finally....on the road

well, i finally did it. i am on my road trip! tonight i am in nebraska, settled in at a truck stop to use the wifi and to get a few hours sleep. but i need to backtrack to catch you all up on my "great escape"....

i left on june 2nd, and my first stop was in southern pa to visit fellow vandweller john nomads and his wife rose and their little boy bobby. it was a great way to start the trip....i was welcomed as family, treated to chinese for dinner, and got to rub john's head for good luck.....it must have worked, because i haven't broken down yet :-) we watched the movie/documentary "rubber tramps" which is a must see, especially for all you vandwellers out there. mutt really enjoyed his new buddy bobby, who was kind enough to "dogsit" mutt for me, and charmed his way right into my heart. thank-you so much bobby, john and rose.....you made my first day very special!

at the chinese restaurant that night, my fortune cookie said "your dearest dream is coming true". how cool is that? so true.....that little slip of paper is in my wallet, at the bottom of my picture of olivia, who is my soon-to-be grandaughter and already the owner of my heart. she is my other dearest dream come true :-)

the next day i headed into lancaster county to visit my sister ann and to have dinner with her and her friend lexi. lexi has been a reader of my blog and a crocheter of my yarn, and i was glad to finally meet her in person. she is as sweet and as goodhearted as my sister had told me. my sister's not bad either ;-) ....love you both!!!

i headed north the next day and spent a few days with a friend in bradford county before heading back south, ultimately hitting rt 80 on june 10th and pointing the rondyvan west.

i was like a woman pursued. i couldn't get out of pa. fast enough. i spent my first night in a toll plaza in ohio, then discovered upon awakening that i couldn't get far enough from the east coast fast enough. i wanted to be too far away to be found, too far away to go back, too far away to realize how crazy it was to hit the road with a van and a dog and a tank of gas and some food and a dream too big to explain to anyone.....including myself. i didn't have a plan, but i didn't have cancer either, or one stinkin' medical appointment until october. hallelujah!

the next night i spent near gary indiana, continuing on to davenport iowa the next day.

i shoulda listened to the news....

iowa and surrounding areas were experiencing record storms and flooding, which closed down rt. 80. stubbornly refusing to detour, i stayed at the flying j for 3 nights. it was a pleasant three days....i had a visit from fellow vandweller john and his 3 cats, and spent time knitting and sleeping and reading. i woke up the second morning and cried because not one doctor or radiologist could find me if they wanted to. i felt such freedom and relief and gratitude, and very much in the now.

by sunday it was obvious it would be days until 80 opened again, and more roads had closed, so i headed north to dubuque to detour around to des moines, and on into nebraska. so here i am just outside of omaha. tomorrow i will continue on to lincoln to visit my friend adam, and his family. i have never met adam in person, but know him well through the ishmael/ daniel quinn related websites of ishcon and ishthink. i am looking forward to finally meeting face to face....

so that is an update via my mac laptop through wifi at the flying j. tomorrow, i will try posting using my sprint palm, and try a picture, too.....

catch ya then.....