Post Script~Post Trip: Afterthoughts & Gratitude & Living into the Future

What now...? Well I have come home with a treasure trove of experiences, images, pastels, etchings, photos and sketches for paintings. My community expanded and my creative juices were unleashed and I have 14 paintings planned for the next several months and a series of etchings....an art exhibition in the works....I am living into my artistic future!

I close this Blog with acknowledgement and thank you's to the many friends I have met along the way that opened their hearts and homes to me!   

Beginning with Saera who shared the car drive to Chicago with me; cooked & fed me, inspired me, and taught me about Couch Surfing and how to pack efficiently for the rest of the trip.

To...  
1. The Jerome community who welcomed me so graciously:

• Lisa Petty; my cheerful  land-lady, the coolest woman with a BIG heart, who I was fortunate to bump into by luck at the last minute in my search for a temporary home! AND got me signed up for that crazy parade for Katie Lee and of course cleaning up the park (...especially the lemonade) after ~ what a blast!
• Anne, her partner, who gave me great tips about Arizona nature and how to respect the wild life - the Trumpet vine and the Black widow as i got into digging around their garden
• Karen...the upstairs tenant, who took me under her wings in this wild town; 1st up to the 'Garage Sale', then for a tour of the town and then out to the Monday night Poker games; dancing at the Spirit Room, and shopping at the retro clothing store and contra-dancing with Larry!
• Mary and Sally, hilarious gals ~ crazy at Poker nights! who happened to have the cool Kaleidoscope Weekend bash going on. I made the coolest Kaleidoscopes that my husband and granddaughter both LOVE!!-
• the folks at the Mile High Grill who let me stay and do my internet work whilst stretching out my breakfast into lunch ..into coffee time
• the owner of the MoJo Cafe who kept the coffee coming while I sat on the bench outside for  my internet sessions with my family & friends on Skype with the most spectacular view of the valley below. 
• the gals in our Hiking group from the gym in Cottonwood! Thanks for humouring my Canadian political views, and providing the wonderful company and guidance for me that allowed me to be in the Red Rocks of the Sedona area.
• Denise the Yoga teacher in Cottonwood, who contributed to me with your great meditation class and yoga class.
• Richard the Jerome Library volunteer who made me feel so welcome ~ and yes, your library is more like a community center than a library!   
• Joanne and Buddy, who welcomed me expertly and not surprisingly take care of the tourist welcome center!
• and the other 2 Lisa's who I met at Poker night and breakfast club...and your partners Levi and Walter ...wonderful people who I hope to meet again. Walter it was you who had me sit down and really appreciate the music of Dirty Lingo and had me buy their CD. When that is on in my car..its Arizona for me.

2. Irene and Big John in New River for lighting my fire for etching again!
3. Jodi for joining me in the journey to New River and being such a  great host in Scottsdale
4. Betsy in Phoenix who reminded me of the context of Art, Community and Spirituality for the fantastic experiences I am having!
5. Jill and Guy & the Tanis Family for sharing your American Thanksgiving and treating me like one of the family.
6. The Whip Guy and wife Laura; who shared photographing and appreciation of the ghost town in New Mexico with me and kept friendly company with me just as I was getting a bit scared of the place.
7. The 3 guys, Blake, Travis, and Teddy; who pulled me out of the hole in the cobblestones on the Mississippi Riverbank!
8. And last but not least; Solie and Suzy ,,,your friendly Tennessee hospitality made the last of my trip so PERFECT on my home~stretch!
THANK YOU AND MANY BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL!!  I HOPE TO SEE Y'ALL AGAIN!!
LOVE, Katherine

Nov 29-December 3: Amarillo To Toronto!!

Nov 29 Amarillo, Texas:

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  I wake up and talk to Eric, Sharon and Alexia; I tell them it is freezing cold here; go down for breakfast and only then see that there’s a blizzard outside!! So I bring my coffee and breakfast back to my room and work on my blog until the road clears. I have snow tires ~ but don’t trust the other drivers!

• As I leave town I notice horses huddling together under a billboard and beautiful fields with the furrows creating lines and curves..green lines caused by the new growth and the white snow set in the grooves against the dark wet soil hilled earth. I pull off on the shoulder to take some photos and then drive off a Side Road #2373 so I can relax without the zooming cars!

• yes.. the desert has changed to prairie lands at this point in my journey - it is a FLAT horizon;
• farm access roads are named by numbers ...with grain elevators breaking up the monotony.

