Namago Retreat to Sedona

Namago Retreat to Sedona

We went west on Friday, March 6th – right on the cusp of the world turning upside down. The world was on edge, but hadn’t yet tipped.

We had bought our flights only one week prior, having delayed our return to van life, and so far having planned only five weeks on the road.

The van had been in Reno since Joe dropped it off three months prior at the beginning of December. We picked it up from the repair place, and the next morning got breakfast and hot beverages at Coffeebar just like the good old days, and then got on the road! We might have done a quick shop that day or somewhere along the way, on our trip to Ashland for a night. On Sunday, we arrived in Portland. We checked into our Airbnb on Monday, two days ahead of the Tool show. This workspace/home-base was strategic. Our friends would be arriving over the next two days, and we were planning to see Tool in Portland and then Eugene.

The next day, Joe started to feel cold and achy. […]

Stealth camping at trailhead on Schnebly Hill in Sedona, Arizona

We didn’t want to drive all the way out to 525C, 525D, or 525E. We didn’t want to park at the top of Forest Road. We didn’t have a site at Rancho Sedona. We thought: why not camp at the trailhead on Schnebly Hill Road. It’s a grey area; we might be backpacking and backwoods camping along a trail. We had a recreation pass. We decided to try it. We woke up the next morning, in the midst of a movie shoot! (Or television or commercial photography, or maybe just an Insta-influencer and accompanying entourage.)

(This was on a past trip, not recently.)

Yellowstone Sunset

Half of the Yellowstone experience is “car hiking” through it. It’s such a huge park that completing either the north loop or the south loop, or the grand loop, is a multi-hour adventure with varying landscapes and natural beauty all along the way.

Car-hiking Yellowstone can easily fill a day including stops – to see a thermal feature, take a walk, recharge at a lodge, browse a gift shop, or view some wildlife (either by choice or by necessity such as when a herd of bison decide they want to be on the other side of the road right now).

Several of our day trips ended with an awesome drive at dusk, and this one in particular was spectacular.

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake National Park

In southern Oregon there is a lake that is a crater, and it is the deepest of all the lakes in the US. The crisp blue color is in a league of it’s own, holding up next to any of the best sunsets you’ve seen. The fact that there are no rivers or inlets attached or flowing to it, makes for some of the purest water in the world – it is a clarity that goes undisputed. It is a landscape that Life painted – one that Gaia made for you. Welcome to Crater Lake.

Low Power Mode

On the iPhone, Low Power Mode is typically engaged when the system notifies the user that less than 20% of battery life remains. It can deactivate certain nice-but-not-necessary features in order to conserve power and extend the life of the device.

We see an analog to Low Power Mode in the functioning of the human nervous system.

Ever been unwell or tired, but had to “show up” despite the suboptimal circumstances, and instead of falling flat you ended up easily playing your “A Game” and exceeding your own expectations?

The nervous system’s low power mode suppresses latent background processes tending toward self-doubt, self-criticism, and second-guessing.

When called to perform under pressure or deliver under duress, there are simply no spare cycles to spend overthinking, over analyzing, and questioning ourselves. We simply show up and do our duty. We get out of our own way.

Spring Lake Regional Park

We had a great site with a view of the lake, as well as a view of the night sky through clearing clouds and intermittent tree branches, on the night of the full supermoon lunar eclipse. It was magical.

Highly recommend Spring Lake Regional Park in Santa Rosa, California!

Here’s a video of our sunset jog around Spring Lake, and a couple of photos.

(January 20-21, 2019)

Hopi Yer Well!

Hopi Yer Well!

Life mirroring life, the inside reflected on the outside, the external a match for the internal, and again, the micro and the macro. Nesting dolls. Perfectly sized objects inside perfectly shaped holes. The innies and the outies. The cosmic and the cellular. The big raps on turtles’ backs aaallll the way down.

We’re just tripping on through! And currently our trip takes us to parts known in a van that we call home. It’s our Sprinter Starship and we’re driving on Route 40, heading West.