It is odd as I keep thinking to treat this day as we have been camping on any other land throughout the country. But it is not any other land. Even Spirit is looking at me, half asleep, but not fully as he normally does… saying "where is the noise… do we really belong here?". And we do. The moment has arrived as we moved this morning, the weather is perfect and it is truly not only an isolated desert, but a beautiful desert. It has not sank in yet as much as I have been anticipating this moment. The road is perfect, the truth is, everything is just too perfect. If there was ever a time I need to pinch myself, this is the one. I am not taking any photos today, maybe later on as we witness our first sunset and so the images are of a couple days ago throughout the Mustang Shelby meet. Two extremes! Writing about the serenity surrounding us and posting some muscle cars which these past days have been passing us on the road, roaring as we have been standing still.

This land, I keep thinking, since we have been here, is as a dream come through to enjoy as a Home base for the winter months and yet… I have been in correspondence with a group of sidecarists planning to ride Labrador sometime in the month of August. Which means we will ride back to the East Coast sometime in April and hopefully visit with Friends we have not seen for a while now. Or maybe later! Ride the West again… We have all winter to get ready for that ride and many months north, including getting "Old Faithful" in shape as she is a bit tired. Sand her down a bit, some new paint, rust is showing up here and there, separate the sidecar and check out the valves, rocker arms, throttle bodies… all really which with 192,000 miles on now has not changed a bit this past year but requires a check up.

The strangest part about here today is being totally self contained and soon I will document on that fact including solar power… a great system which during the day as I use the Internet Dish, modem and lap top does not drop any voltage. Amazing quiet power as amazing as being here and having the ability to be on line. Karma has since we have been here made its way through our Life over and over.

Paul and Voni Glaves are my neighbors about 5 miles away and also attended the Shelby meet.

It all started with Kathy’s and Rob’s idea to rent a tractor and cut a road, something I would have never thought about. They also needed some work on their own property and the tractor needed to be returned the next morning at 8am. "Pushing" the road was smooth all day and as we returned by mid afternoon to their home it would not start! What luck that we had by then finished the road… it was a blown fuse… if it would have happened 55 miles away with no phone reception it would have been a disaster. But the rental agency came in and fixed it extending the return date at one PM the next day, plenty of free time and more for Rob to finish his own task!

Next, on our way to Terlingua I see the mail truck and stop. I had noticed mail boxes on 118, 1.5 mile away from here and asked if we could get one to also have a mailing address. This is by the way the "longest" mail delivery route in the USA! No problem… as of this morning as there was an unused mail box we now have an address!

Till I am able to purchase a water trailer, built a bath house for a shower, sink and compost toilet we are going to Terlingua twice a month or so for that purpose taking in "White Elephant". I was really happy to make a deal with an RV Park paying $15 for water and emptying the tanks. Till I received an e mail from a reader with some land near by that has an unused septic tank and a 3000 gallon underground water tank that "needs" to be used… What can I say? We have been here barely a week and all has fallen in place as by magic!

But it does not end here! I had also noticed .5 mile from here, at our "bumper" intersection, a telephone box which really surprised me. I called this morning and as the Company has a grant for installation, they will pull a line as far as one needs to. Not only a telephone but also Broadband. Hard to believe that I already have a phone number as they will come tomorrow morning for a survey and a work order. Feels like cheating on this camping option… but a telephone will be nice considering I need to stay in touch with my Mother and cell phones here have no reception. The other alternative would have been a SAT phone for emergencies only. And the Broadband? Well, it will be cheaper than my Dish and faster.

It has been a great week since we have been here, the momentum increasingly rising and finally today all of the above merged together in this incredible fashion leaving me a bit numb as… "well, what do I do now?". There will be plenty to do… not much in the building area as I like to keep Life simple and nature as much undisturbed as possible. Explore the area again as one more time amazingly I am seeing hills and mountains as if for the first time, ride a bit north and experience the Texas urban cities… I don’t think boredom is ever an option with us. In the meantime, we are Spirit and I going for a walk, our first one. I forgot to mention "learning" how to do some real Texas BBQ!… 40 years in kitchens, this will be a new one on me. Will try to excel…

Two years of Photography is finally in order on SmugMug… In "Your Favorites", in "States", some labeled "first year" and second year", now also "Texas the third year". Feel free to browse, you can even use the slide show mode and have fun.

Merchandise is also available through SmugMug.

Help us keep the site alive. Please contribute…

Be well, always. Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.