One Bold Crone

Threshold Day

We leave tomorrow. One last highway Odyssey across the USA.

One last full day in the house and the village I’ve called Home for thirty years.

Thresholds like these don’t come around too often in life. When they do, they are worthy of marking.

I’ve been sleeping on a borrowed air mattress (thank you, Sarah Patton!) for the past two weeks since all my furniture vanished, thanks to an auspicious encounter with Aaron, a strong and friendly junk removal entrepreneur who collects mid-century modern furniture on the side. (Tagline: “I make things disappear”.)

Aaron will be back today to help me load the car in exchange for a lovely Danish teak table, literally the last stick of furniture left in the house.

Needless to say, and after a solid two weeks of sorting and culling and meaningful, emotional goodbyes, the OBC is having feelings.🦋🥺

In this, I am not alone.

Clyde in His Top Favorite Birdwatching Window

Timi and Clyde have been wonderful companions during the past couple of months since our bumpy arrival from the last trip, tolerantly overseeing all the profound changes in the house, and providing much needed nervous system co-regulation services.

They must sense we are leaving again very soon. They see the suitcases, and the boxes packed, but of course what happens next is out of their control, and it’s all very touching in a tender and poignant way.

They go with me no matter what.

Not everything can.

Still Life by Ruth Marjorie Kreger (née Gold), my paternal grandmother.

No matter what is left behind…tomorrow we three are leaving together.

One dog. One cat. One bold crone.

A new life awaits.

As gracefully as possible, may our grasp on the old be released….

🌿🦉🌵

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider letting me know by leaving a like or comment. (If you read it inside your email, you may need to click through to the actual web page in order to do this.)

It means a lot to me to know you are there, especially when I am on the road, and the days are long and tiring—but no pressure! Only if it feels right & works for you.

Truly,

💛 OBC

Another Triumph!

So here we are—the gang is back in town. Seven days and six nights for the eighth time.

Shout out to my guides and angels for letting me know this was the right week to travel. Perfect weather every single day! I feel blessed and grateful. (And tired.)

Thanks to everyone who followed along, *liked* and commented on these posts. I’m grateful to you, too!

🙏🏼💜OBC 🌵🦉🍃

Clyde & his last-night-on-the-road face.

Almost… (Night 6/6) 🥳🥳

So proud of my boys, now EIGHT-time world class road trippers. And seniors to boot. Timi Hendrix (11.5 years old) & Clyde Baxter Tipps (age 17.5)!!

We’ll be home tomorrow, guys!

✨❤️💯💙💯❤️✨

Cloud Capsules

Here are some pics from our past two days on the road. Enjoy!

They say the best fudge comes out of this place. 😆

Hypothetically, NM

Highway Robbery 😱

Not an April Fools joke, just plain old price gauging at the last-chance-to-overpay-in-California-before-you-get-to-Arizona gas station. Yikes!

Mission Accomplished — Day 7/7

We made it! Bittersweet Symphony playing on Spotify and tears of joy and relief as my beautiful, magnificent Coachella Valley mountains come into view.

That always happens.

So there it is. Another epic fait accompli.

Thanks to all for following along, and if you ever have any questions about traveling with pets cross-country by car, hit me up!

I aim to serve. ❤️

Until next time… with many blessings of health and abundance…

🙏🏼🌿🦉🌵 OBC

Supermoons —Day 6/7

Before hitting the road this morning on day six of seven, I got to see both the gorgeous full moon setting (from the parking lot) AND my baby granddaughter, Belle (on Facetime). Lucky me!

in terms of scenery, this penultimate day of my Westbound journey is perhaps the most dramatic. New Mexico and Arizona showcase tall painted cliffs and wide open vistas, expanding the heart. But heed the signs:

Zero visibility is possible.

Gusty winds may exist.

(Not to mention very long trains.)

Some trains out here can pull hundreds of container cars. I saw one extended lineup requiring four engines up front. It takes a lot of power to move a heavy load.

Think about it.

Roadside attraction near the Arizona-New Mexico border on I-40.

About halfway through today’s drive, I stopped at a trading post to look at Navajo rugs. That particular place, which I popped into last year, too, has a small locked room lined on three sides with racks of rugs, all woven in peaceful colors of black, white, gray, brown, and deep red. So beautiful, so soft, and, as I learned, so very expensive. So I did not purchase one… but it was a pleasure to look and feel.

The Native woman who let me into the locked room wasn’t too chatty (I may have interrupted her lunch) but she did tell me the wool comes from sheep raised on the res. When I asked if I could take a photo of the display, she said “no photographs allowed on the reservation”— none at all. I was surprised to hear that, and will investigate further. (If she had been inviting, I would’ve loved to ask her more, but we need to meet people where they are.)

Anyway, sorry I can’t show you pictures of the beautiful rugs. But here’s another shot of that spectacular full moon, from this morning in Edgewood.

By the time she rose again, I was in Flagstaff, walking around (and around!) the block with my dear old friend, Celia, who lives here. Such a treat to see her twice a year on this journey! She’s like my semicolon—a lingering pause, enjoyed near the closing bracket of each trip’s beginning or end, depending on the season.

In this case, it is Autumn and we are almost complete! Just one more day of traveling, illuminated by fullness…

OBC 🌕🦉🌵

Time Whizzes By at 75 MPH — Day 5/7

Sunrise in Clinton, Oklahoma—red earth country.

Picnic hut at our favorite NM pitstop: Pajarita Rest Area.

Supermoon over I-40, Edgewood, New Mexico.

Halfway Home — Day 4/7

Day 4 of this journey marks a literal turning point as we 1) begin by continuing south on I-44, which we picked up yesterday from the I-70 in St. Louis; 2) take I-44 down through the beautiful cave-studded Missouri Ozark mountains into Oklahoma, and via Tulsa to Oklahoma City; 3) veer onto the I-40, and start heading due WEST!

California here we come!

It will be good to put this tangled central corridor behind us. Columbus, Indianapolis, and of course St Louis were all challenging on Day 3.

St Louis exchange—a tangled nest of faded lines and poorly marked rapid lane changes.

Not to keep repeating myself, but as some of you know, of all the cities encountered on this 7-day road trip, St Louis is probably the most harrowing. I have learned to cross it on Sunday, the quietest day of the week, and it’s still a monster. Officially the worst.

I have to admit OK City is in the running, tho. Largely due to those danged ubiquitous faded lines (federal government get on this please!) and poorly marked, multiple lane changes. Keep right. Stay in the left two lanes. Go past this exit, then keep right. Arghhh!