• The snowstorm clears up on the eastern border of Texas and by now there is grass and rolling hills in between the medians with small clumps of trees showing

Shamrock, Texas; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamrock,_Texas  

•  I pull off here.....why?    Cute name...that is all :-)
• A small town to explore off the main drag. After a while the side farm roads and towns call me away from the freeway....and I need to use a bathroom!
• Everything is run down and largely deserted; old car lots with very cool vintage models, empty motels and lonely gas stations, flaking paint, and even a handful of goats eating hay amongst the junk.

Road sign seen: Kickapoo Nation...
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickapoo_Tribe_of_Oklahoma

Ozark Mountain Region...beautiful rolling hills with the setting sun behind me. Too bad it is too dark to appreciate...if I had time I would have loved to drive down the Scenic Ozark Mountain road ~ 'Next Year'!!

State of Oklahoma;

•  I cross the border and stop at the Travel Bureau office around 6pm...am I glad that they are still open! ~ warm ~ with lots of information ...and very helpful people to help me decide what I should take in for the limited time I have.  The lady recommended the Cowboy & Western Museum; the man offers to make me a new pot of coffee and suggests the Oklahoma Memorial Site for their Federal Building that was bombed in 1995.
• Road name spotted:   Honey Farm Road....the sterile Number road names ended in Texas
• 

Oklahoma City;

• McDonalds for Wi-Fi; I have to pay 2.95 and it provides 2 hrs.  It- like many I've seen in the states- is a HUGE place: 2 lines of Drive through lanes; sign outside says Triple Angus Burger; people line up to wait for their meals to be called out; woman with baby near me; BIG TV over our heads and her husband & child were eating in the play area; I  noticed another Dad and his girl there quite late; I only buy a tea & the teen serving me had to ask her mgr where it was.  I Hotwire a hotel accommodation and do some emailing to use up some of the time I bought.
• Best Western;  laid my weary head ......fell fast asleep Z z z z z....

Nov 30;
After an early breakfast I pack up and drive downtown:  Streets are wide; there's a run-down feel to the place – lots of empty businesses and 'For Lease' signs. 

 Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum:
 http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/

• I park down the block facing the site and put 2 hrs into the meter. I use it all to take in this momentous site and was shocked, moved to tears....and inspired.
• the wall outside with pieces of lives tied to the wire fencing left in front of the wall; teddy bears, name tags from the workers, the nursery school staff, photos, bracelets, key tags, bibs(many) tied around the chain links;
• The museum entrance greeted me with these words:   We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity
• 3 floors of the museum covered the timeline of the explosion that wiped out 2/3rds of their federal building and 160+ lives; with photography, sound recordings, TV and radio...poignant stories shared by the rescuers and chaplains were tastefully displayed and heroes were acknowledged. heartbreaking and inspiring stories and healing messages.
• The clincher of course was the memorial room with each victim’s photograph in a Plexiglass box in which their relatives laid a symbol(s) of their life.
• The historical time-line of terrorism in the US was also laid out—I was surprised by how huge white supremacy caused havoc over the years-especially in 85-86.
• outside, replacing the demolished building, now lies an incredible reflection pond between two black high walls that time stamp the destruction; 9:01 one end and 9:03 on the other. The long, expansive and serene pond is flanked by grassy lawns that are dotted by trees and chair sculptures made of plexiglas and bronze; each one representing a person that died in the tragedy.

Tinker Air force Base: I drove by this large well planned and manicured area as I drove east on the I-40 and wondered what it was...turns out to be a large air force base. 

Eastbound Oklahoma:

• many Casino signs dotting the highway as I drive eastbound
• I pull off onto a farm road to take photos of hay bales, a herd of cattle and horses in the sunset; drive by a beautiful farm beside a still lake and cows grazing in the light of dusk - I realize I'm longing for that.

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  Road Sign seen; "Kickapoo Nation"

State of Arkansas ~  
Little Rock:

• Starbucks ~ I rest my tired self here for a break & caffeine & internet to book a hotel in Memphis.  I call Solie in the Nashville area to see if he was still up for a visit from me ~ he was! We arranged a time to meet for dinner with him and Suzie.
• I stopped for gas, tired and not feeling like going on; but I had made reservations at the Radisson by the Airport in Memphis (close to Graceland) so I kept driving on in the night...boy, I sure appreciated the truckers being my trusty neighbours and markers on this dark, hilly highway.
• Road Signs seen: 'Highway to Hell' and 'Nick's Barbeque and Catfish' (http://www.nicksbq.com/)

State of Tennessee:
Memphis; 11pm ~ I cross over the bridge into Tennessee over the Mississippi River and make my way on the freeways with the windows open to keep awake...broke the rule about travelling late at night. It was SO COLD AND WET when I arrived at the Radisson Airport Hotel...I was happy to dive into the most luxurious bed I have ever slept in besides the B&B in Salt Lake City!!  
Dec 1 ~ Tues am in Memphis, Tennessee;

