August 16: Wandering West

Greetings from South Dakota. As much as I miss family and friends in New England, I convinced myself to continue the quest to attend a nomad event in Oregon next month. 

Two more nights on the road … at a Walmart tonight and a rest stop Sunday … and I will arrive in Hill City to stay with friends for a while, and tour Badlands and Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and more. I am getting rather bored with corn fields and very frustrated with shitty road conditions. But to be honest, miles of road work, Jersey barriers, one-lane traffic, cones, loose gravel, and sand barrels, I also frustrate me. 

Highlights since I left Skoolie UP include:
> crossing two unexpected bridges, big by my standards, with determination rather than trepidation (an even bigger one tomorrow!)
> meeting up with Kristin, whom I met in Vermonth, outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul for conversation, possibly the best sushi I’ve ever had, and a walk through Dollar Tree where we found foam floral blocks to fill in for a missing couch leg and more little spell jars
> talking to Pye still … and Karmalita and trees and birds and bodies of water and clouds and …
> a very long day of driving yesterday, to get away from as much rain as possible, rerouting as I added hours to what I had planned
> a state trooper knocked on my window while I was trying to nap at a historical marker because someone called in, concerned I might be in trouble
> an intense storm at 3am with deafening thunder, blinding lightening, and flashes that lit up the sky continuously for five minutes at a time, and washed some of the dead things off my windshield as winds shook my bus
> enjoying having a freezer for the first time since I launched in 2019
> listening to the 528hz frequency after getting worked up over the goings on nationally and internationally
> studying maps and apps for places to boondock
> a morning at the laundromat
> finding a Planet Fitness (and another one tomorrow)
> reviewing a oracle deck for PaganPages
> talking myself out of trying to catch up on emails from the two weeks without Internet
> gathering wildflowers on the side of the road
> picking up five days of meds and supplements that rolled to all corners of the bus after my cupboard door opened, a drawer slid out, and my pill case jumped onto the floor when traveling a long stretch of a particularly distressed road despite doing 30 in a 55mph zone 
> paying for my first night in a campground this year, and only my third since launching … because the information I had said it was free (or $10 for electricity) … when it turned out to be $40
> reconnecting with my Everyday Witch tarot deck 

I slept late to make up for watching the storm and stopped at a travel center for fuel, a late lunch, and wifi to post photos that just would not load at the campground. Thank you for following along. Stay cool. Resist.

(Check out my Facebook page for more photos.)