“I’m not going to die with my sailboat in the driveway.”
~Swanky from Nomadland
Now that the winter holidays are behind us, I feel like I can go back to “real life,” whatever that is. Time, or at least the way we mark time seldom interferes with my plans, or lack thereof. I only have to be aware of clocks when I am driving into California, since their clocks say it is an hour earlier than the Arizona clocks. In reality, their sun rises and sets pretty much the same time as mine does, but they just mark it differently, and so I need to be aware when traveling to CA early in the morning. Likewise, I often don’t know what day of the week it is, and for the most part it doesn’t matter unless it is Christmas, or New Year Day. My grocery run had to get moved to another day due to holidays. Now I can go back to not having to look at the calendar on my laptop when I need to go to town for supplies.
And I did just that on Thursday. I had a package at the Ehrenberg P.O. (my new folding chair) and I hadn’t done laundry since September. (When you are naked 90% of the time, you don’t have very many dirty clothes.) I went to the Ehrenberg Laundry Mall (or maybe they call it the Mall Laundry—either way, it makes little sense.) I did three loads of wash while I took a shower. The laundromat hasn’t changed much since the first year I stayed in Ehrenberg. It is clean, but in very bad shape. There are more washers and dryers with “out of order” signs than there are working ones. Usually I’m the only there, but today there were 4 other old men. Two of them were going on and on about how they are going to get extra money now that Trump is in office. How, they didn’t say, and judging by their accents and grammar, I suspect they are not on Trump’s “Take Care Of” list. They went on about several conspiracy theories and finally ended on the attempt to blow up Trump Tower with a Tesla Cyber Truck. I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. I jumped in and said “Didn’t you hear the latest?” They looked surprised. I said, “they took Elon into custody. He was trying to take Trump out so he could be the president.” One said “Oh my God. That’s crazy.” And they went right on to another conspiracy. A third man looked at me as if looking over the top of his non-existent reading glasses and raised his eyebrows. I flashed him a devious smile and he smiled back and shook his head as if he was unsure who was the craziest old man in the group.
After laundry, I went into Blythe and got some groceries and picked up Kung Pao Tofu from my new favorite Chinese place. Then back to Q where I topped off my freshwater tank and returned home to my spot across from David. I was wiped out. My shoulders were throbbing from lifting laundry and groceries in and out of the van and maybe from just driving. I ate half my Chinese food and then settled in to listen to an audio book. I was done my chores for at least several weeks. It was worth it to get everything done in one run.
Spectacular sunrises and sunsets continued this week. I look out the same “bedroom window” each morning, but the view is never the same twice.
Here’s a shot of my van one evening as the sun set behind me.
Weather has been good; mostly in the low 70’s and sunny. Very little wind which is unusual for Q. It gets down to around 40 at night which I think is perfect sleeping weather. Cosmo concurs.
Lessons From The Road: This week I watched the movie Nomadland for about the 4th time. Each time I see something I’d not seen in the previous viewings. The first time I saw it I thought it was a triumph that Fern, who was thrown into Van Life by a series of unfortunate events, embraced it and eventually chose it over alternatives. I watched it a second time when friends proclaimed “What a sad film.” I thought “Did we watch the same movie?” I re-watched and saw some sad parts, but far fewer than in “regular life.” She and the nomads around her were fully engaged. When life got tough, there was a neighbor ready to help.
This time watching it, it felt like home. The irony was not lost on me that I was watching a woman living in a white van in Quartzsite (much of the movie) from MY white van in Quartzsite. I saw landmarks that I knew. I saw a shot of the laundromat where I went this week to wash my clothes. I saw a van with the same LTVA permit on the windshield as I have. I saw the roads I travel and the spots I park. I was reminded of the RTR gathering that will be happening in just a couple of weeks. The first couple of times I watched the movie, it was about other people living a life similar to mine. This time it felt like a movie about MY life and the people in it. When I look out my window and see David sitting in the open doorway of his van parked at the other end of our campsite, and see him throwing a ball for his dogs, I smile with gratitude that this is my life.
I had many calls and texts the past few weeks from friends, wishing me Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. So many of them were from fellow nomads, celebrating somewhere else in the country. Many of the texts were to check to see if I would be at Skoolie, or if I’d go to the Hot Springs this winter. Many made plans to connect up later this month. It’s a good feeling to be part of that tribe.