• wake up by Airplanes at 4am taking off beside my bed & I get a call from the 'Engineering department' to check the sprinkler alarm in my room; after initial instructions from the front desk to not open the door...they confirm -"yes, that was not a prank call" and 3 guys show up at my door to check the sprinkler. 
• The team at the desk were the sweetest people urging me to come back in April for the world famous music festival on Beale Street~ home of the Blues and birth of Rock 'n Roll! http://www.bealestreet.com

Graceland;  was now closed on Tuesdays in December  :-( 
The grounds; however, can still be walked....

• entering the stone gate I see up close that the every stone on the gate and surrounding wall is covered ~ on every square inch~ with writings, drawings and signatures; expressions of celebration, sadness, gratitude, idolatry and sometimes just to make a "I was here" mark. 

• The grounds, decorated with a mixture of his original 70's Christmas decorations, however, can still be walked.  His burial ground/meditation garden was a fascinating sight to behold;  the burial wreaths and all sorts of flowers, gifts and statuettes etc., sent by his fans from all over the world, surround his grave. They have a policy that everything that is sent is displayed until it wilts or fades. It is quite the collection! When I passed under a long canopy tent built to protect people in line I realize how crowded it must be in tourist season! Across the street were more museums for his and her planes and gift shops; I a CD of his Top 30 #1 Hit Songs; the Tennessee landscape i drove through rolled by with these songs.
• as l drove away on Elvis Presley Blvd. I stopped at the side of the road to buy a 10 lb bag of pecans from a young man selling them from his pickup truck for his grandfather.

Downtown Memphis: Memphis Queen Line Riverboats on Riverside Drive;

I yearn to see a paddle boat and drive to the docking area of the Memphis Queen Line on the Mississippi Rivers edge. I drive on to the cobblestone parking lot and as I do a 360 turn taking photos of the boats docked on the Mississippi ~ THUNK!!! ~ my car's front left wheel hits a sandy hole in the rocky cobblestone parking lot....and sinks down

• I call up to 3 joggers and when they were not able to push me out they helped me call down to the welders working on the river boats. 
• These 3 guys; Blake, Travis and Teddy, were so great they climbed down and tore up the hill in their 1/2 ton truck to come to my rescue.  The back of the car still has a souvenir bit of the tie they had to cut off after not being able to undo it. The whole incident only took a 1/2 hour of my day.  6 generous strangers who took time from their busy day to make a difference for me!! How lucky am I?

Heading north;  the roads start winding as the land becomes hilly. Trees get taller and I stop at a garden center to buy a pink vanilla poinsettia for Suzie.
Matilda takes me off course; on the supposed "Fastest Route"....1st time on my trip- there was a lot of road construction

Clarksville; downtown I find Solie's home in a beautiful wooded area. After I am welcomed into his home I feel like I have walked into my grandmother's home in Germany; warm and filled to the brim with art! I count my blessings to have met this  lovely man ~ he is just the most interesting, knowledgable gentleman with a lovely Tennesse drawl. He shows me his beautiful art collection, patiently answering my questions & I love listening to his stories of how he got to know the artists, and being with his love and passion for art.  We departed soon after to have dinner at his 'girl'~friend, Suzie's farm house. She is such a lovely woman and gracious host. The table was set for some yummy 'turkey hash' on a wild rice medley and vegetables along with fresh ground cranberries ( with nuts and apples) ~ all delicious! AND so great to eat after having been on the road. After we have a lovely talk about life and art; how Suzie manages the farm and her involvement with Meals on Wheels ... I am impressed by this gracious, kind and independent Tennesse Lady :-) 

Dec 2; Tennessee to Ohio

• Am: wake up early to the sound of rain & train in the distance ~ thankful for the splendid nights sleep in such a beautiful bedroom, and that I connected with these wonderful people. Isn't it cool how Solie happens to be an art collector? My inner voice tells me ~" Don't be shy..fetch your portfolio from the car and ask him if he can provide feedback!" 
• I have a relaxed breakfast with Solie and Suzy( I made 'smoothies' for us) with a gorgeous view of the misty wet  rolling fields. They graciously take time to have a look at my work and Solie gives me some advice about pricing my work. 
• I leave with gratitude for this lovely couple and soak in the scenes around Suzy's lovely farmland; the ponds, red barn and the beautiful rolling hillside. 

 

• Crossing into Kentucky over a little country bridge 
• Stop for Barbequed Pork: "breakfast is over and you can't leave without trying the barbeque!"  Owner sitting at the table with friends teasing me...a sweet 'down-home-country' relaxed atmosphere in there.

