By Sunday, everyone I knew either left or was leaving Marshall Lake. I took the opportunity to settle in and just decompress. As much as I enjoyed having a multitude of friends, old and new staying nearby, I also enjoyed looking out and seeing no other campers or vehicles. I focused on Cosmo, took several walks, and sat outside in the sun for a while and read. Monday, I made a plan to leave on Tuesday morning. Mike, who had stayed on and off in a box trailer down the road was researching places to go. He settled on Ashurst Lake, a few miles up the road southeast of Lake Mary. He moved on Sunday, and I told him I’d join him on Tuesday. So, Tuesday morning, I got up, got organized, packed most everything up and buckled the rest down and went to do laundry and then to pick up some food items I was running low on. I stopped and got gas, and by 1:00 I arrived at Mike’s camp spot. It was a bit tight for me, so I moved one spot down and settled into an enormous spot.
I realized that I may have to share it come July 4th weekend, but there was plenty of room for another. Mike works as a carpenter during the day, so when he returned home after 5:00, Cosmo and I walked over and joined him. He had a joint and I made a margarita and we sat and chatted until almost sunset. I went home and soaked in the forest sights, sounds and scents. It was only going to get down to the mid-50’s at night, so I slept with the windows open.
On Wednesday, Cosmo and I went exploring. There appeared to be lots and lots of very large spots down the road, and the place was absolutely empty, so perhaps I wouldn’t have to share my spot after all. No sooner had I thought that than Bryan (the photographer who I stayed up with to shoot the Milky Way) texted and asked if I was still near Flag (apparently people in AZ, especially people who live or have lived in Flagstaff just call it “Flag.”) I told him I moved a couple miles down the road and he asked if he could join me for 4th of July weekend. I told him I had lots of room and to come on up.
The rest of the week was uneventful, and that’s a wonderful thing. Mike worked during the day, so I mostly had the entire section of the campsites on this road to myself. I walked and sat outside and read while Cosmo lay next to me watching for rabbits. (We did see one, almost big enough to put a saddle on! Its ears were easily over a foot long.) Bryan came in Friday afternoon and we all sat around Mike’s new propane campfire. Due to lack of rain, campfires are now banned in the forest, but propane stoves and campfire rings are permitted. Mike and Bryan swapped “straight boy stories” talking about Super Bowl games, football players, their favorite brands of trucks, etc. To me, it was as if the conversation suddenly turned into another language, so I contented myself with watching the rapidly waxing moon rise between the tall pines.
Lessons From The Road: I’m staying near people I don’t have a lot in common with. Mike and Bryan are both far to the right of me politically. Mike has mentioned “god” several times. Both have apartments and come out camping when they can, so although they talk of someday “going full time,” as of now, they have homes other than the road. They talk of football, baseball, and players who I’ve never heard of. They talk about pick-up truck brands interspersed with numbers either describing the model or perhaps the engine size? It’s foreign to me. In another world, they would not be my friends. In many worlds I’ve lived in at a different time in my life, I might have actively started an argument with them. Out here, it doesn’t matter to me. When they speak of things that I don’t have a clue about, or when they speak of things that I feel I know a LOT about, but disagree with, I just disengage. I watch the moon rise, or Venus set, and if there is a pause in their praise of Donald Trump, or how great the new Ford F 150 is, I point out Venus in the west, and once again we can all get on the same page. That is something I was unable to do when I lived in that other world (My friend Jonah calls it “The Empire” and I think that is fitting, so I will do so from now on.) In the Empire, we all seemed to work hard at finding things to disagree about, to look to see if we could label anyone as “the others.” That happens here on occasion, but not very often. We are all out in nature, surviving on less than those who live in the Empire full time, and for whatever reason, it is somewhat easier to find common ground.