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Written by SHARLENE MINSHALL
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Tuesday, 01 November 2011 00:00 |
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 While traveling our amazing country, be intentionally aware of your surroundings. How does it smell, sound, taste and feel? What is the history? Don’t become insensitive or jaded to your surroundings. As one that this has happened to, I say that too often we become blasé about the blessings of travel. How much of what we are traveling through do we experience or remember? It comes under the heading of “slow down and smell the roses,” but it is deeper than that. For instance:
I specifically remember traveling northwest along the Glenn Highway in Alaska between Glennallen and Palmer. The Matanuska Glacier was making its way down to the Matanuska River, and I was rolling between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountains that when it is deep in snow is…well, I had one of those moments. I was whipping through God’s wide-screen TV and not experiencing all that magnificence. Finally, I parked in a rest stop and breathed it all in. You don’t make many miles that way, but tell me why that is a problem.
While that is a dramatic example, I would feel the same way about losing myself in a cloud of drifting pink and white blossoms in an apple orchard. Be thrilled in the present.
Absorb the view from your window. Watch pelicans flying in formation or eagles soaring (preferably after pulling off the road so you don’t send the guy behind you into a tailspin to miss your bumper). If you see moose or bears or caribou, take pictures or just watch. Breakfast will wait another fifteen minutes.
Crawling along the Coast
One morning I wandered along the Oregon coast, enjoying every pull off and dragging my heels because I wasn’t quite ready to go south for the winter. I found a big wide, sandy open area with tracks on it so I knew I could drive on it, too. I found the perfect spot where the deep green waves and white foam threw just enough spray through the kitchen window to give me a faint taste of the sea. It was mesmerizing and the perfect spot to make bacon and eggs, read another chapter of a book, or take a nap. If I hadn’t stopped for half a day or more to enjoy it, I probably wouldn’t even remember it. Now I’m wondering why I ever left it!
The entire Pacific coastline is prolific with lighthouses. You really don’t have to “think” all the time. Sit with absolutely nothing on your mind and quietly observe the ocean tide drawing reflections in the sand and erasing them at whim. You might think of that scene a little like life. If you don’t take advantage of these seconds, they may pass through your world and be erased when you aren’t lookin’.
Savoring a Storm
 Mountaintops are perfect places to watch thunderstorms gathering on the prairie and rainbows stretching across where the storm has already been. Don’t miss the opportunity to watch a storm.
I was camping by myself at Idaho’s Pittsburg Landing on the Snake River below Hells Canyon dam. (This was July, no wonder I was alone.) Toward evening the second night, well, let me quote myself from RVing Adventures with the Silver Gypsy:
“The storm is getting serious now. Three-pronged jagged lightning strikes something up on the mountain… Its display is magnificent… I’m not lonely but as I watch the roiling clouds and feel the wind sway my rig; I wish I could zap my two grandchildren here to watch it with me. While lightning is dangerous, shouldn’t we teach them about the beauty of storms? Eventually all the excitement moves on down the canyon or over the mountains wherever storms go after they finish their heavenly performances and give everything a drink of water and a wash job.
When I finally turn out my light and lay me down to sleep, I look out into a beautiful evening sky. There are no artificial lights to mess up my clear view of the half moon dancing on Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains. The bug concert fills the night. The Big Dipper is outside my window where it has been an almost constant companion throughout my RVing years.
Before I go to sleep in this peaceful place, I say a thank you prayer for being able to see and hear that storm, feel that breeze, and smell the freshness of the air, and just be where I am for this moment in time. And for my offspring and families that are healthy and happy, and hopefully, snug in their beds, I am also grateful. I give thanks that I am healthy and happy and snug in my bed here in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.”
Are you getting the picture? I know you can’t stop every five minutes but keep the exhilaration in your travels by experiencing the present. Watch for the unexpected treasures in your path. Don’t fly by the ghostly cabins with blackened chimneys and empty eyes that sit in overgrown forests or weed-filled fields. If you listen carefully, they confess histories of hard-lived lives with laughter and tears and “Once upon a time.” Use your imagination.
It’s All Good
 The tangled spaghetti road that climbs over Beartooth Pass into northwestern Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park is steep and winding. Once you’ve attained the highest point, hug yourself for warmth, shiver, and savor the view from the top.
Never compare apples to oranges. Nighttime Albuquerque resembles a sparkling diamond bracelet cast upon the horizon. It isn’t prettier or more exciting; it is just different from the first glimpse of pink snow-covered Rocky Mountains across the Colorado plains at dawn.
And in the Southwest, deserts aren’t just deserts anymore; see the pecan orchards, grape arbors, cotton fields and housing developments with pumpkin-colored roofs. As much as I love mountains, I am always fascinated with the vegetables living in ultra straight rows in ultra flat, ultra rich black soil.
We are all rich beyond measure RVing the mountains, the prairies, the deserts and the beaches of America. On this particular Thanksgiving Day, remember to appreciate your presence, wherever it is. God bless.
Autographed copies of 2009 fourth edition RVing Alaska and Canada ($19.95) and Adventures with the Silver Gypsy ($14.95) are available through Sharlene Minshall, Box 1040, Congress, AZ 85332-1040, or at Amazon.com. Follow Sharlene Minshall’s blog, “The Silver Gypsy,” at rvlife.com
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