Uncertainty Principle

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is defined as never being able to tell the exact position and velocity of an object at the same time.  That’s how we are traveling, that’s Santiago https://www.instagram.com/santiago_van_hovel/.  Each day is an uncertainty of how fast we should be traveling, where we are and where we’ll end up. As a result we’ve spent the night in a variety of places, not always well planned.

After Westworld, we actually were able to find a spot in a National Park at Pine Flat in the Coconino National Forest just north of Sedona, AZ.   It was a first come first serve campsite, anxious to secure the spot we arrived 4 hours before check in. 

The Sedona campsites were awkwardly arranged to enhance the ability to hear every word being said by your neighbor. Our neighbors were the most polite and courteous couple we have ever overheard.  The compliments flew, “that is just the right amount of salt on that, babe” , “ the butter is perfect there, babe” “great choice of mustard, babe” “what a great way to set up the stove, babe”.  And yes, the complements were mostly about food, but we think they ate most of the time there, except when they went to the market. We did also hear them say that it was their first time camping with each other, so give them another week and then let’s hear them after a night in Westworld. https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2021/11/03/la-stands-for-life-in-auto-and-now-we-are-living-it/

Sedona was the first step in our planned spiritual journey through Santa Fe, Taos (the pilgrimage to DH Lawrence’s grave), Bandolier’s majestic cave dwellings, crossing back down to Gila National Forest for more cave dwellings and the famed Cosmic Campground https://sites.google.com/site/cosmiccampgroundinformation/.  We were hoping for some personal clarity. Our journey to enlightenment continued from Sedona to Walnut Canyon, to see the Sinagua (“without water”) cave dwellings that were inhabited from 1125-1250 ttps://www.nps.gov/waca/index.htm

These were so awe-inspiring and in light of our current home, the half-assed van conversion, we realized introspection was not for us. Change of plans midstream, off to the blank expanse of White Sands New Mexico. https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm

As blackness fell, we needed a place to stay. What was more appropriate than the creepy Walmart parking lot (is that redundant?) in Socorro, NM. Socorro appropriately means Help! In Spanish.  There was a momentary blast of color in the darkness as we spotted fireworks randomly in the distance (also happened at Westworld).  Yet that momentary blast of pleasure was blown away by the pounding, heavy bass music slamming the van all night.  Patricia was a bit freaked out, Nick slept through it. All was good in the morning (well, maybe not good but acceptable) when we looked around and saw we were in the company a bunch of RVs and realized that the music was just fueling the graveyard crew working at the Walmart. 

The expanse of White Sands was enough to wash away Patricia’s crankiness from the Walmart night (Nick was rather pleased to have knocked that off his list of places to stay- thanks again iOutlander app). It was so disorienting to spend the day wandering around an endless beach, expecting to find the ocean over each dune, but the ocean never came. 

Considering the last 24 hours, we thought it would be appropriate to exit via Roswell, NM but instead, with no rational reason, we circled back west  to Las Cruces, ready for greatly anticipated New Mexican cuisine, plus a Halloween night hotel with shower, laundry  and recharging all of our all our electronics (including our 2000W Bluetti power station generator.) Only the food disappointed.  

From Las Cruces we headed towards Albuquerque firmly committed to bailing on spiritual growth, and now focused on getting through Texas without stopping. After passing  through Truth or Consequences at 75 mph on the freeway, the car suddenly started repeatedly chiming and flashing red silhouettes of the car on the dashboard. 

Terrified and uncertain we pulled over, researched the owner’s manual, scrolled through the Metris owner’s forums without benefit.  Drove 15 miles out of our way through Albuquerque, to the Mercedes Benz dealership, also without much benefit, although he did recommend we bring it back in the morning for a full evaluation (sounded expensive and unnecessary). Finally,  further internet exploration mentioned a connection problem with the sliding side door.  We ended up using our 99 cent broom to sweep out the pure gypsum sand we tracked in from White Sands along the sliding door runners and problem solved.  Spiritually and non-spiritually exhausted we drove another 57 miles with no more terrifying pinging or flashing. iOverlander (and every free camping app) recommended  we spen the night in Cline’s Corner. So we did. Cline’s Corner is a “city” that is about 2 hours from the Texas panhandle border. A city that consists only of a 24 hour truck stop/gas station/curio shop experience.

The night passed quickly, with a strong internet connection.