April 14: I Asked; I Received

Greetings from a campground in Pisgah Forest in North Carolina. The sun is shining. There is so much green. I am parked in front of skoolie friends Nat and Don. All the trees are grounding me. I am breathing their oxygen and feeling the healing. The past 365 days have put me on a different trajectory than the one I was on. I asked to get through it, and I have.

As I was driving here yesterday, I was pleading for North and South Carolina to please, please repave their roads and stop patching patches. It was so washboard bumpy at times that the top of my black tool chest opened on its own, and the drawers started coming out. Something in the turquoise chest repositioned itself so that I can't open the drawer without opening the one above it. Hanging items jumped down and I could hear clanking coming from somewhere behind me. Then I came across a harrowing stretch of road about to be rebuilt, and another that was being torn up, requiring a detour.

Another example of asking and receiving was more seeds popping up. So I wanted to find something in which to repot them. The one thrift store I stopped at had just the thing. Then I needed soil. I stayed at a farm that nigh, and the next morning I visited the store. I got earrings and rocks painted with mandalas. I really wanted better dirt than I could find at Tractor Supply for the plants. I asked, and yes, the hosts could accommodate me. I got a bag of rich dark material containing some alpaca poo, which evidently makes it better than compost without it.

When making meals on the road, I often ask for a beautiful place to park. One day I found a boat launch, and another day it was a city park. I wanted meals I didn't have to cook and I wanted to enjoy a drink without having to drive. Got that the two nights I stayed at breweries. I also got to play a round of trivia at one, and meet the King of Conspiracy Theories and Willie Nelson's tour manager at the other.

I wanted to know why, for a couple of days, my little vacuum wouldn't suck up much of anything. I was barefoot, which is the norm, and was on the way to the bathroom, and couldn't stand stepping on litter Pye tossed out of the pan. I fiddled with the handheld machine and popped out a very nasty filter ... upside down ... on the counter ... in the middle of the night.

Yes, I will be more careful what I ask for.

These pictures were taken over the last few days, since getting back on the road with a new transmission and new tires.

And while I wrote this Sunday morning, I was not able to post it until going into town Monday.