In the last couple of days, I noticed a few people looking at us, oddly.
It may be my imagination.
But I have a feeling some people may think Rowan and I are homeless.
There is a difference between homeless and choosing not to live in a conventional home. Some of us live each day returning to the same, permanent domicile, wishing every day for more; for ADVENTURE.
I have spent much of my life that way. Working the daily job, be it a paid gig or unpaid-work 24 hours a day-homewifeorhusbandryorparenting gig.
Don’t get me wrong: I love being able to stay home with Rowan. I spent so much of my time with Adrian, working 12 hours each day, or out of town 4 weeks in a row, only home on weekends. Often too exhausted to do much he found exciting, I was working to keep him in a really good school. I wanted him to achieve his dreams.
Which he is, in his own way. And he appreciates what I did, and realizes now that his education was superb.
I wanted to follow the same path with Rowan. But I have changed, and grown in ways I was growing when I was younger; before I chose the trodden path. And I realize that Rowan is a very different person than Adrian was, while still being very similar. Loving. Empathic. Adventurous. I want to encourage that, more than I was able to with my “staid” life with Adrian.
So, now that I am stronger in my self, I choose the gypsi path. Not all those who wander are lost ~ J.R.R. Tolkien
In that regard, when Rowan and I return home from this trek, I will be working on acquiring a road home for us. Vardo, karavan, whatever we achieve, we will make it our home on the road until we find a heart’s home. I may have to dismantle Crush to create a more amenable home. It will be nice to not HAVE to choose between setting up the tent and boondocking in the car when it is late and we are tired.
I want to make our vardo as mother (that’s Earth) friendly as possible, combining wind- and solar-power to keep us going, wherever we are. Eco fuels would be good, but commercial eco fuels are just as bad for the environment: made of palm kernel oil, natives are hacking down rainforests to plant the palm plantations, decimating the habitats of orangutans. So, then, I must consider all eco possibilities.
Part of my plan is to attend classes at the Solar Institute in Hopland, CA, and achieve solar certification. They have a solar car class that looks intriguing.
However we work it, I want our impact on our host-mother to be as small as possible. Live with less, and live more.
Wherever we roam, wherever we “settle”, our family will always be with us. In heart, in spirit, in love. All of you.
On the journey,
Patti and Rowan