be without her bits and bobs) . The goal of this trip was to travel with my eyes open to take it all in. I wrote, photographed, and mostly just enjoyed the journey. Plus, driving across country is hard!! Trying to keep yourself fed (relatively well) and finding a safe place to sleep at night (no hoards of flesh eating mosquitos or hungry bears) can be a full-time job. If you want to truly test your relationship...and I don't recommend this lightly...pack your life into your car and live within 3-4 ft of your partner for 2 months. It took a lot of patience and strategy on both our parts.
The trip was incredible. There are so many distractions in modern life, and it was freeing to simply focus on the day ahead. It was worth every mile, every penny, every minute.
