Sunday, February 2
After a week of temperatures in the eighties, the crew and I wake to a chilly morning. The sky is overcast, a rare occurrence for the Yuma area.
Here’s what the most recent “Yuma Community Guide” says:
“Yuma is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the sunniest place on earth, with 4,174 hours of daylight out of a possible 4,456 hours of daylight each year, or about 94% of the time. Average annual rainfall is only about three inches. Average high temperatures in January of 70 degrees bring approximately 90,000 snowbirds to Yuma County each year.”
The view from American Girl Mine Road, southeastern California west of Yuma, Arizona
What the community guide doesn’t brag about is the average high in July of 108 degrees. That’s not the highest temperature; that’s the average!
Being that Bridget, Spike, and I are completely spoiled regarding weather, temperatures in the fifties and sixties keep us mostly inside all day.
Monday, February 3
The thick cloud cover disappears and blue skies return (photo above). The crew and I head into Yuma to visit the bank.
Tomorrow is my appointment in Los Algodones.
Although the dental clinic will accept a credit card (charging a 5-7% fee), I want to pay in cash. Besides the cash, I also need to replenish my supply of quarters to plunk into washing machines. I usually ask for $100 in quarters, making one less thing to remember as I tote my dirty laundry into laundromats across the West.
I walk into the bank to a long line of people snaking through a roped aisle.
Oh, it’s the 3rd, the day people get their government checks. Well, I’m in no hurry. I can wait.
It sounds like I’m the only English-speaking person in line. All the tellers are speaking Spanish to customers. When it’s my turn, I walk up to the teller. She says hola and I respond with hello. She switches to English and speaks it flawlessly with no discernible accent.
Back at the Perfect Tow Vehicle . . .
“You’re such good puppies. Let’s go some place special!”
I drive a few blocks over to the Yuma fairgrounds. Adjacent to the fairgrounds is the Yuma Conservation Garden. It’s closed, but that doesn’t deter us. A walk along the fence is enough to entertain Bridget and Spike and to give me something to photograph.
Ah, the challenge of taking a photo through a chain link fence with two rat terriers pulling the leashes in my hand!
Increasingly I feel the pull of the road and an urge to move camp. Yet the sensible thing to do is to stay put. If we move now, we’re bound to run into colder weather, possibly with strong winds.
Such a short time ago I was photographing rainforest.
I need to dump tanks soon which, of course, means hitching up and packing up. I may look for another boondock for us to camp in for a few days, if only to satisfy my need to move. After over two years of moving camp from place to place, it’s difficult to resist the open road. I do believe I’m addicted to change.
Speaking of change . . .
It looks like these two have agreed to disagree.
Ever have this happen?
You’re reading a book and a line jumps right off the page, causing you to skid to a halt? As they say in the South, you come across something that “slaps you upside the head.”
It happened to me recently.
I finished reading two very enjoyable books drawn from primary sources about the history of the Green River valley extending from the Flaming Gorge area in northeastern Utah all the way into northwestern Colorado.
Les is from that region of cowboys, outlaws, farms and ranches. He shared the books with me. Fascinating stuff.
Anyway . . .
After those books, I’m ready for lighter fare.
I pick up Dick Francis’s Driving Force. His books are well-written with lots of dry, English humor, and they don’t require a lot of work from the reader.
I’m sailing right through the book when, all of a sudden, something he wrote slaps me upside the head:
“No one should impose their own perception of fulfillment on anyone else.”
Whoa . . . Wait a minute . . .
Is that what I’m doing with my blog?
It’s obvious to anyone who has read a few of my posts that I am one happy and contented woman. I love living the way I do. I love changing my surroundings whenever I feel like it. I love living “small.” I love going to new places. I love sharing each day with my canine crew. I’m happy, happy, happy!
In short, I’m fulfilled.
Hey! How did the Perfect Tow Vehicle sneak into this picture!
I try with every post to show what it’s like to live full-time in a small travel trailer with two dogs. Because I love each day of my present lifestyle, I go on and on in words and in photos about all the delights of full-timing. I show me and the crew camping in beautiful, sometimes breathtaking, boondocks. One can easily assume it’s an idyllic way to live. What’s more . . . I write in the present tense which puts the reader right here with me, loving every moment with me.
Only thing is . . . you’re not right here with me. You’re over there looking at me and my crew, looking at MY perception of fulfillment.
It might not turn out to be yours.
That thought bothers me.
Now that my blog has been around for a while, more and more I’m reading comments about down-sizing and selling homes. As far as I can tell, every reader that has shucked it all for a life on the road is very glad that they did.
Even so, I sometimes wonder if there will come a day when I’ll open up my blog comments and read . . .
“It’s all your fault! You baited me into thinking full-timing is a wonderful way to live! Well, I HATE it! I’m miserable. I want my house back!”
That’s why the author’s words slapped me upside the head.
“No one should impose their own perception of fulfillment on anyone else.”
I hope that every one of my readers who is contemplating the full-time life of a vagabond will set my experience aside and carefully analyze why they think it’s the life for them. Evaluate yourself thoroughly because when you go full-time, you won’t become me, you’ll still be you.
And I sincerely wish with all my heart, should you choose to live full-time on the road, that your decision will lead to a happy, contented, and fulfilled you!
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