Slept in til past eight thirty, suppose that’s what I get for staying up past twelve. I wrote for over three hours. Which is odd, because I didn’t have anything to say really, except that I finally took a picture of the no vehicles sign.
I don’t really have much to say today either, it’s been a routine day around camp. Ha, day three and routine already. Well, not quite. Enjoyed a few minute of quiet when I woke up, then dressed and headed up to the restrooms. I saw a young guy on my way in, him headed out to a large conversion van. Just a ‘hey’ in passing, yet I wonder if he may be another long term camper. Not much other reason for a person to be in the day use area that early. Well, hmm, I suppose it wasn’t that early, yet it still struck me as odd.
That was it, my social interaction for the day. Back down to my campsite I decided I wanted some tea before breakfast. Now that I have two stoves- the larger double burner stove in the tent and packed in the trunk, and the small single burner for when I need to cook while car camping, etc- the smaller can stay outside as my tea kettle warmer next to my next table and chair. I was a beautiful morning, yes still cool, yet the lack of humidity takes the bite out of that, and calm. I kept thinking that I wanted to take a walk after my tea. So I decided I would.
Then I would think it again, I should take a walk after my tea, and again I would agree with myself. After a minute thought to myself, is it time to walk yet? No, still drinking tea. Why wait? Huh, because we’re drinking tea. Can’t walk and drink? Well- ha, these conversations with myself are really frustrating. I hope they might be more enjoyable to you here reading this. For me, I keep trying to thing of a way to just walk away from that guy so I don’t have to hear the next comeback- there is always a next comeback.
So I was like fine. Lets walk. Picked up my cup and went to walk. First back towards the path in, then I turned and went towards the vehicle sign for about ten feet. Then I stopped and argued with myself again as I’ve already gone that way before. I have turned back towards the main path- yet I’ve gone that way before to. Now objectively, if someone was watching with a drone, they might have seen me move each way three or four feet before turning back the other way. For about ten minutes.
Indecisive much? Ahh, kills me sometimes. Fine, let’s just go somewhere as I looked up the hill towards the campground proper. Yeah, let’s go that way. Can’t, no path. Make a path. Ha, so that’s what I did. Well, actually, tried not to “make a path”, rather gently stepped over sticks, around things as to leave no trace. Yet rather than follow the made for vehicle tracks, or any manicured pee gravel paths, I just took off straight up the hill.
The ground was just as bad as it was a few days ago (I’ll have to bring my camera tomorrow) scattered with rocks, large and small, completely uneven and pitted with every step. This is not a Walmart walk with long easy steps. No, this felt more- with my tall steps over and around branches- like the adult play structure in Jal! Soon I found one branch that was just the right height for me to practice picking up my left foot, stepping over, then bringing my left foot right back over to where it started- little touch and go’s.
I walked up until I realized my tea was getting cold. A few quick sips and I turned around and starting looking for a nice big square rock- something that would serve as my step. Right before camp, I found one wide enough, though I was disappointed how short it was. Oh well, I showed that rock all the moves I learned in Jal. Legs apart, stepping up and together. Legs together, stepping down and apart. Forwards and sideways. I even started to get a little rhythm with it.
My ass still hurts. Maybe it wasn’t the rock, yet all these ground exercises can’t be good for me if it hurts this much. Actually, yes they can. I’ve noticed improvement with my floor mobility already. Just being able to get up from laying down, twist around onto my hands and knees, crawl backward, then bear crawl into a standing position is not something I could have done before (recently) yet now it is getting a bit smoother. Yet, there is a price. My ass. My back. My neck. It all hurts- it’s all sore. Very sore.
Sore enough I think I should lay down and let it heal. So I will, all night long. Yet tomorrow, me and hot cup of tea are going to walk back up that hill again. I hope to wake a bit earlier. This wind is really something to get used to. For at least three or four hours each afternoon I basically have to hide in the tent just to keep the sand out of my eyes. Hence, the earlier I get up, the more hour of a wind free morning I can enjoy.
Those hours I did not have today. Instead it was windy when I tried to do my work today. If ever I wanted to be a tent maker, I did not want to be a tent maker in the wind. It should have been simple. One large piece of fabric, two poles, some paracord and a handful of leftover stakes. I did not give up. Yet this tent- well, let’s call it a lean to- needed repairs before it was finished. The pole fell, the stakes pulled out, the wind blew. Two or three hours at least and now my chair and table out front of the tent are also covered in some shade.
Okay, more things happened (I realized wheat bread taste better with nut spread and strawberry reduction) today than I could probably remember, yet I think the key thing was I realized my camp site is bigger than I thought. I was so used to the numbered sites. Yet here, there are no lines, no neighbors, no boundaries and on these windy days, no people. I can just walk around in my jammie pants, sipping some tea, and wondering how I got a front porch as big as the Eddy Plains.
Made a list, checked it off. Oh it’s been a long road, yet I made it here. I feel home today. Right now, I feel home in my bed. I’ve found a cozy way to type while staying toasty warm laying on my belly. Tomorrow I need to start making some new lists. It’s great to be home, yet the place could use some improvements. And- I need to figure out how I’m going to get to Alaska. A thirty five hundred mile trip is not going go be easy or cheap. Yet, I think I can do it.
Tomorrow it’s time to swap the meds, off with the herbal, back with the medicinal. I’ve smoke three quarters of an ounce of week since the night I first arrived in Jal, NM. Just checked the dates, two weeks exactly that I’ve been in the state. Love pot and I think is good for me, yet not as good as gas to get to Alaska, and unless I come up with a way to get some income, I have to make sure the resources on hand will be enough to get me where I need to go.
Time to rest.