Reliving the trip is ALMOST as good ...

Met Donna of Always Backroads to compare Utah stories and get new ideas. Check, check! Time to get out the map.

Backcountry Bluff, Utah to Angel Peak, New Mexico. To Truth or Consequences.

 I'm back "home" now, with hot water that comes right out of the wall, and a big, squishy bed. It's the same, but everything is different.

It's a hydrant that's a dog ... the circularity boggles my mind.

I've known for a while that I want to reclaim the considerable parts of overlanding (I warned you earlier) that were full of wonder and magic. 

I was just a little stuck on the notion that that life had been hard and somehow ... traumatic? Fixated is probably the word.

This is the kind of "washing" you don't want to do while camping.

I also wanted some guidance and maybe company, realigning my head. And, by head, I mean my noggin and my toilet.

That's why it was both wonder-full and magical that my friend, Mike (YES DOOD, WE ARE TOO FRIENDS!!), invited me on his trip to Utah. He is one of the overlanding royalty, entering his ninth year of this life.

I had full swaths, not just slivers, of the recognition that I am meant for this. [Mom: I am also meant for a pied-a-terre; no worries.]

I'm also not the person I was three years ago. I've written aloud that I wonder what difference that might make.

Angel Peak Scenic Area. You can scene, but you can also camp.

Mike, my gratitude for your patience and im-. 

What I forgot.

Mike and I agreed: the rain is rare, but it looms large. We retreated to our rigs with snacks and books. I forgot how claustrophobic a little Prius can feel. NAP!!

There was something about this particular campsite in a little box canyon that seemed visually-rich.

I was too late to save him.

There's a lot about Utah that seems visually-rich.

Bears Ears. Stop looking for the apostrophe.

We surrendered to the weather and ran like the wind back to Blanding for hot food and hotter showers. Pro tip: 7-11/Exxon sells the best showers in everywhere.

The real question is where to go next. Question mark. We're thinking at least to lower elevation, which means Bluff, so that the precipitation is at least liquid. Bluff? Key West?

P.S. If you see a duck, wish it a happy birthday!

Getting Spud rolling: Utah

My friend, James, said ""traveling" is NOT touring New Mexico again." Fine, James. I hope you are satisfied.

Another friend* has invited me to join him in a backcountry camping trip into Utah, and that felt like a spark of inspiration. I've been ignoring an itch to camp again; it's just hard to remember how to be after a while off the road. While telling a friend (for example) that I needed to remember things like "take a toothbrush," I remembered that I hadn't packed a toothbrush. I had, however, packed a poop bucket and a toilet seat.

I've just been mildly stuck. Thanks, Mike**, for the "gentle" nudges you've been offering for about three years.

*He says we're not friends. Whatever, dude.
**His blog is mildly adult.***Whatever, dude.
***Those pictures are not me! Dude!

Let me show you a picture of not-Utah:

 

He was right outside my door, and didn't even care that I was home. DO NOT TELL ME WHAT THIS IS.

Looking good, ladies!

It was a delight to meet up with Nicole and Darlene, the vegetarian bean aficionados responsible for the adventures of Where the Wind Goes.* They were also responsible for a lot of encouragement way back when we were starting out on the road, plus getting us powered up.

I asked them about the most outrageous thing they had experienced on the road; they just looked at each other, puzzled. "Nothing outrageous really happens!" They asked me about outrage, but I couldn't come up with much, either. Take that for what it's worth (here's what it's worth): the nomadic life is not as uproarious as you might be imagining. OR (I lean toward this moral), it is as outrageous as you keep expecting it to be. 
Check out their blog - they keep it light. They're undisturbed by things like their van ("Annie") not starting. 'I guess we should have lunch, then!' There's a real element for them of relaxing into life that I love.

Let's do this again before another eight years passes, girls. I'm not going to keep these porcelain good looks forever.

*pats own back for getting "bean" and "wind" into the same sentence

Inappropriate! Not even about travel.

I'm dog-and-cat-sitting, with a lot of "creative" time on my hands.

Someone recently suggested I get business cards, so I browsed 1087 styles, many thematic. Then I switched to Facebook, where, as style would have it, I saw lovely pictures begging to be misused.

I'm excited to be meeting up with the gals from Where The Wind Blows after 8 years! Way back when, they hosted my then-wife and I at their sticks 'n' bricks and helped us get our RV electrical system straightened out. If you ever called Annie "Sparkypants," they're why.