Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
I am a creature of habit and routine and schedules. It keeps me focused, accomplished. It’s how I get my work done. But part of this new lifestyle is about challenging that need for control and structure. So today we took a different morning beach walk. (The yellow area of the beach is cordoned off for the nesting snowy plovers. Dogs are allowed on leashes everywhere else.) For the past three days we have been accessing the beach at the end of Atascadero Road and trudging across the soft sand to get to the water. Today we continued along Embarcadero Rd, the street that parallels the ocean. The road is flat and wide and there are several places where the sand dunes open up so you can see the water and the waves rolling in. After a half a mile, the road dead ends at a dry wash where there is a large dirt parking lot with several paths down to the sand. I watched an older couple walk from the water to the lot, noticing that the sand...
Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
The motorhome is a 1989 Itasca Sundancer. Marika and I bought it from the original owners in 1994 when it had only 9400 miles on it. (Today the odometer reads 54,058.) It’s 24 feet long, 8 feet wide with a shower, toilet, sink, refrigerator, freezer, four burner stove and a microwave/convection oven. There’s a full sized bed in the back and a dinette with two bench seats on either side that fold down into a single bed. And there’s a swivel chair in addition to the two seats up front for the driver and the passenger. The RV originally had a fold-out queen sized bed over the driver’s cab but we took it out years ago and put a five inch ledge around the U-shaped area with separators for extra storage. One side is designated as the food pantry with banker boxes holding cereal, canned goods, snacks and root vegetables. The other side of the U has Laddy’s dog bowl, toys, brush, laundry supplies and a small step ladder so that I can wash the center of the windshield. The wide...
Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
Laddy came up to my face this morning at 6:10 and so we were out and back from a short walk to the park by 6:30. I made coffee, we had breakfast and I turned on the water heater, preparing for a shower. But instead, I got back under the covers and slept for another hour. I checked my email and other work-related things and then, finally, we headed out for a beach walk. It’s a short two blocks from where we are camped, past the concrete factory and waste water treatment plant, around the corner and across the street to the sandy trail. This time I took my shoes off as soon as we reached the sand. I tossed Laddy’s Frisbee and he brought it right back, ready for a replay. After several throws I put him back on his leash and we headed to the water. The walk was less hard. Not easy, but it felt more natural to grab at the loose sand with my toes and dig my heels in, propelling me forward. My calves...
Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
I am in Baywood Park, parked in the wide lot next to where the vendors are setting up for today’s Farmer’s Market. Pop-ups are being raised, truck beds unloaded, fruits and flowers and crocheted hats are being laid out on cloth covered tables. A cool eucalyptus scented breeze blows through the window, giving me goose bumps. While I wait for the market to officially open, I am writing and checking email, thanks to free wifi from the Merrimaker Market across the street. Before here, we parked along the bay trail on the dead end road next to Pecho By the Bay. What a perfect leash-free walk along the sandy trail that curves around the cuesta inlet. Laddy met a younger dog with similar markings. They sniffed and smelled and I can tell that Laddy is getting more comfortable with these random meetings. He romped down the bluff and waded into the water, chest high and happy. He sniffed the succulents and rubbed his face in the plants, keeping up with me the entire walk and coming every time I...
Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
We took our first beach walk this morning. For a big girl who barely walks any distance, it was a hard, heavy breathing effort across the soft sand to the beach. But I took my time, pausing to toss the Frisbee far enough so that Laddy could retrieve it without jumping for it. After several rounds of play, I had a moment of being ready to turn around, but I reminded myself that I had all the time in the world and I could stop and rest as often as I needed to. I leashed Laddy and we continued the strenuous trek to the water. We stopped several times, to notice where we had entered the beach, to read the signs that cordoned off the dunes for the nesting snowy plovers, to pep talk my exploding calves that I could, indeed make it to the water. The sand at the water line was hard-packed and so easy to walk on, even with the clumps of sand that had gotten into my mesh water shoes and filled the area around...
Aug08
Posted on Aug 8 by Ruth Davis
I pulled out of Marika’s driveway on Wednesday morning, August 1 and arrived at Country Hills RV Park, my overnight destination in Beaumont, California seven hours later. It was a long day but relatively easy driving across the desert. I met up with my friend Kathi who lives near Beaumont and we enjoyed some delicious Thai food and catch-up conversations. Bedtime came early and Laddy and I both slept long and deep. In the morning we took a walk through the high desert, ate our breakfasts outside while we watched hummingbirds and I readied the RV for the drive the rest of the way to Morro Bay. But as I sat there in the quiet of the morning, I realized I just wasn’t up for a second day of freeways and mountain passes and six more hours behind the wheel. So I changed the plan. I decided to drive only half the way and stay overnight in Ventura where my friend Leslie lives. I had planned to camp at the nearby state park, but Leslie said I could...
