The call of the open road is strong for me! Driving is like therapy! I could drive for hours and hours and days and days! It would not bother me a bit! Whether I am driving my Roadtrek or my 69. The sound of the tires going down the road, the feel of the freedom that it gives me. The sights and sounds that I encounter along the way. All of this fills me with hope and desire. It makes me happy!
Tomorrow I leave for a roadtrip up north which would normally have me wiggling with excitement. A long drive and the north! Ohhhh the combination is normally exhilarating! But not this time. I am hesitant. I am a little afraid. Why now and not before?
Covid 19! Not the virus! The people’s reaction to it. I have never before witnessed such random hatred and judgement in our country or been the victim of it before. It is both sad and scary! Never before was I ever worried about going anywhere! I have been many places in this beautiful country and was never worried for my safety.
Since the start of this living in my van has been extremely hard. With no shower facilities available in the area of my home base I have had to rely on friends and family for the basics. That does not make me happy!
Everything changed for me with this. My job, they way I live, the way I survive and the future of what the next year would bring! When this started even parking at Walmart to get drinks was an insult waiting to happen. People would give me dirty looks like I was not supposed to be there. Same city as my address but they had already judged me before I got out of the van. As far as they were concerned I was traveling and one woman even yelled at me to “go the f*&% home”. When I tried to explain that was my home and before I could say I was staying at my daughters and just stopped for drinks she “told me to get a job and get a life”. Ummmm I have a job and I had a life before people started screaming at me. I just walked away with her yelling obscenities as I walked. Wow just wow!! What have we become?? Now I do not bother to explain. I just walk away!
Staying in one place is very hard for me. Not only because of how I live but mentally. I get wiggly!!! I get feeling trapped! Like my daughter says I have confinement issues! Lol! It’s one of the reasons I have the job I have. I love to move around! Meet new people and discover new places. But it’s more than that. It is a feeling of freedom for me. A feeling of leaving the past behind and driving into my future. Unfortunately all of that with my job has stopped. My wonderful team sent to other positions! Temporarily! They have a movable end date. That scares me. They are a group of OUTSTANDING people and the support and strength of being with them is something I can not describe. It got me through losing everything! I am not doing well with what has happened on top of all the stress of the covid fallout it’s kind of knocked me for a loop.
Now the mask thing! I will tell you I can not wear a mask. For reasons I do not want to go into it is mentally impossible to put something over my face! I keep my distance from people. I respect their fear. I take a cart, I let them spray that awful stuff on my hands, I bring in a hand wipe to get it off. I am both kind and courteous to people. If there is an older person with masks and gloves and looks uncomfortable in line I will invite them to go ahead of me. But then again if it was normal times and someone had only 1 item or was an older person looking tired or stress I let them go ahead of me. Because I am a nice person. I was raised that way. To be courteous and polite even when people did not deserve it. My Dad always said it is harder to be the better person but it keeps you from sinking to their level. Never go below Par!!
Now they are making masks manditory! After months of not being manditory! Not everywhere but enough places that it has me worried. I went into a store and a woman told me I should be wearing a mask. Again I am not explaining! I informed her I could not! She retorted with “you will not” pulled down her mask and spit on me! I jumped back in time as most of it missed me. I told her to get away from me and a few other words! What is WRONG with people????? I will also tell you that the masks and gloves that people are wearing for my well being are the same ones I pick up off the ground and put into the garbage.
As I think about tomorrow and traveling north I am a little concerned. What if I have to stop for gas and they make me put on a mask or I can not get gas? What if I run out of milk for coffee? Am I going to be able to stop at a store and get some? What if I go into a town and am not welcome and things get out of hand and I get hurt? All of this I have never worried about! As far out of touch I wish this was because I am in Canada after all, it is not far at all sad to say!
They say that some people are exempt but unless I get a red hat or something people will jump to their own conclusions. Like am I supposed to pin a doctors note to my shirt? I am not sure. I just know I really do not want to be yelled at anymore.
Why am I going then? I could just stay here although they now have made maskes manditory here so I will have to figure that out when I get back. I am going because I refuse to be afraid or a victim again in my life! This virus and its fallout has drastically changed my life. It has made me think of where I am and where I want to be. I need a roadtrip to clear my head! I need a forest to sit and listen to the sounds of nature and walk barefoot and connect with the earth and ground myself. I have to make some decisions on what to do next! Not only has it changed my life but also the people in it! I have lost some people that were important to me and that loss is both heavy and unexpected. In some ways I feel lost. I have to decide which way to go!
I have always been truthful about my van life. The good, the bad and the ugly! It’s not an instagram life but oh yes there are moments! This blog is my journal I wish to share with you. To both inspire and entertain you. But also to give you a real sense of what living in an RV is all about.
This is my story. In all its glory!! Lol!
Cheers to a better tomorrow!!
Stay tuned for more Chipmunk Adventures! See you soon!!
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