There\u2019s the sense that you can hit the road and leave it all behind. It\u2019s free, free, freedom \u2014 no appointments, no payments, no obligations. Get bored. Move on. Another sunset. Another dawn. Maybe just a day in traffic, but tomorrow there are sweeping curves down a mountain pass and long to the horizon fields of late cotton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\u2026 there is still life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilson gets diarrhea. He\u2019s been fine. A great and reliable traveling companion. Then a poop (dog owners now know so well their dog\u2019s poop as we ALWAYS pick up) with an icing of loose stool. Easy to pick up. At two, he comes to wake me. An outside. Diarrhea. No means to really pick it up. Back to the camper. 4AM \u2014- again, go outside. This time even more marginal. What the hell? Never had this. Did he eat something? It\u2019s Florida. Iguana poop? Chicken poop? Oh god! A decimated toy. Where\u2019s the squeaker? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have made this story longer. TMI, as youth might say. Nevertheless \u2014 home rememdy – water then boiled chicken and rice \u2014 I am in a camper – no different from sticks-and-bricks. Of course, it\u2019s two days before Christmas. Make a Vet appointment. Not as soon as I like. Happens. All good. No worries about the not pooping. My thoughts of rushing Wilson two or three Keys up to the 24 hour emergency clinic vanish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s just life. Same as in sticks-and-bricks. Just life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relaxing. Off the road. This is how is should be. Sunsets over the beach. Palm trees. I\u2019m at 74\u00b0 F \u2014 friends in New England, 24\u00b0 F, plus snow, plus wind, feels like minus four degrees. Working on bills, emails, the junk of life. Every campsite has picnic tables. I do my morning routine. Back feels a little wonky. Oh. Good morning\u2019s work. Lunch. Chill in my camp chair, read. I can read. I mean, I can really read (not as good as my son-in-law) but I\u2019m semi-professional. Cannot get out of my chair. The sling back REI origami special chair has made me origami, but folded and twisted in ways I had never imagined. Can\u2019t stand up. Can\u2019t sit down. Bleacher back says the internet. Can\u2019t maneuver from one position to the other. Ah! I packed a gripper. Find it. Gotta find it. I had packed it in case I lost a nut or bolt in some inaccessible void. But no \u2014 I packed it for when I could not bend to pick up Wilson\u2019s food pan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s life. Nothing happens for three days. First day – incident. Second day – figuring out how to live the basics. Third day – oh, my \u2014 I might recover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s just life. Wilson has a well formed poop. I still can\u2019t touch my toes, but I can get up from a couch, a seat, and even enjoy the camp chair. But I am more careful\u2026 innocence lost\u2026 experience gained. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s the sense that you can hit the road and leave it all behind. It\u2019s free, free, freedom \u2014 no appointments, no payments, no obligations. Get bored. Move on. Another sunset. Another dawn. Maybe just a day in traffic, but tomorrow there are sweeping curves down a mountain pass and long to the horizon fields […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":532,"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omp.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}