Month: May 2024

Greetings, Dear Reader, and please accept my apology for having taken almost a week to get around to writing this final post. I hope no one was worried, but if you were, you can rest easy. We made it.

The pets and I rolled into our driveway around 5:00 on Tuesday the 14th. The next morning, I had to get right back to work from 9-5, my regular hours (which felt strange, since I’ve been working from 6-2 for the past six months in California, plus I was pretty tired from the trip), and then it was the weekend, which included five-plus hours of yard work (mowing, raking, and weed-pulling), a concert (June Millington and Toshi Reagon at IMA on Saturday night—stellar!), and a much-needed trip to the grocery store (finally!), and here it is Monday morning already. Phew!

I missed the daffodils and tulips, but lilacs (my favorite!) are still blooming in Montague, along with Lily of the Valley, azalea, dogwood, horse chestnut, and many other spring blossoms. Such a beautiful time of year.

It’s good to be home. Signing off for now, and see you on the flip side (if not before)…

🌵🦉🌿 OBC

Most of this second-to-last day of the Spring 2024 OBC Odyssey was spent driving through the Buckeye State, aka Ohio. However, the caravan started off in Indiana, and also touched Pennsylvania for about an hour, before finally landing in upstate New York, a little after 5:00 PM for the night. Four states in one day. I think that’s a record.

Once again, the weather could not have been more cooperative for road tripping. Blue sky and pretty clouds. I give infinite thanks to my guides and angels for helping me choose these particular dates for the drive through Tornado Alley. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Tomorrow’s home stretch forecast is also looking good. What a blessing.

It occurred to me that, being a desert car, my little Subaru has never seen so much greenery in her life, let alone a green spring. Maple trees, lilacs, humidity and all. I hope she likes it!

From my very comfortable hotel room (Microtel rocks!) I watched Legally Blonde (cute!) with dinner (leftover Indian, from Gulzar’s in Richmond, IN). After Reese won her case, Timi and I went for a long walk around the neighborhood. What a treat to take a leisurely stroll, admiring new leaves and tidy yards while enjoying the sweet smell of freshly mown grass. Most of the homes we saw were small and relatively new, but there was one elegant old house, surrounded by a large yard, and numerous squirrel statues. Hmmm.

Maybe it’s me, or all the time zone changes we just drove through in rapid succession, or maybe it’s the time of year, but I can’t believe how late the sun sets here in upstate New York. Although the longest day of the year is only six weeks away, which is wild to think about, too. Time sure flies.

After we got back from the walk, despite it still being light out, we settled in for the night. Very excited to get up early tomorrow, and drive HOME. Timi and Clyde will be sooooo excited to realize where we are, once the car stops and we step out… into our own familiar driveway. No pun intended, but what a trip!

And on that note, once again thank you, dear reader, for joining us.

🙏🏼 OBC 🌵🦉🌿

Now that I’ve left the West, I’m starting to encounter big cities that need to be traversed attentively. Yesterday, on the way to Rolla, it was Oklahoma City. Today, it was St. Louis and Indianapolis. Tomorrow will be Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland.

Of all these cities, St. Louis is the toughest to negotiate, with multiple lane changes required in rapid succession, and confusing signage. When you add in high speed traffic, it gets tense.

That’s why the timing of this trip was designed around hitting St. Louis on a Sunday. And it worked! Fewer cars on the road made a huge difference. From now on, I’m always planning for Sundays in St. Louis. It’s the only way to go. 🙂

After making it through St. Louis without a hitch, I called my sister, Katie, to celebrate. We had a great talk with plenty of laughs. Later, my two sons joint FaceTimed me for our now traditional Mother’s Day group call. I kept my video off, but I could see them and their lovely partners. Ashton and Kelsey in Montreal, Zack and Chloe in Brazil, and me heading East on I-70. I do appreciate modern technology, it’s magic. What a treat!

Earlier, I had stopped for a pee and a coffee at the BP station in Pocahantas, Illinois.

“How’s the heat on that coffee, hun?” asked the woman behind the counter.

