Part Eight; Sedona to South Florida; The Road Home
The Road Home - The Last Leg of our 2007 RV Adventure
Texas Journey
So we left Sedona and hit the road again (now it's late September), spending a night in Tuscon. Then we wound our way into and through the desert towards El Paso. There, we drove on the interstate next to the Rio Grande and saw Mexico's El Paso on the other side. What a difference a country makes! Colorful, shabby, small run-down houses were jammed together on the hills, with no room for cars or trees. On our side, were malls and commercial centers. Then back into the desert, gradually getting a bit greener as we arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth. Our RV Park was on the north side of Dallas on a lake filled with joyful boaters. We got the last space available, and although it felt like we were parked in a big public parking lot and were very close to the restrooms, we had reasonable amounts of privacy and quiet once the boaters got off the lake after dark. We didn't have sewer hookups there, so we too had to use the park facilities. Some local person had place a bunch of stones in a casual stonehenge in the field next to the restrooms. It actually had some energy running! If only people knew what they were doing, yes? We had long walks around the side of the lake and watched the scissor-tailed flycatchers (see picture below) hunt over our heads and chatter together as they jockeyed for the best roosting spots high in the tall trees.
Dallas Flycatchers
Overall, Dallas was more pleasant than I expected, but the road signs were confusing and more than once we had to do extensive backtracking to stay on route.
We had a delightful Galexis workshop in our friend Beverly's beautiful home and quite a few locals attended. Galexis talked on how to move energy through from concept to manifestation, and most importantly, how to get out of your own way in the process! The next two days, we drove a good distance to another part of Dallas to have rolfing with Ken Solberg, a phenomenal rolfer-intuitive-bodyworker. It felt grand to get the little kinks straightened out, and our visit with Ken and his wife Mary was delightful. We found that the most satisfying part of our journey was always the socializing with other conscious people. And I know that Ken and Mary don't have that many couple friends on the same wavelength as we were to spend personal time with.
Renewal in Hot Springs
From Dallas, we hiked up to Hot Springs, arriving in time to attend the annual Harvest Moon Age Reversal Ritual held at the Dome (see http://www.starrfuentes.com). This year, it was led by Art, Starr Fuentes' husband, and our friend Kathryn once again crossed paths with us here by experiencing the ritual with us. Starr learned the ritual when she was studying with some native healers in Africa and was the first white woman allowed to participate in their ceremony. She told us that it takes at least a year off your aging process every year, and that after five years, she had lost all her facial wrinkles. However, one can only do this ceremony on the Harvest Moon, the first full moon after the fall equinox. No other full moon would do. We drummed and played music for awhile to get the energy up. Then as we walked sun-wise around the circle, chanting the mantra Starr learned, we tapped points on our body corresponding to the endocrinal glands to give signals to the hormones. It was powerful. I could feel the trance and the healing take place. After that, we had a good time renewing our connections to everyone there at the Dome, including Bosco the wonder healing dog.
Of course, as usual, we enjoyed our stay at the Cloud Nine RV Park and its beautiful views (see picture below).
Misty Mountain
Hot Springs Rocks
We had another trip to the hot baths - aaaahhhhh! So nice and healing! We also tried out a new trail or two nearby in the lovely woods where I took more of my "Peaceful Path" pictures (see below).
Steps into Beauty
Peaceful Path
Peaceful Path
A Visit with Kinfolk
Then from there, we headed south and east ("southeastern ho!" we would laughingly cheer) to Jackson Mississippi. The roads were outrageously bumpy and were like tiny rolling hills, very stressful on our backs and butts while pulling a heavy RV. Our RV Park was out of town in a park next to a reservoir with boaters. Although the drive there was through a gorgeous area of the Natchez Trace (see picture below), we were still exhausted from all the jerks and jolts from the road. The boaters were noisy putting up their boats next to their RV's, but everyone was, gratefully, very quiet at night. It was a little cooler than hot muggy Dallas, but I was yearning for a little more of the cool weather we'd enjoyed in California.
