My Beach Front Property

March 3, 2016 — Pat Bertram

I left Alice, Texas feeling great. I’d had a good night’s sleep and the whole day stretched ahead of me to get my oil changed and the valves adjusted.

I headed directly to the VW dealer that offered an express oil change lane, they ushered me into line, and then my momentum crashed to a halt. Although those VW aficionados loved my car (even the office workers sneaked a peak at the great-looking classic) not a single mechanic knew how to adjust the valves. Some didn’t even know what they were (one fellow wanted to send me to a tire dealer for valve stems). The only folks who knew what needed to be done were suits, and though I cajoled, they didn’t want to get their hands dirty, not even for old time’s sake. They did, however, make numerous phone calls and tracked down a mechanic who only worked on air-cooled VWs. He had bad knees, so while we waited for his younger employee to come into work (and while we waited for the engine to cool) I visited with his wife, who worked as his office manager.

Apparently the lure of my lovely car was too much, because he adjusted the valves himself and gave the car a good going over. He thought everything looked great, was working smoothly (except that the valves had become too tight, which is why the engine got hot enough to vapor lock). He even took the time to clean my windshield and fill my tires.

And then I was on my way to Padre Island. What can I say? Ocean (well, gulf). Beachfront property. Walks on the beach. Private bird tour. New friend. (Spent most of the day talking to a woman from Colorado who pretty much lived on tbe road. Instant sisterhood.)

I paid for two nights, and then this morning paid for two more. The humidity is the highest I’ve ever experienced. Any higher, it would be called rain. And the wind is constant. (Last night I kept waking up when my tent hit me in the face because it was laid almost flat in the wind) but the tent held up. There was so much moisture on my bug this morning that I took the opportunity to clean the car. (Had no need for a hose. A soon as I wiped off the first layer of dirt/water, another layer of water appeared.

I didn’t want anyone to worry about me (and I didn’t want the car to rust after too much non-use), so I drove to town today where I found a cell signal.

I’ll be leaving Padre island on Saturday morning and will head for Austin. I will be meeting a dear friend for the first time, and I plan to get a motel room for the night so I look presentable.

But now? Ho hum. Back to Paradise.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , , , . 6 Comments »

Spontaneously Charging Across the Country

March 1, 2016 — Pat Bertram

Well, I did it again — drove all day. I’d have stopped if anything caught my attention (besides an empty gas tank or a full bladder), but all those hundreds of miles looked alike with only small variations. (The most exciting parts were seeing a group of javelina by the side of the road and crossing the Pecos River.) I’d been afraid of such a drive, it seemed way too much stress on me and my car, but I had no other choice.

And now it’s done. I spent the night in Alice, forty miles west of Corpus Christi. Today, if everything goes okay (and if I don’t get it into my head to do another of those drive-all-day marathons), I will get the oil changed in my car and check out Padre Island.

Friends in Texas have been sending me information of great places to check out between here and Austin (a friend and I have a hotel reservation in Austin for March 6), I’m sure there will be something in the area to capture my interest.

Sometimes I think I’ve lost the reason for taking this trip — it never was supposed to be about insanely charging across country — but it is supposed to be about being more spontaneous, and that is what I have been doing — spontaneously charging across the country.

I suppose I should have made more of an effort to stick to my few plans, such as spending a couple of nights at Big Bend to see the stars, but I still remember how uneasy the campground made me feel. And I have to listen to my instincts even if they come from nothing but exhaustion.

Luckily, that Austin date in March will slow me down. I have almost a week before I have to be there, and getting there early gains me nothing.

So let’s see if today I do a better job of finding adventure.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , , . 5 Comments »

I Promised Myself I Wouldn’t Do It, but I Did It Anyway

February 29, 2016 — Pat Bertram

When I started on this journey, I promised myself I wouldn’t overtax either my car or myself. I planned to take it easy, to stop frequently and not to drive more than two or three hours a day before setting up camp.

Apparently I am not good at keeping promises to myself.

I felt excited yesterday morning as I headed to Big Bend National Park. I’d been interested in the place ever since I found it high on a list of dark sky parks, parks where there is so little light pollution, you can see deep into space, and I looked forward to spending a couple if days exploring.

Although Big Bend was only about three hours from the motel where I spent the night, it felt as if I’d been on the road for many more hours than that, probably because the day was so very hot and there was so very little to see — miles and miles and miles of uninteresting desert. I suppose if I hadn’t spent more than a thousand hours hiking in the Mojave Desert the past few years or if I hadn’t recently been wooed by the colorful Sonora Desert in Arizona, I might have been more impressed. (Though I was thrilled to see a few bluebonnets lining the road in places.)