I pried off the lid and took a sip. Luke warm. “Well…it’s above room temperature,” I replied, “but it’s delicious!”

“That coffee’s on me,” said the lady. “You have yourself a happy Mother’s Day.”

Nice story. Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day and beyond to all you OBC moms out there. May your journey be safe, your coffee hit the spot, and your heart be full and at ease.

OBC 🌵🦉🌿

It was not lost on me yesterday, as I drove across the Texas panhandle—detour and all—and into Oklahoma, that I was passing through Comanche territory. Actually, I’ve been thinking about the Comanche quite a lot.

At the outskirts of Comanche country, south of the Canadian River in Clinton, Oklahoma, is where we landed on Day 3. There, we stayed at the only non-repeat hotel of this trip, another La Quinta. And I am happy to report: it’s a winner! Close to the highway, yet surrounded by fields.

I took Timi for a walk at sunset, and before bed read a bit more of “Empire of the Summer Moon.” From it, I learned the Comanche did not have a centralized government under one tribal chief. Instead, they were loosely divided into bands that cooperated with each other for activities like buffalo hunting and horse raids. Comanche riders were constantly raiding and pillaging villages, attacking and driving out rival tribes, killing men and babies, stealing horses—first from the Spanish, and later, the Pioneers—and being generally fearsome and terrifying, overall. Warlike is the word.

Just like us. What is it with people?

Another thing I’ve been wondering about is the buffalo, who used to thrive on this land. Why can’t they make a comeback? The prairie still exists, along with the rivers where buffalo watered—rivers which also delineated the various bands of Comanche. If buffalo communities were started near the rivers, and herds were allowed to roam free, would it be possible for these noble beasts to repopulate some of the region? I mean, no one else lives there! Driving through, I passed many long stretches of nothing but desert and prairie for miles upon miles.

Anyway, those are some of the things one might think about, alone in a car for six hours a day, driving through Comanche country.

And then one moves on…

Travels of Day 4 saw us veering off the I-40 West in Oklahoma City, and heading north to Missouri on I-44. We drove for three-plus hours before taking a break to refuel in Big Cabin, OK, where gas was only $2.99 a gallon. Two dollars less than in California!

From Big Cabin it wasn’t far to Missouri. Note the clear blue sky. Amazing.

In Missouri, we took break #2, stopping at a Travel Center where I bought a much-needed coffee and some tasty deviled eggs (score!), and also where this unexpected monolith resides. We have a similar pillar in Montague, perhaps slightly less imposing.

I felt a little tired behind the wheel today, so it was a relief to roll into Rolla around 5:00 PM. OBC old timers might recognize the lake in the next picture, as it’s our third time here at this hotel. Timi sure recognized the place, and Clyde may have too, although at this point, he is pretty fed up with the whole ordeal. Don’t worry Clyde! Only two more nights on the road (after this), and then we’ll be home.

OBC 🌵🦉🌿

Timi and the lone goose of Blue Lake, Baymont Wyndham Rolla, MO.

Day 3 of this journey had us driving east on the I-40 all day—from the New Mexico red desert, through the windblown high plains of the Texas panhandle, and into the green, grassy Oklahoma prairie.

That is to say, we would have remained on I-40 all day if it hadn’t been for traffic coming to a complete standstill around 3:15 PM near McClean, TX, not far from the Oklahoma border. The highway was blocked due to what must have been a bad accident up ahead, and when we finally started to move again, it was only to be turned off at the 273 ramp and diverted back towards Amarillo.

Naturally, I was not interested in returning to Amarillo. We were only an hour and a half from our OK destination! So I consulted my trusty Rand McNally Road Atlas, gifted to me in 2022 by my dear friends Anne and Bruce Aune prior to my first OBC sojourn, and found a detour. The detour is how I came to discover Hedley, Texas, population 275.

Being in Hedley, TX reminded me of Hadley, MA, both in terms of moniker and scenic farmland, but the tiny town of Hedley is a ghost town. A few empty storefronts gave way to miles and miles of open country road, prairie on either side, ranches dotted with cylindrical hay bales, cattle here and there, dirt roads branching off, blowing grass and lazy trees under a big blue sky. Peaceful.

