On the Road Again

Our good-bye to Charbonneau Park on Friday, September 14^th, took a little bit longer than expected.  Doug noticed what he thought was a leak by the oil filter as we were about to pull out of our site.  So we took a quick detour to Jim’s where the oil filter had recently been replaced.  While our rig was being checked out, we ate lunch at Pizza Hut where Doug can get a good Udi’s gluten free pizza.  When all was well again, we headed to Spokane – a relatively short distance for our first trip in four months.

We stopped at the Sprague Lake Rest Stop on I-90 E for a walk, a beautiful view and a snack.  We knew we were getting close to the Spokane KOA when we recognized the Sikh Temple on Baker Road.  It’s a beautiful white building with bright yellow trim and the message “God is One”.

View from the Sprague Lake rest stop

On Saturday, we had a great lunch at Central Food in Spokane with Megan, Jodi and Evan.  It gave us time to catch up, meet Evan for the first time and enjoy good food and good company.  As we said good-bye to the three of them we realized that for our next few months it will be just the two of us.

So now it’s Sunday morning and Johnny and Willie are singing in my head:

Here we go, on the road again

Like a band of Gypsies

We go down the highway.

We’re the best of friends

Insisting that the world

Keeps turning our way…

Going places that I’ve never been

Seeing things that I may never

See again

And I can’t wait to get on the road again!

As we pass into the panhandle of Idaho, with lovely Lake Coeur d’Alene on my right, large purple mountains ahead of me and months of long roads to travel, I mused a bit on those words.

First, I am not sure I want to use the word Gypsies any more – what might have felt okay to say in 1980 doesn’t feel right any more.  But the other words fit us so well.  Due to the size of our motor home, we mostly travel on highways – it’s safer for us.  We leave exploring the bucolic back roads for our day trips in our car.  And that’s not saying that our highways aren’t beautiful.  I have a ring-side seat to the unending magnificence of our country.  I-90 is a treasure, especially the stretch in Montana where we followed the Clark Fork River as it curved and meandered through the mountains and passes.

Doug and I are best friends.  Living like this you have to be.  With only rare moments apart, we live our lives synced together.  It’s a loving, intimate, ultimate friendship kind of arrangement.  It’s a lifestyle that we’ve grown into – melded together – that brings us joy and peace every day.

We often reflect on the fact that the people we meet on the road are genuinely happy – and why not?  They are doing what they want to do too and if they’ve been on the road together for a while they most likely started out as best friends too.

And the world does seem to be turning our way whether we insist on it or not.  We are grateful every day for the opportunity to turn this dream of ours into reality.  The only hard part is missing our family.  But given that they are located all across the country from each other, we would always be missing someone.  At least this way, when we do meet we usually have long, quality times together.

So going places that we’ve never been and realizing that we may not come back again makes our journey a mindful experience of focusing on the present and celebrating our moments with genuine fullness.

That’s why my heart is smiling as we get on the road again!