I can't get enough of this peak After a run with Dolce in the forest, we set off on the road again. Oh how I love the road…We traveled 112 which felt like a country lane and has three listed names: 1) 112, 2) E Co Rd 12 N, & 3) Twelvemile Road…go figure. Then we once again navigated snow-capped passes on CO 160 which took us to Durango. It was a sketchy drive at times: slushy snow-rain is not optimum RV travel conditions. Don't tell my mom.
I had to pull over for this...
What’s Best is that Durango was not on our planned itinerary. Just beginning to relax into the state of having nowhere I need to be and nothing I need to do, I opted to cut the day of driving short and stop in a place that I craned my neck to get a look at as I raced by about this time last year. Last year however, I was madly searching for a forest with no beings of the human race. I had just completed a 4 week high speed tour around New Mexico with a friend from Australia and all I wanted was silence. I told myself then that it merited a visit and so Day #3: what’s best: I can stop if I want to.
Day #3: What’s Best? ~ a quiet RV park 5 miles north of town, a river running through town (I hear there’s a newly remodeled whitewater play park…I brought my kayak just in case), a hot springs located immediately adjacent to the RV park, and a pound of chicken and sausages cooking on the BBQ in preparation for all the outdoor activities I am going to enjoy while in Durango, CO.
Day #3: What’s Best? ~ Many people ask me if I get lonely when I am off in the RV on my own. Of course I have a full-time companion with Dolce. What I tell them though, is that the briefest moments of love shared with a complete stranger have a grand impact that carries me through the times when I miss the sanctity of known relationships. This morning, I was leaving the Oasis RV park just outside of Great Sand Dunes, NP and on an instinctive impulse; I stopped the RV in the driveway and ran inside the office/convenience store to offer my gratitude to Jessica who had welcomed me two days prior. It was the first time I had left Boulder in the RV for any length of time since May of last year. I was unsure if I had forgotten how to do this “alone” thing. It had been a long drive from Boulder with no stops. You can imagine that Dolce was anxious to get out of the RV when we pulled in. She too gets very excited and is curious about where we are and what we will experience next. I took her out of the RV with me and upon seeing a big sign on the store’s entry door saying “no dogs allowed”; I tied her to a post. I opened the door and Jessica exclaimed in her thick Wisconsin accent “Oh, she can come in.” I untied Dolce and the lovefest between she and Jessica began. In our 30 minute exchange, Jessica clued me in on all of the things I might like to see or do and the places that I could take Dolce where she could run free. We even spoke of eagles and she shared with me a county road that had a high probability of nesting eagles that I could photograph. I learned that it didn’t matter what time of day I went to Zapata Falls because it was essentially in a cave and lighting would not matter. I learned that being an accomplished snowboarder, I probably wouldn’t enjoy sand boarding (as it is slow and you really can’t carve a turn – it’s point and shoot - straight down), I learned about Jessica’s dogs. I learned that I probably didn’t need to go into the park to get great sunset shots…might as well sit in my campsite and avoid the tourists. I learned a whole lot more about the region and about Jessica. I mentioned to her to stop at my site and say hi if she liked. When I went back in to say goodbye and thank you, she said “I was going to see if you wanted to have a drink last night if you had come in”. I told her I would have liked that and asked her why she didn’t stop by? She said “I’m shy.” We both laughed. I gave her my card, invited her to connect on facebook. We will likely never see each other again…and, I am impacted. Notwithstanding my desire at times to find a planet uninhabited by humans where only Dolce and I can go when we need a break, I love people. I love feeling connected in our humanness, in our desire to love and be loved, in our hurts and accomplishments, in our wants, and all that we do, think and feel in this often complicated human experience. My big takeaway is that we are not in this alone.
Day #3: What’s Best? ~ a quiet RV park 5 miles north of town, a river running through town (I hear there’s a newly remodeled whitewater play park…I brought my kayak just in case), a hot springs located immediately adjacent to the RV park, and a pound of chicken and sausages cooking on the BBQ in preparation for all the outdoor activities I am going to enjoy while in Durango, CO.
Day #3: What’s Best? ~ Many people ask me if I get lonely when I am off in the RV on my own. Of course I have a full-time companion with Dolce. What I tell them though, is that the briefest moments of love shared with a complete stranger have a grand impact that carries me through the times when I miss the sanctity of known relationships. This morning, I was leaving the Oasis RV park just outside of Great Sand Dunes, NP and on an instinctive impulse; I stopped the RV in the driveway and ran inside the office/convenience store to offer my gratitude to Jessica who had welcomed me two days prior. It was the first time I had left Boulder in the RV for any length of time since May of last year. I was unsure if I had forgotten how to do this “alone” thing. It had been a long drive from Boulder with no stops. You can imagine that Dolce was anxious to get out of the RV when we pulled in. She too gets very excited and is curious about where we are and what we will experience next. I took her out of the RV with me and upon seeing a big sign on the store’s entry door saying “no dogs allowed”; I tied her to a post. I opened the door and Jessica exclaimed in her thick Wisconsin accent “Oh, she can come in.” I untied Dolce and the lovefest between she and Jessica began. In our 30 minute exchange, Jessica clued me in on all of the things I might like to see or do and the places that I could take Dolce where she could run free. We even spoke of eagles and she shared with me a county road that had a high probability of nesting eagles that I could photograph. I learned that it didn’t matter what time of day I went to Zapata Falls because it was essentially in a cave and lighting would not matter. I learned that being an accomplished snowboarder, I probably wouldn’t enjoy sand boarding (as it is slow and you really can’t carve a turn – it’s point and shoot - straight down), I learned about Jessica’s dogs. I learned that I probably didn’t need to go into the park to get great sunset shots…might as well sit in my campsite and avoid the tourists. I learned a whole lot more about the region and about Jessica. I mentioned to her to stop at my site and say hi if she liked. When I went back in to say goodbye and thank you, she said “I was going to see if you wanted to have a drink last night if you had come in”. I told her I would have liked that and asked her why she didn’t stop by? She said “I’m shy.” We both laughed. I gave her my card, invited her to connect on facebook. We will likely never see each other again…and, I am impacted. Notwithstanding my desire at times to find a planet uninhabited by humans where only Dolce and I can go when we need a break, I love people. I love feeling connected in our humanness, in our desire to love and be loved, in our hurts and accomplishments, in our wants, and all that we do, think and feel in this often complicated human experience. My big takeaway is that we are not in this alone.
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