Oddly, as soon as I hit Big Bend, my car started acting up. The cheap gas I had to buy probably had more than the usual amount of ethanol, and my car hates ethanol. Also, since there had been no place to stop, I’d driven straight through to park headquarters, and when I restarted the car after checking into the park, the poor thing was vapor locked. (I just googled “72 VW vapor lock,” and found that apparently vapor lock happens more frequently when it’s getting time to have the valves adjusted, and it is getting close to that time.)

But, trooper that my bug is, as soon as it worked past the vapor, it did fine, but I started acting up. I drove more than an hour around that immense tract of land looking for an available campsite in the far-flung campgrounds, and the only ones available were cramped together in a partly flooded open lot. For some reason, the whole situation made me feel uneasy, I had lost interest in the park, and I simply didn’t want to stay.

So I left.

By the time I finally found a room at a time-warped but very quiet motel in tiny town fifty miles from anywhere, I’d been driving for more than seven hours with just a couple of quick stops for gas at unattended gas stations. (Yep, just isolated pumps. Nothing else. There truly is not much here in southwestern Texas.)

The tediousness of the drive today made me exceedingly grateful I gave up any idea of walking across the country. Even if the logistics weren’t ridiculously difficult to figure out, the terrain would be impossible. It was hard enough driving through this vastness: walking it would be deadly.

I’m wondering what today will bring. Big Bend was my last planned stop. Except for a couple of arrangements for meeting up with friends, I’ll be winging it from now on. I hope I do a better job of taking it easy than I did yesterday.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , , . 7 Comments »

Still Trying to Learn

February 28, 2016 — Pat Bertram

After spending two freezing nights in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, I decided to spend a night in a motel. Although I didn’t sleep any better inside than outside, I feel rested and replete. A movie last evening amused me, though why I enjoyed all that destruction in San Andreas Fault, I haven’t a clue except perhaps that for the first time in five years I am not living a mere ten miles from the fault. And a complimentary breakfast this morning restored me. (Gotta love a waffle shaped like Texas.)

Now I’m about to head south into what I hope will be warmer nights. (It helps that the region is going through a warming trend.)

And if the nights are still too cold, I can always double tent again.

When people would ask me what I will do if it gets cold at night and I’d respond that I’ll put my packpacking tent inside my big tent, they either laughed or stared at me in confusion. Whoever heard of such a thing? But other people subsequently recommended it, and it worked. It was only in the early morning chill that I got too cold for comfort. I also discovered something vital. Those temperature ratings on sleeping bags and camping quilts are the temperature the bags will keep you alive, not comfortable. I still have to work on the comfort factor. Maybe a sheet? I really do not like the feel of nylon. If I put the sheet over top the camping quilt, it might help to hold the warmth in and would feel more comfortable tucked beneath my chin.

I’m still working on quicker and easier ways to set up and tear down camp, still trying to learn the best way to live as normally as I can in my abnormal (but rapidly becoming normal) lifestyle.

I’m also using more of my equipment. I actually got out my little Solo stove the other night to brew a couple of much needed cups of tea, and the stove worked great. I used Heet for the fuel, a secret I’d learned online. Not only did the water boil rapidly, but the fuel didn’t blacken the pot as twigs would have done. Heet is also cheap and easy to pour, and can be used when the burning of twigs and other botanicals is forbidden. (So far I have not camped any place where you can gather wood to burn.)

I have learned a few other things: never pass up a chance to do laundry, and in the sparsely traveled areas, never pass up a chance to get fuel or use the restrooms. (Believe me, if you stop on the side of a seemingly no-traffic road because of a urinary emergency, as soon as it’s too late to do anything about your exposure, there will be a near traffic jam.)

Well, time to get packed and move on down the road. See you in Big Bend National Park.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , , , . 16 Comments »

The Low Point of My Journey

February 27, 2016 — Pat Bertram

I’d hoped that this journey I am on would illuminate my strengths and perhaps even increase them. Instead, it is making me aware of my limitations.

When did I get so unsteady? When did it become so hard to walk up and down stairs? When did it become a physics problem to figure out how to climb out of a bath?

And when did the human voice become so unappealing?

Don’t get me wrong — I still enjoy talking to people and listening to them one on one or in small groups, but as a whole, voices get on my nerves. Has it always been so? I doubt it — apparently, liking the sound of other humans is borne in our DNA, but somewhere along the line, that sound has become anathema to me.

I camped at a lovely site in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and all was quiet until the sites around me filled up with talkers, and then things turned bad when a group of bikers set up in the campsite next to me. Not that they were a threat, but oh, man — those folks never shut up.