Natchez Trace Drive
We visited my second cousin Bob and his wife Catherine in their new dream home in a lovely subdivision north of Jackson and less than 30 minutes from our RV Park. They had moved in only a couple of months earlier and Bob met us in the big, several acre yard looking at his sprinklers and the newly planted turf. The house was huge, with plenty of rooms to house all the children and grandchildren, so they were evidently expecting to be visited. After a tour of the new house and hearing their plans for this and that additional detail, we went to a local restaurant for dinner. Although they both are very dedicated Christians and highly involved with their church, we found we had some things in common here and there. We discussed energy healing, or "laying-on-of-hands," and it seemed that there actually was a group at the church who did that spirit healing for other members of the congregation who were ill or suffering. However, in many areas, especially the political arena, we had to politely agree to disagree. Bob knew nothing at all about the problems of medical freedom and the suppression by the FDA and other governmental agents of alternative doctors who gave nutritional type substances instead of drugs.
He also explained the bad roads. It seems that the land in this small area of Mississippi centering around the nearby town of Yazoo was made up of a unique type of clay, called "Yazoo Clay." Unlike other clays, this one would swell when wet. So roads and houses built over the clay would crack after a few years of the clay beneath doing its expanding and contracting thing. The road repairs didn't help that much and despite the bumps and rolls, the repaired areas were lumpy and bumpy. The people who live on top of Yazoo clay have to have their house foundations reinforced every few years. Bob said that they had their property thoroughly checked and were happy that this was an area free of that clay. Nevertheless, they have to have their old house's foundation redone so they can sell it.
After dinner, the four of us went to a nearby nursing home to see my "aunt" Lena. Bob said that she would probably be unable to wake up for our visit. She is normally alert in the late morning hours and then sleeps the rest of the day, he added. I had always been close to Lena and she had been the sister that my only-child mother never had. The nursing home was the nicest one I'd ever been in. The place was extremely clean with nice decor. It smelled great - no bad odors one usually expects in such a place. The staff was warm and friendly. We came into a pleasant small room where Lena lay sleeping in bed. Bob tried to wake her up and her eyelids twitched in REM. Perhaps she thought our visit was a dream. I still held her very bony and fragile small hand in mine and spoke to her and said goodbye. I knew I am never to see her again in this life. I am sure I'll eventually see Bob and Catherine's new grandchildren that were on the way (this was around the due date), but the mother, their daughter, was too tired to visit with us.
Into the Rain
The next day, we drove through many miles of countryside on the interstate. The median and swales were covered with beautiful flowers. The sky was overcast and moody. Eventually it began to drizzle and we entered Mobile and found our RV Park. The quirky manager let us park in a site that was normally reserved for full-timers, back from the road and quiet. This was a stretch for him to do, and the park had a long long list of picky rules we had to abide by. Nevertheless, we set up in the nice spot under the tree in the rain. The rain continued, and by morning everything was muddy, and the park manager was livid because we were late leaving our spot. We apologized and paid him a fine. This was the only RV Park we'd ever been in where the check out time was earlier than 11 a.m. We had also been invaded by hundreds of ants, so we brought out the antbait we'd used in Malibu, and travelled onwards ("eastward ho!"). There was no place to stay in Tallahassee, so we stayed in a KOA without wifi about 20 miles before the city. The whole time we were there, the city was celebrating a parent-child football weekend at the University, so every RV Park was jammed up with proud parents and grandparents.
That meant, that to visit dear friend and spiritual sister Keith, we had to drive into town for the visit and dinner with her and her husband Julian, and then back out again, all in the rain. Although I was tired, the visit was a pleasant one and we got a small chance to catch up with each other. Keith and I had met while taking one of John Perkin's shamanic workshops a few years ago. We still wrote emails to each other, signing "shungo" at the end. Yes, that's the same "shungo" as the name we gave our RV, and means "from my heart to yours." Keith and Julian had sold their house around the same time as we had, and they were still in Tallahassee because of family. Keith has trained to be a medical intuitive, but Tallahassee is simply not a great place to build that work. Nevertheless, she is satisfied with her choice to stay for now and Julian has a job there.
