Time to turn around and head east.

Here I am at the westernmost part of my journey, Borrego Springs CA, a sleepy little oasis just southwest of Palm Springs. We blew into town as a little side trip hoping to stall a bit so Sedona might warm beyond 30 degrees in the daytime. Sedona is one of those "must sees" from what I am told. 

But what a charmer this town is. But even better, we were greeted with about thirty folks protesting Trump in the street and many cars honking and waving as they drove by. 

I have, with I must say great relief, not been paying a whole lot of attention to the news. I see it in spurts, but I have decided to take a long vacation from the upset. So far, it's been pretty successful. But it was wonderful pull over to the side of the road and to jump right in to the demonstration.

The landscape here is magnificent. The boondock camping is amazing. Here we are just 3.5 miles from town, but surrounded by 650.000 acres of state forest, the second largest state park in the country. And it's an official "dark skies" community, one of four in the world where the community is conscious of light pollution and keeps the city lights low for optimal night sky viewing. You can park anywhere but the limitations are really on how your vehicle can access some of the rougher terrain.

The sunset up on the mountain looking down into town.

Many friendly folks here and the next surprise was an open mic in the middle of the very lush, very luxurious town green on a Tuesday afternoon. A terrific blues singer from Tennessee who was visiting the town sat in.

Our gracious open mic host Christina invited me to her house to sit outside by the fire, play music and camp the next day.

On the town green looking north.

Borrego is literally about two blocks long and has this "lost in time" feeling about it. It's at the end of the line; it's not a pass through town, You have to turn around to go out.

 It's got very little traffic relatively speaking, and in the winter, the population quadruples to 10,000, which is kind of what is happening now. I still feel like it's totally relaxed here, even with that swell. I love the lack of traffic on the main street, the amazing hardware store that sells everything including washing machines, the sweet little restaurants. 

Borrego Springs is known for it's sculptures that are dotted all along the main road. They were commissioned by Dennis Avery, of "Avery Paper Products" and draw many visitors. These statues are literally in the middle of nothing and go on for many miles surrounding the town.

One of my friends told me he would be interested in my "inner workings" at some point so perhaps I'll post some reflections on the trip so far.

I have met a lot of people on this journey, some have been absolutely outstanding, incredibly generous, opening their homes and their lives to perfect strangers. It was so inspiring to me to see that kind of generosity and friendliness.

I have met folks that are very wounded, and consequently, pretty self absorbed. 

Today, I had to tell my traveling companion that her actions and attitudes were no longer acceptable and I was terminating our relationship.

I came out here to find out what it was like to travel alone, and I've rarely been alone since starting out. But sometimes it can feel lonely.  

There is a man sitting down the block here at the library who I see every day, who never is talking to anyone, and probably is living out of his backpack. He's tried to engage with me, but I have kind of brushed him off cause I didn't want to talk to anyone at that moment and frankly scared of what might be a deep neediness to connect.

He seems lonely.

I feel guilty.

And so I think I will go over and talk to him after I finish this post.

What am I looking for, have I found it?

Community, friendship, companionship for sure. But there things are so predicated on people's ability to act like adults. When you are with others, much of the time you should be thinking of others and how you can create a harmonious time.  I of course want to be with those who feel like they are "kin" and can relate and communicate as adults which means giving and taking in a fairly balanced way. Children don't think of others, unless they are taught to. There are many people in our culture who still act like children and have a hard time taking others into consideration.

I will need many months to digest this trip. Perhaps what I am here  in the world for is to not "find" something for me but to "bring" something to those who are feeling that sting of isolation. To put myself aside so that someone else might feel seen, heard, invited, cared for, included and respected. 

Am I up for that challenge? I guess we'll see. 

Thank you dear readers.

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