Since I didn’t want to hike the trail leading off the campground (an 8-mile round trip hike with a 2000-foot elevation rise), I headed north to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I figured it would be a unique hike into the bowels of the earth, but it so happened the elevator was out of order, which meant everyone had to walk down a very steep incline with dozens of switchbacks.

Before we were allowed to enter, the rangers gave us several warnings, such as no drinks other than water allowed, no walking sticks, no bathrooms until the lunchroom at the bottom. And finally, we were told not to talk, and if we did need to talk, not to speak above a whisper.

And, of course, no one heeded that final warning.

Generally when I hike, I stop to let the yappers pass me by, which leaves me alone to enjoy the ambient sounds, but on a trail that winds ever downward, there is no way to get away from those who prefer the sound of their own voice above all other sounds. If not above, they are below.

After about 30 minutes, I realized I wasn’t having the trans-descend-ental experience I’d hoped for. Instead, I found myself dreading the thought of being in a deep dark hole with those ever-increasing, echoing voices, so I went back to the surface. (Actually, the lowest point of my walk into the caverns wasn’t that low since the caverns are set beneath a mountain, so they are probably even with the road that leads up into the park.)

After returning “home,” I strolled along the wheelchair accessible trail, stopping every few minutes to sit on the benches provided, and enjoy the view and what was left of the day. Since all those he-men campers were struggling up the “real” trail, I was left alone on that easy trail.

Ah, blessed silence.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***
I took the photo of the desert from Carlsbad Caverns National Park. You can’t see my campsite, but it is below the butte to the left of the image.

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , , . 12 Comments »

I’m Having a Real Adventure Now

February 26, 2016 — Pat Bertram

One of my mother’s sisters used to say that if you got tp where you were going without any trouble, it was an excursion. If you had problems, it was an adventure.

Well, I am on an adventure now! Sort of. Is it a problem if it isn’t really a problem?

Shortly after I passed through El Paso, I stopped at a fast food place to use the restroom, and my car didn’t start. Dead battery. (It still had a year left on the warranty, which is why I hadn’t already replaced it.) I have emergency road service through my insurance company, so that wasn’t a problem. What gave me pause is the location of the battery — under the back seat. A seat, I might add, that is completely full of supplies and equipment for my journey. So I unloaded the car for the guy to jump start the engine, loaded it all up again, and drove to the closest AutoZone. A straight five mile jog back down the road I had been traveling. And then I had to unpack the car again and repack it.

By then, it was too late to make the two-hour journey to the Guadalupe Mountains, so once again, I spent the night in a motel. This one was way overpriced with zero amenities or charm, but it was in the right place.

And best of all, a Whataburger was within walking distance. (I hadn’t been near the restaurant for almost three decades, so it was a real treat. As good as I remembered.)

My auto body guy who discovered the brakes that had been hacked instead of being fixed, the fuel lines that I paid to have fixed but weren’t, and various other minor details like that, used to tell me that God loved me. And so it is.

If the battery was going to die, it couldn’t have happened at a better time or place. What if it had died when I was at some remote campground without a cell signal?

But it didn’t.

I have felt from the beginning that this is a magic journey; I believe it still.

And oh, what an adventure I am having!

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , . 3 Comments »

Going Where the Wind Blows

February 25, 2016 — Pat Bertram

As I was loading my car in preparation for leaving Chiricahua National Monument, an older couple approached me, said they too were road hippies (whatever that is), said that my car and I were very cute, then asked where I was headed next. I said I thought I’d go to Rockhound State Park in New Mexico. They said to go to Rock City State Park instead, that it was a much better park. Since I am going where the wind blows, I decided to take their advice. “Going where the wind blows” was supposed to be a figure of speech, but it turned out to be the truth since I had to drive through fierce winds all across southern New Mexico. Cold fierce winds. I didn’t get to the park until about four, and except for a large stand of rocks that from a distance looked like a city skyline, I didn’t see anything except miles of flat land. And all I felt were those bitter winds that could only get colder when the sun set.

So those winds blew me on down the highway.

I had to laugh at myself for all my plans of just driving a couple of hours a day, of stopping early enough so there wouldn’t be a problem about finding a place to stay, and there I was, driving after the sun set. But of course, the early stops were to ensure that I would have time to find an alternative solution if my plans didn’t work out, and that’s what happened.

I drove to Las Cruces and rented a motel room for the night. And oh, did that cheap place feel as luxurious as an upscale spa! Warmth. No wind. No setting up a tent and a makeshift bed. No securing food and scented items from bears. My own bathroom. And a tub to soak my aching bones. Add to that a lovely breakfast buffet with make-your-own waffles, and I felt pampered.

