And it begins here

By 6:00 a.m., Mark and I were scrambling around the rental house, the dynamic duo silently teaming up for this epic journey.  No Mark wasn’t joining, but he didn’t want to see me fail, either.  In fact, the night before, he was calling Lassen National Park, trying to secure lodging for us, thinking about abating extreme temperature, and other ways to bypass the general hardship of journeying to our 5,800+ ft campsite in the national park.

Not focusing on his worries, I was busily packing the Escape Camper Van that we had rented for this month-long journey. When you’re living in a compact environment, it’s necessary to know where each little fidget, bit and bobble is.  And since we’ve already misplaced the Garmin charger (ugh!), we’re in for a challenge. More on this later…

Driving down the Redwood coast, the minutes ticked on, one fewer minute with my husband, and his secure presence, his caring ways.  He would be flying out of Eureka, roughly a 2-gate airport, that caught us between two extremes.  Life going, as it was burnished by fabricated materials and life staying, as is was grounded by seasoned redwood.  Mark needed to get back to our fast paced community, and Henry and I were staying with the wood.

Slowly, we stepped out of the airport sliding doors.  “What are you thinking?” I immediately asked Henry.  Expressions of two extremes, “I don’t know whether to be scared or excited,” he said.  Scared AND elated – eek!  Yes, Henry expressed it well, as we were both rattled emotions of joy and fear!  But then his favorite author described it best…

Things are never quite as scary when you’ve got a best friend.  – Bill Watterson