Get ready for how the universe got me to the right place at the right time today to meet Captain Pat in the Whole Foods parking lot this afternoon, and then his partner, hava, a practicing witch, who are building out a skoolie. Talk about members of my tribe!!

So, to start, I had a long drive last night to find a place to spend the night because Apple Maps told me I had arrived at the boat launch where I intended to stay as I was a third of the way across the bridge. Pyewacket was not happy as I drove and drove until I came to a Walmart well after dark. The good thing about that, though, was I was closer to today’s destination: Folly Island beach. 

With a shorter drive, I arrived well before noon. Driving to the tip of the island, I found out at the entry booth (a) I needed pre-approval to drive a bus onto the beach and (b) if I had it, it was going to cost me $75 to park for the day. Yep, you guessed it, I turned around. On the way out, I asked how much an RV would cost, because technically that’s what I am. Seems the prices just went up today, and it would be $40 or maybe $45, he wasn’t sure. 

So, I slowly drove down the main road until I found a beach access I could fit into. 

Because it was almost mid-day, I knew I couldn’t stay on the beach too long or I’d burn. I left at 1:30 after meditating the better part of an hour as the tide went out, and then walking more than my knee liked, filling my pockets with shells. I found two large starfish, which I took as a good sign. I also found several beautiful small conch shells, but they were occupied by hermit crabs, so they remained on the sand. There were sooooo many more shells I thought about putting on long sleeves, adding money in the meter, and staying another hour. Instead I rolled on out.

I plotted a route to Whole Foods, and saw a Goodwill on the way. I drove around the parking lot twice and realized the only place Karma would fit was where the landscaper had parked with his trailer holding tools of his trade. I shrugged it off, knowing I wasn’t meant to shop there. Then I passed up several tempting places to eat, knowing I was going to do some wild spending at Whole Foods.

When I got to the market and was digging out my reusable bags, I butt dialed my daughter. Had I not done that, I would not have been sitting in the bus talking with her when when Captain Pat walked to his truck, which I had parked beside. He gestured excitedly because, I learned, he was in the process of building out a bus. The back of his truck was full of materials. We talked for a while and I showed him round, but he had food to bring home, so he took a selfie of the two of us and we exchanged business cards. 

When he sent me a copy of the photo, he also invited me to come see their bus. It was only a few miles away, so I scratched my plans of finding the metaphysical store and drove there. I met hava and Cyrus, whose house they were at, and who was helping them with the build. He welcomed me to park in the front of his house for the night, and to even use the bathroom. Although I declined, I have changed my mind when thinking about how a real shower could do a better job of washing off the sand and salt.

Now, when I was in Whole Foods, I picked up one of the less expensive bottles of Prosecco in a special display and put it down, then picked it up, then put it down. In another aisle I saw another grouping of bottles of bubbly and debated before putting a bottle of Prosecco in the cart, figuring there would be something to celebrate soon enough.

Well, it’s chilling now and we will pop it tonight while conversing about buses, travel, witchcraft, and their nonprofit, thefoundnation.com providing solutions to prevent and solve mental health issues. I hope you’ll check it out.