Respid....

I’m camped in Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana. I arrived a day early, Wednesday, and slipped into my reserved spot – thankfully no one was here, although there are lots of open spaces.

It has been raining but warmish – at least warm compared to where I’ve been the past month or so, including Atlanta!

My grandson opted not to come camping with me and I’m remembering the old white man who was staring at me and Mujasi a few years ago. He had a sad smile on his face when he said “My grandson used to love me like that – then he turned 14 and that was the end of that. I miss those times.” And this old man didn’t have to compete with screens and game addictions. Mujasi knows that camping means no screen time. The only things there are to do here are hiking, biking, building a campfire and roasting marshmallows, reading or listening to audiobooks, renting a boat and maybe fishing. I’m sad my daughter hasn’t valued these things since she graduated and got a job that afforded her hotel bills and plane rides.

This is my forth day here – and my first day hanging my rainbow flag on the pole at my space. I’m so reactionary. On my morning stroll around the campground, I noticed lots of additional rv campers especially, with their u.s.ofa. flags draped around poles, camper doors, even poking out of the back of pickup trucks. So I have to fly my flag…hmmmm

I don’t have great internet access but I do have a little – like 1 bar worth of – cell connection. I haven’t been able to post any pictures to facebook or my blog, but I can text most times, and connect enough to read & respond to emails, fb posts, listen to youtube music!

I cooked a huge pot of soup my first day here: ginger based of course, then rice, noodles, lettuce mix, edamome, corn, onions, cilantro, tofu. Low on the fresh veggies but yummy and lasting. My fridge doesn’t seem to be freezing anything but nothing has spoiled…

I also made juice by blending the bag of mango I got recently at The Grocery Spot and I have my smoothie that I made at Tessie’s and froze.

There is electricity here, for which I am grateful as no way would my solar last one cloudy day and three other days of no sun at all. Of course this is a forest so I’d probably have to move my RRB to find a sunny spot even if there were sun. Fortunately the rain has taken a few breaks during the day and night so, although it remains cloudy, I’ve been able to walk a little during those breaks.

I LOVE being in my camper when it’s raining! It’s just so soothing to hear the sound of water comfortingly dripping or excitingly pounding on my metal roof! Of course when I was reloading my truck, I totally spaced bringing rainwear as I’m going to the border where it seldom rains. Plus I was prioritizing loading the donations I have for the Sidewalk School - but still…oh well.

So although it’s been great having four days of respid, it’s been hard not being able to exercise as much as I’d like, I need. So I’ve been trying to do more yoga than usual, but it’s difficult as I have very little floor space and the ground outside my RRB has stayed wet, including the picnic table (my next choice). I’m seeing tomorrow will be cloudy but no rain and then Monday, the sun is supposed to shine.

I’m trying to catch up on my blog but it’s difficult not having access to internet, therefore my blog. Hard to remember what I already blogged about, what still needs blogging…hmmm