• Russellville; http://www.russellvilleky.org/   I stopped in this charming town looking for another antique shop; found a shop which only carried furniture (good thing I  wasn't driving a van!) then came across The Red Tree Shop and 
• bought myself a sweet funky tea pot with a sugar and creamer set.

here's a cool website found about this part of Kentucky while researching Russellville: http://www.caveslakescorvettes.com/

• Mammoth Caves: 
• I was so excited to have come across these caves because I missed seeing the caves in Arizona.  I stopped for a flock of wild turkeys slowly parading across the road ( 2nd time on my trip; see Flagstaff Mtn over Boulder, CO). 

• I jumped 0nto a tour bus that was just leaving ~ the Ranger being nice enough to let me on trusting I would pay after. These caves are HUGE...as small non-descript door in the side of the hill lets us in to a magical underground world!! 367 MILES of caves to explore! http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm

• a local Tourist shop owner warns me about freezing rain that was fore casted! Later, I call Jennifer to find out the temperature for the mountainous drive in northern Kentucky

• Louisville: I get lost on the merging circular web of highways and find a Starbucks to get myself sorted out on Mapquest on the computer. A very kind employee showed me how to negotiate the complicated circle of merging highways...and Matilda did the rest to get me back on track northeast bound for Dayton. Before leaving I Hotwire myself a cheap hotel room in Dayton Ohio.

OHIO; Dayton:

• I land in the gorgeous downtown  Crown Plaza Hotel ...some kind of convention going on
• riding up the elevator I look at the advertisement for their rooftop bar & wish I had the energy to go up to there for an appetizer and martini to take in the view....instead I fall asleep on the bed checking my email ~ driving does take something. 

Dec 3- Dayton Ohio to Toronto;
I have 8 hours to make it to Toronto for the 6pm start of the Wisdom Completion evening!

• No Blog updates over a relaxed breakfast today!  Eat my porridge in the car.
• Cracker Barrel on the outskirts of Dayton..my 1st one even though I've had their USA map in the car all along; find some great deals: a cowboy hat for me + corduroy shirt + I fall in love with a cute squirrel salt and pepper shaker set ( the squirrel is holding onto an acorn of pepper and salt.) Timing is everything : the sales lady happened to find my hat in the stock room the other day; the only one of its kind~ a real cowgirl kinda steal :-) !

Driving through northern Ohio on the I-75;   passing through...

• Lima
• Bluffton
• Findlay, 'Flag City USA' was painted on the oil tanks and the bridges ...why?  Karla from the Flagcityonline.com explained, During the 1960s, the Findlay community began celebrating June 14, Flag Day, by decorating virtually every home and business in the city with more than 14,000 U.S. flags. This inspiring display led to a congressional declaration in 1974, when Findlay was officially christened "Flag City U.S.A."

• Toledo...hometown of Jeep Head Quarters ...freeways getting complicated as I head into...
• Michigan; driving north on the Detroit-Toledo Expressway: oil tanks and glass manufacturing plants and busy harbours

• Detroit!! ...Yeah!! and wind my way to the US//Canada Border

• As I leave the Duty free shop I get all emotional; I am on the threshold of crossing the border...so close to  HOME...yet still 4 hours away...suddenly being homesick for Rae ( he's not picking up!) and the kids! I'm feeling lonely in this momentous ending of a long journey; feeling fearful of the border guards;  are they going to have me unpack this tightly jammed full car?     Did I go over the booze limit with the 12 pack of Blue Moon + Baileys?      Does the floor full of pecans... and the cotton branch constitute an agriculture produce violation?? 

•  I reach Jennifer and get clear and calm and ready to face the music after talking to her    
• At the end of the Ambassador Bridge (http://www.ambassadorbridge.com/index.html)  

• the border guard asks me 3 questions:  "Why did you go to Arizona??",  "How much $ did you spend?" and "What did you buy?"..... and was released onto home soil.      Simple as that.
• Heading east through western Ontario:  past the farm fields, I drive through a dramatic post-storm landscape. Bright sun contrasted against the dark skyline

• east of London somewhere; powernap at a gas station
• ... and then sail into Toronto just in time for the start of the Wisdom Completion evening! (I've been a production supervisor for this 9 month long course) What an inspiring night to reconnect with this amazing community as they complete; and to top it all off~ Rae and Jennifer come!! It was so sweet to melt into Rae's big arms and hug my dear daughter again!
• At the end of the night it was heaven to sleep in our bed again....at HOME again.....together with my dear Rae ...Love, Peace and Connection.