Weekly Grind...Vagabond Style.

The road life takes its tolls, a lost toenail, a bit scraped & bruised, and always on the verge of tired and hungry...but it's still close to comfort to me. Can't quite explain it. It's the solace in desert sunrises as you float down the Colorado River, the first light to hit a frost covered camp at Pinnacles, and the joy of some kid enthusiastically proclaiming something you taught on trail when it seemed like nobody was listening. For the most part, the students have never met people quite like us Natties and most of the teachers probably just think we're a bunch of hippies and dirtbaggers but somehow it always seems to work. With some teamwork and copious amounts of snacks and coffee, almost anything can be accomplished. Even if the weeks seem the same on paper, between the kids, the weather, and the wildlife...nothing's ever the same. And nothing's ever over till that bus is out of eye site. Don't put away those first aid kits a minute too soon.
Over the past few weeks I've frolicked around the real-life Disney movie that is Malibu Creek State Park numerous weeks, seen my first bighorn sheep, welled up thinking about Abby at Lonesome's gravesite at one of the outpost camps in Picacho State Park (slotted to be shut down indefinitely in only a few months now), visited a number of CA's many breweries, been snowed on halfway up a route in Joshua Tree NP, cooked up a storm (figuratively) in the desert and averted one (literally) the next week. Who says you can't play Muphy's Law to your favor...I did! Predictions and plans are great in theory, and sometimes useful, but at the end of the day, life doesn't happen in theory.

Polaris will always point us north, cube trucks can always break down at the least convenient moment, and Natties will always be dirty. These are constants that I find solace in. Its a daily learning process in not sweating the small stuff, it makes that week before your next shower seem so much farther away!