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| Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. October 2017. |
October 2017
On the way to Missouri
Lake Catherine State Park
After the rain
I survived the previous evening's rain issues just fine, and got up early to watch the sun rise. Another camper was up even earlier, and he'd set up his chair at the end of the pier to watch the dawning of this good day.
The fellow nomad
On my Monday afternoon guided hike, I met another nomad of a certain age. I'll call her Susan. From a lifetime up in Maine or some other ungodly cold place, Susan retired two years ago. After a year or so of meeting friends frequently for coffee mid-day, she wondered, "Is this what the rest of my life is going to be? Meeting for coffee every day?" And (I'm paraphrasing here): "It's fucking cold in Maine. I don't want to be cold anymore."
There came a time when Susan hatched a plan, and she delved into research about living and moving about in an RV. Friends of hers had bought a new Class B Pleasure-Way van. Eventually, she decided on the same.
When I met Susan at Lake Catherine State Park, she was slowly wending her way to a warm wintering place. California, perhaps.
Susan graciously allowed me to visit her van so she could give me a home tour. We'd noticed that my next door neighbors (who'd lent me the shovel the evening before) also had a Pleasure-Way, so we ambled over there to see if we could invite ourselves for a tour of their van.
My neighbors' van was a vintage one, I don't remember from what decade, but at least 20 years old. Although I'm not a fan of house tours, I do like to poke around RVs because ... you never know, I may end up in a tiny home space, whether on wheels or not.
It's fun to look at which amenities people choose, the utility of the various layouts, and imagine which amenities I'd choose and which layout I'd like.
My neighbors were delighted to give us a tour.
Susan is barely in her first year as a nomad. How long will she do this? Who knows? I hope she has a grand experience.
Neighbor exchange
When I walked over to return my neighbors' shovel, they said, "No, no! Keep it, please! We bought it awhile back and we've never used it!"
What a kindness.
I realized I might be able to reciprocate: I'd been lugging around two canisters of propane for a camp stove or lantern, and hadn't used them in ages. I asked if they might have a use for them, and if so, they'd be doing me a favor to take them. This is because I worried slightly about the safety of carrying around the canisters in a car in variable temperatures and in the enclosed space of my camp box.
They said, yes, the could use them.
Win-win.
A slide show of my stay at Lake Catherine State Park below:
.... back on the road to Missouri.
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