Left Toronto on Sept 21st, after several delayed starts to complete home prep and trip preps powerfully...and some extra time to be with Rae and Kinder. I took on a passenger, Saera, my friends daughter to give her a lift on her journey to California. A "Freedom~Soul Seeker" lovely wise & young woman she was the perfect compliment. She travelled ( yes, past tense; see Day 3)with 1 small back-pack and brought some delicious granola, cookies etc!




Day1- Camera charger not to be found...late looking for the darned thing & need to buy one before leaving town. Henry's 99$! Saera smudges her Mom, myself and the car...and I smudge her, spiralling the sweet smoke around her.

1. Hamilton; pit stop for an afternoon nap for a sleep deprived me. Location; the Citadel Church parking lot under the trees-away from the freeway rush ~ peaceful. Saera sleeps on the grass and someone comes by and asks her if she needs $ We drive through south western Ontario on 403 to 401...
2. West Lorne to buy some gas & FRESH corn from a farm. We eat it raw in the car- so SWEET!
3. Windsor; We cross the border early eve; the border guard keeps drilling me with questions, "WHY are you doing this? Where's your husband? Can you prove that you own a house in Scarborough? What have you all packed in there?" ETC! He was perplexed.
4. Detroit, Michigan; we get lost due to me not trusting 'Matilda' the GPS lent to us by Sam's parents. 'She' was trying to get us around a detour...anyways we end up driving down 'Joy' street through some rough neighborhoods; closed business', barbed wire car lots and big fancy Baptist churches, Adult Superstores and Liquor stores dotted with cute Icecream shops.                                                                                                                  
5. Ann Arbor, Michigan; we find the Holiday Inn! Saera helps me unload the car; It is clear to me why it pays to pack light. I vow to pull out the essentials for the rest of the trip; she fixes an amazing meal and we sleep soundly to complete the day.

Day 2:

1. Ann Arbor; swim and exercise / meditate & stretch / breakfast & as we clear & create our day I end up hearing out Saera's story and who she has been being and she created the new possibility of being abundant and a cornerstone for herself and her life!
2. Dixboro; cute village! We finish our conversation parking between the MoonWink Cafe and a neighboring Antique/Button store; have lunch at the cafe & walk over to the Button Lady after- and she gives us sage advise and many memories to take with us....wish I wrote it down! Gist of it was ~ don't waste your time!

I stop at the CAA for new Triptik- wonderful friendly service= like that with all the folks in this town- real homey comfy feel to the place...could stay longer :-)

1. Kalamazoo; Copy & try to mail Benefits forms and receipts that Saera kindly compiled for me. She goes off to make some calls; comes back so excited ~ breakthrough excitedment! She took challenge of her new possibility and changed the course of her journey; will no longer go to California; instead meet up with a dear friend in Indianapolis by bus. AND we talk to Peter a hitchhiking, wandering friend. He is welcoming us to stay there! Rain has us decide to do just that instead of camping. Saera fixes an amazing dinner in the car; rice cakes with hummus, goat cheese, cooked kale and organic carrots- yummy! And another fresh cob of corn -- and a yummy cookie for desert with tea from the last gas pit stop.
2. Chicago; we travel in late at 11pm,,,,and promptly get lost on downtown streets ( the catecombs! )Again I was arrogant & didn't trust 'Matilda' who knew that Paulina St was sooo long and one ways in wierd ways! Cool cozy home that Peter opened up for us. We organize the cooler in their fridge; I pull out my chocolate bar and we eat on the dark back deck taking in the garden, bees and the possum that likes the compost pile. Peter sets up a turntable so I can hear a special record that I bought Rae in the Antique store...and drift off to sleep.

Day 3;

1. Chicago; Saera researches Greyhound vs Craigslist etc We share our granola and granola bars,,, have our breakfast in the garden and leave to drop Sarah off. Matilda does not work! and we have a harried time of finding our way in the diagonally challenged downtown streets of Chicago ...where streets suddenly change names!
   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
   We depend on directions from many sources...and it was a kind taxi driver that said, "Take Kalark to Harrison..." & I figured out his accent to know it was Clark! etc that got us there-5 minutes to departure at 13opm ~ frazzeled, stressed, and so undecided ( visit the art galleries before I leave town...AND even ..should I just travel across the top of the midwest or drive south now just to get the heck down to Arizona! ...and drop Saera off in Indianapolis!? Saera runs in and does not come back out...I wait ... breathing to get present. An elderly bus employee comes out to tell me she made it. I'm overjoyed ~ and suddenly start crying ...missing Saera, lost in Chicago...Matilda not working until I get my next instructions from a kind customer... I stop at Chicago's Fat Johnnie's Best Dog place for a Hungarian sausage and onions & eat like the locals. Then...I'm out of the big city into ...ahhhhh...the Illanois countryside. Yes....great choice Katherine!
   

   

   
   
2. Milan; one of the 4 sister towns on the Mississipi; After driving around looking for a good place to stay and stopping at a diner called Maid-Rite that sold Sloppy Joes as their mainstay! I ordered a bowl of chilly
   
3. Rock Island, Illanois; Found the Holiday inn with a view of the Centenial bridge over the Mississipi River. Yes..so great to relax and logon my laptop, register into Skype, fix the GPS from Imre's email (little reset button I pushed a pen into) & go to bed! A delicious sleep!

Day 4; Takes me a while to pack up all the time :-) and cross over the Mississipi into..

1. Iowa. A day of driving through gorgeous prairie fields - cornfields mostly. The landscape is undulating fields interspersed with trees; the farmers have terraced their crops into the gentle sloping hills~ causing beautiful lines to appear. I'm getting inspired and snap from the moving car.
   

   

   
   
2. Des Moines; I pull off for a nap in Main Huge traffic Street...no Cafe around so I hit the hiway to the west side of the state and get STUCK in a miles looong traffic jam! Some poor sucker drove into the construction side of the hiway and his car fell into an open hole. I cross the bridge on a beautiful sunset into Nebraska!
   

   

   
   
3. Lincoln, Nebraska: I got help from restored Matilda...I find the Holiday Inn Express no problem- yeh! I have a final conference call with my ILP participants and ALL were there sharing their inspiring accomplishments, barriers & breakthroughs...all moving forward in what they are facing - gosh I love them. And I love Skype ~ the 1 hr. call was just pennies!!
4. The rest of Nebraska is FLAT - FLAT -FLAT PRAIRIE AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!