Introduction
Well, it’s kind of simple and kind of complex all at the same time…
Who would do this Gypsy Thing… Patti & Sameah, that’s who! Patti and I had talked about doing our “Gypsy thing” for years but we had a leash around our necks – a house and land. We, like everyone had a mortgage and responsibilities all coming with price tags = $.
As a prelude to our 2015 Gypsy Journey… in 1999 we sold our Ft. Collins, CO home and traveled around in a Dolphin motor home with a 4 cylinder Toyota engine for a few months. That’s precisely how we landed in Aguilar, CO! Oh that land looks great… “It’s ours!”
The land was beautiful, but what could we do with just bare land… Build a house, that’s what! The rest is ‘herstory’… we bought land, built a house, developed great friendships and carved out a living for 16 years in Aguilar.
The house we built was 3300 sq ft (so NOW you can imagine how small 152 sq ft actually IS!!!). After doing research, Patti suggested we “build with straw bale and be ‘off-the-grid'”. Not having done THE research, I said, “great!” Building a large straw bale house ourselves, was a very steep ‘learning curve’, thank goodness for great friends. We went with a Pro-Panel tin roof – because of the high danger of fire in the area, at the time. The off-the-grid system we chose was a hybrid variety: solar and wind. In our area of CO, the sun shines 300 days a year (so they say) and the wind blows most afternoons and at night. It blows like WY, Chicago, or KS sometimes -so why not a hybrid system? We had four 75 watt panels, 4 deep cell batteries and an 800 watt inverter to service our 3300 sq ft home. We lived very comfortably – yet very conservatively. When we went into a room we turned a light on – when we left the room, we turned it off. We used computers during the day, did laundry at mid-day (when the solar rays were at their peak) vacuumed also at mid-day but on alternate days than laundry days, and only on sunny clear days. No dishwasher, no disposal, no hair dryer, no clothes dryer, no iron (yeah!), no electric heat.
We had human ‘dish-doers’, we composted our veggie scraps, we let our hair dry ‘a-la-natural’, hung our clothes out in the fresh air, even in winter. We ran around in wrinkled clothes (we lived on a ranch, for goodness sake!), we had a free-standing pilot gas stove, and for heat we were warmed by a wood burning stove – actually several.
So I guess you can say: we “camped out” in a 3300 sq ft house… LOL. So maybe we were preparing for this Gypsy journey after all. I really hadn’t thought of it that way before.
Out of the blue our house sold, then the land sold and we were destined to be ‘house-free’: we were not homeless, we, instead, had our freedom. Now, we realize most people can not sell everything and be ‘lighter’; not have roots, a home, a garden, mementos, friends over, and not see those friends on a regular basis. But you know… you don’t know if you can or cannot do something till you try! So Patti & I decided to ‘try‘ living out of a bucket (list). We both have Jupiter in Sagittarius – the wanderer of the Zodiac, so this is second nature for us wanderers. AND we had done limited Gypsy camping out of the back of my white Tundra (with only a topper shell on the truck) for years, with our beloved Mystie (whom we still miss), so having a 19’ Travel Trailer is a “mansion on wheels.” It’s so nice to be able to get in out of the weather when needed.
Part One
“When you don’t know where you’re headed, you find places no one else would ever think to explore.”
“My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult
Most often we have a loose/general plan of where we’re going, yet our plans are not set in stone or mud. Frequently, on our way to a ‘loose/general’ destination, we veer off on a side trip that we really would have missed out on, had we ‘stayed-the-course’.
We had been in Cody, WY for some time and we had our sights set on wandering up to Montana, before all the crowds arrived for summer. Now, the short route to Montana had a steep, winding mountain pass enroute and as we had just begun our journey, I (the driver), decided to get some miles under my belt before tackling a grade over 5%. Even 5% was a high pass to me. We elected for the longer, southern, less intimidating by-way. Some might call me a “chicken” and I won’t dispute that.
