“Oh, I’ve been smilin’ lately
Dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be
Some day it’s going to come
‘Cause out on the edge of darkness
There rides a peace train
Oh, peace train take this country
Come take me home again
Get your bags together
Come bring your good friends, too
Our cause is getting nearer
It soon will be with you
And come and join the living
It’s not so far from you
And it’s gettin’ nearer
Soon it will all be true
Oh, peace train soundin’ louder
Glide on the peace train
Oh, peace train take this country
Come take me home again”
― Yusuf/Cat Stevens
Soundtrack for a Sunday Morning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpjR6-Uuks
What a wonderful week. The weather has been great. Lots of sunshine, little wind, temperatures averaging in the mid 70’s. I have really settled in at my new site “on the fringe” with my friend David not too far away in the same opening. Cosmo is getting along well with David’s two dogs in spite of the language barrier (Hoonka and Lito understand Spanish; Cosmo not so much, but I suspect they all speak dog fluently).
I spent some time each morning waxing my van. I bought the wax a year ago, but never got my van clean enough to apply the wax. David showed me how he did his 1975 van. He sprayed a panel with a water bottle, used an ultra fine grit sand paper to scrub and then wiped clean with a dry cloth. He then immediately waxed that panel before the dust could blow on it and cover it again. I did a similar method, using a kitchen scrubby and water bottle. It makes quite a difference. I should finish up by the end of the week, as I am only doing a panel or two each day.
I drove into Ehrenberg on Wednesday to pick up some packages at the Post Office. Deborah sent my new passport which arrived at her house (My Delaware address) so I can now leave the country and return easily should I choose to. I picked up my new solar panel that will keep my coach battery charged. I think the hookup should be quite simple and David has agreed to take a look to get me the simplest setup. I treated myself to take out Chinese food again from a restaurant in Blythe, CA. I LOVE that restaurant’s Kung Pao Tofu. Cheap, delicious and makes two meals for the price of one.
I spent the night in Ehrenberg on BLM land. Once again, I settled in a spot with no humans (or their rigs) within eyesight. It was a nice break from Quartzsite. Even on the fringe there, I can easily see a half dozen other rigs from my spot and one is, unfortunately, close enough that I can often hear his generator running. (I’m not a fan of generators. I think they are fine in an emergency, but to run one for 16 hours a day is wrong on so many levels. They are noisy, they are polluting, and they are just an affront to many of us living off-grid and wanting some solitude, peace and quiet.
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When I returned to Quartzsite on Thursday, I found that David had been busy in my absence. He had made a sign that said “Dead End” and an arrow indicating to make a U Turn. Our campsite does indeed dead end just past his van. Apparently several off-roaders came through our site, saw that it dead-ended and cut through the wash. David said they came tearing through leaving a wake of dust, so he was trying to discourage people from using our site as a cut through.
I showed him my solar panels and asked for his advice/help. He came over and gave me his suggestion on several options for hooking them up. Some I had thought of, others were not so obvious. I settled on one and he helped me drill a hole in the side of my van to add the external plug-in outlet. Then he left me with his tools and told me I could handle it. I had my doubts, but I got it completed, and it is a game changer to not have to monitor my solar input so closely. No more switching back and forth from AC to DC to keep my coach battery charged. Running my main solar power on DC for most of the day (no inverter running) allows the battery to charge almost twice as fast. And unlike the annoying neighbor’s generator, it is silent.
Lessons From The Road: This week has been full of lessons. Mostly I’m Re-learning contentment. At my last spot, there were many people driving by on the road, or walking past on the nearby path. Most waved or smiled. Some said, “Good morning” or “hi.” Very few stopped to talk. Constant traffic, and very little interaction. It left me feeling disconnected and discontented. At my new spot I feel very connected (To the desert and to David and his dogs) and have regained my appreciation of the beauty around me. I have spent many hours just sitting in the sunshine, appreciating that there is no place I need to be, nothing I must get done. And when I DO accomplish something (like waxing my van or installing a new solar controller and panel) It feels like more than enough. I’m exercising most mornings, as best I can with two injured shoulders. I’ve found that light exercise keeps them loosened up; If I overdo it, I pay for it with throbbing pain in the afternoons and evenings.
David has been a good influence on me. He is such a calming force. He seems to live mostly in the now and doesn’t worry about anything that has not yet happened, and if something unexpected does happen, he always seems to deal with it calmly and easily. He is tall, thin, and has long dreadlocks. His figure walking across the space between our vans makes him look quite Aboriginal. He belongs on this earth and seems to be a very natural part of it. We had a talk the other morning as I told him I was (mostly) unplugging from news and especially politics. He said to me “It makes exactly zero difference in your life who is president. If it is Biden, or if it was Trump or Harris, your life out here would be exactly as it is today. Nothing they do or say changes anything about your life here.” Reading about the latest political fiasco and running around with my hair on fire over things I can do nothing about serve no useful purpose. I’ve decided he is correct and adopting such reasoning makes me much more content. So unless I see a mushroom cloud in the distance, I am once again living in bliss, enjoying the warm sun on my face (and everywhere else) and taking in the beauty of the vast night skies.
Everything is perfect in my world.