From the panhandle, we drove to a place north of Orlando that promised to be quiet and away from the road. To our chagrin, it was not only noisy but the only place we could park according to their strange system was one where we could actually see the traffic go by on the superhighway. After parking and all, it was just so loud, that we decided to leave. They gave us our money back but were surprised that we didn't think it was quiet. I guess they'd gone partly deaf after years of living here! We drove on and on until we found another place truly out in the boonies with hundreds of spaces that were generally filled by snowbirds (that's the name Floridians give to the northerners who come down for the winter). It was pleasant and quiet, but it was still raining, so we had no walk to stretch our legs.
Miracle and Magic in Orlando
The next day we had a very short trip to our RV Park just outside of Orlando. We visited dear friend Ron and had a marvelous time. We have a ritual of meeting him for dinner at a Sweet Tomatoes on the north side of Orlando, about halfway between his place and our RV Park. We arrived at the very busy place. It was Saturday night and there was not a parking space anywhere close to the restaurant. Just as we were about to leave that area, we saw some people get in their car. Daniel backed up the truck to give them room, and "crunch!" We had hit the car behind us - the car that had just arrived back there and hadn't been there just a moment earlier. "Oh, no!" I moaned. "This will delay dinner and I'm tired and hungry. Also, we will have to do the paperwork and all that, and Ron won't know what happened to us." So while Daniel attended to the driver behind us, I jumped out of the truck and jogged around the high hedge towards the restaurant entrance. Sure enough, Ron was standing there waiting for us.
"Ron," I called, "we've had a little fender bender, so it will be a little while." He smiled and immediately said, "well, let's do some magic and fix that, shall we?" He began making a motion with his hands as if he were twiddling with some dials. Inspired, I agreed, and twiddled some invisible dials myself, asking for assistance to minimize the situation." We kept walking and soon came around the hedge to find Daniel driving the truck into the now empty parking space we had aimed for. There was no sign of the driver that had been hit. "What happened?" I asked. "Oh," Daniel said, "I walked back there and the fellow looked at his headlight. The light was still on, but the rim around it was banged up and some glass broken. He looked at me and said, 'let's just forget this,' got back in his car and drove away. So we're done - nothing to do!" I was floored. Ron laughed. I joined him and when I saw Daniel's puzzled look I explained what Ron and I had said and done. Then Daniel joined us in celebrating. The miracle was complete. The magic had worked so well, that there was now no accident. It was as if the whole situation had been erased from reality. There was no record that it had ever been since there was no scratch made on the big sturdy truck, so we went happily into the restaurant and enjoyed our dinner and offbeat metaphysical conversations.
We spent more time with Ron over the next day, filled with laughter and fun exchanges, and the following day drove the three to four hour journey to South Florida. We parked the RV in a park near where we rented, as we didn't have a storage site available yet. The place is owned by a Christian Church with on-site Christian TV Station. It was sunny, hot and muggy as we arrived at our Hollywood home near the beach, but I was so glad to get back nevertheless. We rolled back the hurricane shutters and looking out our back window, we saw the resident gulls landing in big clumps on the water in the middle of West Lake, a nature preserve and park. As always, they were squawking, flapping their wings, and jostling each other for the best position in the flock. Yes, it was great to be back.
P.S. Since we have returned home, we have chosen to make our move to the Los Angeles area. Since our lease is up in January, we will move then, lock stock and barrel, to a lovely house we have found to rent on a pinnacle/mountain top in Malibu. From the house, we have a view of Los Angeles spread out beneath us to the East, the broad blue horizon line of the Pacific Ocean to the South, and the wild, scrub-covered Santa Monica mountains to the North. Life is certainly an adventure and is getting more interesting all the time!
May you have a glorious holiday season and wondrous New Year. Lazaris (see http://www.lazaris.com) says that 2008 is the year of Freedom. I wish freedom's gifts for you in the new year and lots of adventures and joys.
Ginger
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