One year into being unhoused, I still was not ready to rent a room and watch 70-80% of my income go to the landlord. I continued my travels and friends kept inviting me to visit them.
Year two without a home...
After watching the 24 hour race at Daytona...I couldn't stop thinking about 4 wheels of my own
I love to drive. I enjoyed watching the race for 24 hours in Daytona, but that really just made me want a vehicle of my own. Kiffany sold her car in New Orleans before I headed back to Washington state by plane to celebrate my only daughter's birthday.
Claiming a companion
Little Athena Brooke, about 1 week old
My friends Robin, Katie Beth and David had two dogs that really liked one another. Brandy, a female chocolate labrador and Ruger, a blue nose pitbull had created one litter already and the kids were being admonished to keep the dogs separated and in their kennels. When that failed to work, I was awoken one morning to smells and sounds that I had never experienced.
The owners of the house and the dogs had gone to their respective workplaces and schools when the last puppy was born. I claimed her for my own and would end up naming her "Athena Brooke.' First I had to wait for Brandy and Ruger to raise her to be adopted, but I quickly absconded with her as soon as I could.
A Beemer of my own
A New-To-Me 5-Series - Alpine Edition
My best friend was selling his BMW, and knew that I had just received a small amount of insurance money. It was equal to what he had originally spent on his 525 Alpine edition and he was happy to let me buy it from him while he purchased a truck.
This 5-series carried me across the country and into adventures I hadn't even dreamed about. The way it handled the mountain roads in Colorado made me dream of another 5-series. When I sell my first book, I want an X-5 to replace it. However, it will have to be modified to fit my wheelchair now.
Athena was ready to hit the road with me as a mama
A puppy in the front seat and we are on our way!
Athena Brooke quickly became adept at traveling. She went with me everywhere. Although she would grow quickly, at this point she still fit in my big purse.
Most of my friends who I was stopping to visit, also had dogs. They would teach me all of those things that a dog owner needs to know since the last dog I owned was in my childhood.
My best friend taught me camping in Oregon
Athena sits and watches the big dogs while I watch my best friend hook up my car to the inverter for power
The first thing I needed to do was to learn to be more self-sufficient. I knew that my best friend, Rick, was a bit of a hillbilly in that he could fix most anything with duct tape and bailing wire. Before I set out on my own, it was critical that I brush up on my camping skills.
Rick and I camped in the forests in Oregon with his nephew, David, and he taught me what I needed to know about the BMW and camping on my own with little Athena Brooke.
Friends show me the falls of Twin Falls
Shoshone Falls, Twin Falls, Idaho
In Twin Falls, Idaho, I made a wrong turn and ended up in front of a building I could feel. I've told that story since my baptism, but I have rarely shared the photos of the falls that I took the day after.
Like the Shoshone Falls in Idaho, friends around the country would take me to their local areas for sightseeing. I snapped pictures and listened to their reasons why their state was the best place to live. Then I would lay down and close my eyes and wonder where I belonged.
Found new friends in Grand Junction, Colorado
Athena plays queen of the mountain on the Grand Mesa in Colorado
In Grand Junction, Colorado, Athena and I made friends with a family with two little girls. The couple that was together would soon drift apart and my friend Tracy would find her love in Texas where she would later raise the princesses we met in Colorado.
We traveled to the top of the Grand Mesa and looked down at the colors of the western Colorado plains.
The Beemer takes to the curves of the Rockies
The Beemer taking a rest before descending into Denver
Before too long, it was time to head into Denver for my first time by car. I had met many activists and friends in Washington DC the previous April and was anxious to rekindle those friendships.
To get to Denver from Grand Junction involved a windy road through the Rocky Mountains. The more I drove the BMW, the more I wanted to...the curves of the Rockies just made me want to keep driving.
Stoney Gorge, California
Cub tried to teach Athena to swim
I wound my way around the Rockies after my visits in Denver with friends, but soon I was due to meet my friends back in California.