Along this south/eastern route, we encountered Meadowlark Lake Campground. As we were new to driving much slower with our RV, Rosalita, we didn’t drive too far in one day. “Campground up ahead, let’s stop.”
Pulling into Meadowlark Lake, it reminded me of Northern California in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. The trees all forest green and lush, with abundant shade to lounge under. The scent of pine all damp with the evaporation of dew, was held captive by the boughs. The Lake reflected the pines and sky on its pristine surface buffed transparent by the Sacred Stillness. “Don’t go in the water or you’ll break the glass.”
The Meadowlark Lake campground serves 20 + camp sites. They are nicely spaced and the actual sites are level. Some of the sites were not as big as others, so the big rigs have less sites to choose from. Not an issue for us since we are only 19′ long. I was new to backing into spaces, but I hadn’t felled any trees, tore up the camper, or for that matter, lost her on the highway either, so when I had to literally back up into an off-the-road elevated space, there was a bit of apprehension on my part. Patti was the ever present cheerleader telling me I could do it, just: “take your time”.
The campground host was an ex-marine, really nice guy, and he was watching me back up into this space, smiling I’m sure. It has always made me nervous to have guys watch me do things, so that I can’t remember which is my left side, or I will just fumble around looking stupid. (All MY “stuff”).
Patti and I have found most ‘guys’ (about 95%) we meet along the way have been very helpful, informative and willing to give us pointers. Most without judgement and a lot of humor – love the humor.
The campground was Federal land so we were able to stay for 1/2 price, being seniors (with our Federal Pass, of course). The sites had water at each site but no electricity, so this too was a new experience for us. You would think living off-the-grid we would have been used to it. And, yes, we were used to being off-the-grid, yet we always had solar/wind back-up, well almost always (there were those cloudy days with no wind). We do have two batteries dedicated to the RV. These are 12 volt, marine batteries and work wonderfully yet their capacity, as with all batteries, is limited. The lights, heater fan, and exhaust fan all run on DC current. The air conditioner, plug-ins, and refrigerator all DO NOT work on DC. (The fridge does work with AC or propane.) So not only did we discover how to use DC power (trial n error), we discovered heaven-on-earth at Meadowlark Lake.
Would we have missed Meadowlark Lake had we gone the northern route, absolutely! Yet, I’m sure the draw from the lake, for me, would have expressed itself at another time.
We spent 2 great days at Meadowlark relaxing, photoscaping, reading, writing, and just being easy: but alas it is a Gypsy’s destiny to wander, so on the 3rd day we hooked Rosalita up and turned north to Montana, a loose/general plan.
We love being easy with things, people, energy. That’s the best part of Gypsying around with Patti: the easiness between us. The world could take notice of this easiness between people.
As we begin our second year traveling around the country, we have seen awesome places, met interesting people, had incredible experiences all because we were at the right place at the right time (’cause the wind blew us there…). Flying by the seat of our pants has worked out very well for us. Has it been perfect… not by a long shot: incredibly, it is, and has been, a learning/seeking journey. Most of the time we did not know what we were searching for or what we wanted to learn – Nature tutored us none-the-less.
Nature rolled out some of her most stunning artistry and we were lucky enough to visually partake of her beauty, experience her peace, tremble at her power and I even managed to snap a few quality photoscapes to document our journey – so that in our old age (120+ years) we can pinch ourselves and remember WE DID IT, THIS GYPSY THING!
So yeah! For the ‘off-the-beaten-path’, ‘the road-less-traveled’, ‘a thousand mile journey begins with the first step’: Gypsy Journeys are well worth it for us! We are living life LARGE!
Whether it’s a day-trip or a lifetime journey… “Let’s begin.”
This is ‘part-one’ of a series of articles that I plan to revisit at later dates, especially when there is no other Gypsy posting going on…
Next post will be from the Mexican Riveria, setting sail on March 26th, 2016…
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