Now I am sitting in the sun in historic Mesilla City, listening to the church chimes.

I feel good. Rested. (Though I don’t look rested. I look like I’ve aged a decade in the last two weeks, but luckily, I don’t see many mirrors.)

My next sort-of-planned stop is a campsite in the Guadalupe Mountains, though I don’t think I’ll make it there today. Do I care?

Absolutely not.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , , , . 5 Comments »

Beyond Awesome

February 24, 2016 — Pat Bertram

Sometimes I think someone like me — out of shape, inexperienced, un-surefooted — has no business on the obstacle courses we call hiking trails, but then I think, “Why the heck not? So what if it takes me seven hours to hike a trail the goat children can do in four?” (Many young people, and even some old, skip up and down even the most treacherous trail as if they were half mountain goat, which is why I think of them as goat children.) It’s a wonderful privilege to have such an opportunity, and getting back safe is what matters, not how long it takes or how gracefully it’s done. Anyway, I do try to be extra careful to make up for my shortcomings.

And, oh, I am so glad that I take the chance! At Chiricahua National Monument, I went on a seven mile round trip hike in Rhyolite Canyon that’s considered a strenuous hike because at one point, there is an 800-foot elevation gain in less than a mile. To me, the strenuousness came from the at times ridiculously difficult trail itself. In the photos below, the rivers of white stones are the trail. Still, it’s an astonishingly scenic hike among rock pinnacles of rhyolite (a gray rock formed from volcanic ash), and culminating in what felt like a sacred place — the beyond awesome area near the balanced rock.

I took a much-needed break at the rock, and in the silence, I could get a sense the pilgrimage I am on. In a way, though so much less impossible than the epic thru-hike I dreamed of, this journey is giving me at least part of what I wanted from a long backpacking trip — a better sense of this great world we live in and perhaps eventually a deeper sense of my connection to it.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , , , . 4 Comments »

The Thing Is, I’m Feeling Blessed

February 23, 2016 — Pat Bertram

Before I left Tucson, I felt a bit of trepidation about continuing my quest, but as soon as I got on the road, the worry left me. Still, I didn’t feel quite easy, but the uneasiness had nothing to do with my journey. (My books were republished, and certain issues showed up in Grief: The Great Yearning which upset me because as I’m sure you know, that book is very personal to me.)

Since there is nothing I can do about the book now, I tried to get it out of my mind by playing tourist. All along the highway to Benson were billboards screaming, “What’s the Thing?” One billboard claimed that the thing was a mystery of the desert, so I stopped at the tourist trap (a real trap — although the stuff in the store looked like it could be native artifacts and crafts, almost everything was made in China) and paid my dollar to see the thing.

The exhibit certainly didn’t improve my mood. There were several buildings of dusty antiques, a car purported to be one Hitler rode in, bizarre driftwood and tree root sculptures, and a hand carved life-sized tableau of people being tortured.

And then there was the thing. I don’t know if it was real, don’t know why it is a mystery, don’t even know what the poor thing is doing on display, but it looked like a mummified woman with long limbs and a small head clutching a baby.

I started crying for the poor thing (though if it’s some sort of hoax, my tears were absurd) and walked away without photographing the exhibit, but eventually I went back and took a picture because what is one more indignity added to so many?

A little after heading back down the highway, the rhythm of my journey lulled me into a more pleasing state, and by the time my tent was set up at Chiricahua National Monument (the camp host came and introduced himself, and I inveigled him into helping me with the rainfly), I was feeling peaceful and blessed.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , . 3 Comments »

Defining My Life

February 21, 2016 — Pat Bertram

My fortune cookie yesterday told me, “Accept no other definition of your life, accept only your own.”

I’m not sure what the definition of my life is, not sure I need one, but somehow that “fortune” seemed apropos. Today I head out on the road again after a week’s hiatus in Tucson to continue my cross-country quest, a quest that perhaps defines my life right now.

Oddly, I feel nervous. Or maybe it’s not odd. I’ll be leaving familiar terrain, maybe heading into colder temperatures and eventually rain and bugs, and even scarier, I’ll have many days in a row without the protection of solid walls (though there is always the possibility of a motel), but still, this trip is something I have to do. Want to do.

I’ll sit here a few moments gathering my courage, finish packing the car, then continue my eastward journey.

See you on down the road.

***

(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)

***

Posted in Adventure, life. Tags: , , , . 2 Comments »
« Older posts
Newer posts »