The detour took an hour to complete, looping me back onto I-40 at Shamrock. How lucky is that?

In other lucky news, when I started the day at Route 66 Coffee and Boba in Edgewood, the morning baristas were happy to return to me the broken turquoise ring, when I asked if anyone had claimed it yet. (See yesterday’s post to read more about the ring.) I attached it to the top of my car charm, an added talisman of protection.

OBC 🙏🏼🌵🦉🌿

There’s a sign you start seeing on I-40 around the Continental Divide, and especially outside of Grants, New Mexico: GUSTY WINDS MAY OCCUR. Every time I come upon this sign, I am moved by the existential poetry of its message. Who wouldn’t be? Google it and you’ll find odes!

I had four chances to snap a pic of the Gusty Winds sign yesterday on my drive from Flagstaff, Arizona to Edgewood, New Mexico, but alas, each time it suddenly appeared through my windscreen, it went by too quick. Life can be that way. So many opportunities…

After a couple hours on the road, we took a break in Navajo at the same rest area/travel center where I had bought my Navajo horsehair pot on the way out, last October. The women from the rez weren’t outside at the crafts table this time, which was disappointing. Inside, I saw many fine pieces of native art, pottery, moccasins, and commercial souvenirs for sale, though. I bought a diet Dr. Pepper (guilty pleasure—I know aspartame is wrong) and a very soft fleece blanket printed with a Navajo/Pendleton style pattern in warm colors on a black field. Ironically, the blanket is Made in China. LOL (In my defense, I will say that the Navajo woman at the counter liked it too. We had a nice chat as she rung me up. Soft pretty things—what’s not to like?)

Heres a glamour shot of my Forester on its maiden voyage. So far so great. Pets have more space, luggage has more space, and so do I. Most importantly, I feel much safer passing trucks at high speed than I did in the compact and very little Prius C. It got fabulous MPG, but the small format was hard on my body. Grateful to both vehicles for doing their job so well. Amen.

In other news, look what I found in the parking lot, a short while after arriving in Edgewood yesterday afternoon. Three more silver rings! What is happening?!

The parking lot where I found the rings is actually next door to our hotel, adjacent to a coffee shop. I was taking Timi for a walk, I look down, and there they are. Amazing!

Unlike Desert Star, the silver zodiac ring which I found in the sand on that Cross Hike a couple weeks ago, I didn’t keep these gifts. Maybe someone will be looking for them. So I left them with the barista at Route 66 Coffee and Boba.

I might go back this morning, though, to claim the damaged one…if it’s still there. It would make a nice souvenir, and I wouldn’t mind a good coffee, either, before heading back onto I-40 East for one last day of driving through the beautiful wild West. OBC 🌵🦉🌿

On my drive out to California last October, I started learning about the Comanche tribe. OBC readers may recall, I had seen a sign at a rest stop in New Mexico, which alerted me to the fact of their existence on that land.

Once I began learning about the Comanche, I was amazed. They were an incredibly powerful, formidable tribe, in command of a vast territory covering most, if not all, of what is now Texas, parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Mexico itself, spreading north into Kansas and Colorado… a vast, vast territory, well known to all Americans during the Civil War era as Comancheria.

And yet somehow, I had never been taught about in school, nor even heard of Comancheria. I knew next to nothing about the Comanche Nation, its fierce warriors, way of life, and ultimately conquered people. Only the name “Comanche” was familiar to me. Similar to the name of the Apache, whom I gather were rival frenemies. Why was their history hidden?

These People were the buffalo hunters of the Great Plains. Horse riders, and raiders, par excellence. Fearsome and brutal by all accounts. And yet, the kidnapped white woman, Cynthia Ann Parker, who was married to a Comanche chief and became the mother of Quana Parker (subject of the book pictured at the top of this post), chose not to leave when given the chance. Again, why might that be?

Maybe I will be able to answer these questions after I’ve read a bit more. Today I am only on page nine of Empire of the Summer Moon, but I am looking forward to delving deeper as I drive through Comanche country in just a few days. OBC 🌵🦉🌿