We did our best to keep cool, camping at a reservoir in north-central California called Stoney Gorge. My friend's son lived nearby and had found the enchanted escape.
While we camped and stayed cool in the hot days of early summer, my friend Cub taught Athena how to swim. She was fine as long as he was holding her.
My first Hempfest
I kept finding myself looking towards the sun, away from all of the activity
In August of 2011, friends in Washington invited me to attend my first Seattle Hempfest. I brought a supply of magazines from a publishing friend to distribute and was given a pass that I wouldn't know how to use. Instead, I found myself enchanted by nature.
Taking the Beemer and Heading into The Olympic Forest
Finally camping all by ourselves--just Athena, the Beemer and me
Finally on our own, Athena and I took to the Olympic National Forest in the BMW with a tent bought at a garage sale for $10 and a small camp stove. It was all I needed. Unfortunately, cell service was the only thing missing and the fact my friends and family were overseeing my adventures by remote made for a difficult situation.
8 Days at a Montana rest area - Trick or treating for potable water
Staring out the window of the Empire Builder Amtrak Train in Montana the previous year
I spent my birthday in October with a friend in Denver. After talking on the phone with a person in Montana, I foolishly ignored the weather and the area I was traveling to, and drove through Wisconsin in the middle of the night in late October and headed to meet my friend in Montana.
The biting wind should have been a warning, but I ignored it and pressed on. Once in Montana, I headed west. At about 3am, I stopped at a rest stop. The BMW would not restart.
I waited a few hours and tried again, still nothing. Not a crank. The alternator that had been replaced in Stoney Gorge the previous summer was dead.
I camped at the rest area in Montana in the Beemer with Athena for 8 days. It was 8 days until payday, and I didn't think I had any other options. I kept warm, I had the camp stove that I fixed food on outside on the pavement, and I picked up litter.
The biggest issue for me, was the lack of potable water at the rest area. It did give me an opportunity to 'trick or treat' on Halloween to the cars that visited that rest area, asking for liquids as my water stores had started to become depleted. It was a lesson that stayed with me for years.
Florida in December 2011
Smoky the cat checking out a bird flying by the sunroof of the Beemer
After being stuck in an area where I was waking up with ice on the interior of the windshield, I wanted to find the sun more than anything.
Athena and I enjoyed the sun and made friends with a cat named Smokey who enjoyed visiting through the sunroof of the BMW. The Beemer wasn't right, though and was undergoing hours and hours of work while I wondered what was next.
What came next was the Beemer was stolen by the man who was doing the work on it, but I couldn't retrieve it because I had not taken the title out of my friend's name. Rick wasn't going to fly to Florida to retrieve the car, so I packed my lessons learned with what I could save from the car and Athena and I headed back to Washington by bus.
Washington Under the Snow
Four dogs, with Ruger, her dad and Athena in the middle, watching snow get shoveled
As soon as we got back to Washington, snow dumped on us. Athena followed her canine father out one night when the wind opened the back door of the house we were staying in. Ruger knew the way home, but Athena didn't. She was lost for over 42 hours.
I didn't realize how much I had grown to depend on her throughout the nine months she had been beside me. I was inconsolable for the hours when she was missing.
Sometimes you have to lose someone for a short time to realize just how valuable they are to your life. I'm thankful she was returned to me. She turned eight years old this year.
February 2012 - Once again with friends - In a depression
My stuff in the middle of someone's table...with Rick's Superman
Regardless of the friends who surrounded me, my mental illness didn't magically become more stable. On the contrary, without a home or even the stability of my own vehicle, I soon retired to bed for days at a time.
I spoke with internet friends by phone, not even wanting to log on to social networking. I just wanted to disappear.
As my second year without a home ended, and I entered my third, I struggled to understand if there was a plan and where I should end up within that plan. I was staying with friends and my dog in Washington, but I dreamed of distant places.
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