Paco

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We've spent the past couple of weeks in various Wyoming forests, and it has been incredible. Totally did not anticipate 99 degree weather, though. 🥵 Thankfully we're back to landscapes with plenty of snowmelt streams to cool off in.
Last year I zipped right through Wyoming. I was still fairly new to #vanlife, and wasn't brave or experienced enough to deviate from campsites I knew existed, and I was also eager to get to Montana. I didn't even give Wyoming much thought.  I likened it to having my eye so set on dreamy, cool guy Montana, that I was completely oblivious to all the amazing things Wyoming had to offer, despite it being right in front of me. This time I hope to move more slowly so I can really soak it up and explore areas I blazed past last year. So far, I'd say we're off to a pretty great start.
Added a screen door to the van. Pretty excited to be able to leave the doors open on warm summer days without being overrun with flies and mosquitoes. This screen was made for wide doors in homes, but with a little hemming and reconfiguring, it became the perfect fit for the cargo doors.
This was my favorite book when I was young. I read it so many times I once knew it by heart. The story is of a young boy who runs away from home in NYC to live in the thick forests of the Catskill Mountains for eight months. He turns a hollowed tree into a home, learns to forage for food, befriends various wildlife, and trains a peregrine falcon to hunt. I aspired to be him, though I wasn't interested in running away. Instead, I let my imagination run wild on our 40 acres, building forts with dead trees and whipping up make believe meals with berries and grasses.  I brought this book along to read because what had once been memorized has long been forgotten. The hollow tree house and falcon were the only details I retained.  This afternoon I sat under a pine tree, opened the cover, and laughed aloud upon discovering this sticker. Maybe this book was the very seed that started my whole journey? Sure felt like that as I reread it and found all the notations and underlined phrases I'd scrawled in messy pencil.  I finished it in one sitting and was left filled with the same sense of wonder, inspiration, and excitement as a kid. One thing I've learned while traveling alone in the van, is if we keep following the inexplicable nudges, we eventually get led back to what fascinated us in childhood.
I realized I haven't posted in quite some time. Paco and I have been traveling around doing all the things we love. We've wandered through snowy Arizona, windy Utah, and even did some impromptu dog sitting in Colorado. Paco was pretty happy to have other dogs to play with. We're both doing great and soaking in the landscapes. Thinking it's about time to start heading north again. Might try to get to the Dakotas this year, so I'm open to any and all suggestions on things to see.
I have been entranced by the Utah Juniper. Their silver, twisted bodies clawing at the sky and wriggling along the earth. Such gnarled beauty.
I should carry this poem with me so I can pull it out and hand it to every person who asks, "So, what do you do with your days now that you live in a van?" This. This is what I do.
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." - Lao Tzu 🐾🥰
Today begins my 42nd trip around the sun! 🥳 Celebrated with a chilly birthday morning walk and realized I'd inadvertently dressed in a monochromatic blueberry scheme. 🫐 🤷🏼‍♀️🤭