Today I was welcomed to Pennsylvania with the worst road conditions ever. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t trick my map app to keep me off turnpikes and state highways. The bumps, pot holes, patches, RR tracks, grooves across the lane every 50 feet or so … all shook Karma to her core. And when I did manage to travel more back roads, they had so many sharp turns and bends, I was forever tapping the brakes, pissing off all those behind me until I could find a place to pull over and let them pass. This was probably my longest drive, about 165 miles over six and a half hours … and probably my worst, unless I’ve forgotten something. The day included two short stops (check out the women’s room and the entertainment at the front of the small truck stop store on Facebook), and a longer break to try to figure out a way to outsmart the map app, because you know where there’s a witch, there’s a way, but today this witch didn’t find it.
If there are any shocks on this bus, they weren’t absorbing a thing; the back end was bouncing and banging. I heard noises but couldn’t tell if they were coming from inside or outside the skoolie. While there does seem to be a new noise, sort of a whine, as the transmission shifts into second and third, most of the commotion, it turned out, was inside the bus. I’ve never had my pantry door wiggle out of the latch at the top, but once it did, the magnets let go of the door and on those corners, the wire drawers that fit quite tightly into wooden slits slid out and bumps then tossed objects onto the floor. Drawers that were bungie corded and anchored with another wooden latch also flew open. Shoes jumped out of the closet. Items rearranged themselves behind cupboard doors. The folding table behind the driver’s seat kept up a steady banging. My destination was a truck stop on one of the turnpikes, allowing a visit from my dear sister Jennifer, editor of PaganPages. It’d been a few years since I was down last and we couldn’t stop smiling and talking. Tomorrow I’ll drive to a parking lot where we can hunt for treasures at thrift stores and continue the conversation before I drive 20 miles to the host site I will stay for two nights. Then it’s New Jersey for a night, and then a last long leg to Connecticut. What was lined up is most likely going to fall through, so I’m back to looking for a place to park near West Hartford/Cromwell starting Monday or Tuesday. I can stay in parking lots if there’s sun to charge my panels, but coming by to plug in for two hours, or to get water from your garden hose, on and off through the end of April, would help. I’m trusting the gods have a plan and I have a few people and places yet to ask.