Mama Caravan Tour #1 ~ Up the West Coast and Into the Pacific Northwest

San Diego County >> Santa Monica, LA County >> Lagunitas, Marin County >> Sacramento County >> Mt. Shasta Area >> Southern Oregon >> Umpqua Hot Springs >> Bend, Oregon >> Eugene, Oregon >> Portland, Oregon >> Olympia, Washington >> Hoh Rainforest, Washington >> San Juan Islands, Washington >> Missoula, Montana >> San Diego, CA! ~2200 miles First full circle, Mama Caravan tour. we left San Diego County with Mama Kimberly who had a friend in Santa Monica whose house we crashed outside of before departing early the next day for the Bay Area. I had been eager to do the drive up the west coast with Burt as I know it well, having made the drive both with my dad, others, and alone many times. Exitedly, I pointed out the various bridges we drove across to Cee. We were offered a granny flat to live out of for three weeks in Lagunitas, Marin County. The Black Lives Matter protests had just broken out across the country and I knew a Mama from San Diego who had moved to Fairfax. As a mother of a black child, she helped to produce on the first protests for the area in response to George Floyd's murder. Mama Kimberly and Benji joined us at the flat for one of the weeks. As well, Mama Dina was in town. That summer soltice we enjoyed a Mama Caravan meetup with us original Mamas at a park in Marin County. The granny flat belonged to the family of one of my best friend's from college, Jenelle. Jenelle and her wife also live on the property so we had brief time with her and her two kids, Ashlyn and Nathan, before they left on their summer adventures. From Marin County, we headed east to visit with my parents. It was hard to see them alive when my man was dead - it felt so unfair that the person with the greatest open heart and compassionate soul in my life was dead. We spent the 4th of July weekend with my parents before driving north to the Mt. Shasta area to meetup with Mama Kimberly and Benji again. After all my talk talk talking about sex and intimacy, Mama Kimberly had been influenced by my words. When we rolled up in Shasta, there was already a dude around. I tried my hardest not to judge and to keep my heart open. After less than a week there, we decided to caravan together to southern Oregon's Umpqua Hot Springs. I was taking the boys for most of the days as the adult atmosphere seemed to be devolving into too many transient-like strangers and too much consumption of cannabis and mushrooms. After a few days, I decided that we needed to part ways with Mama Kimberly, for good. The man she had become enmeshed with was an addict. This was the last time we would ever see Mama Kimberly. I felt scared striking out on our own. I decided to drive east towards Bend. At an organic farm in Bend where an outdoor ecstatic dance was being held, I met a fellow traveler and single Mama who was also on the road, alone. We teamed up. Exploring Bend together and then camping outside of it, near Sisters, where we met up with a Mama sister friend whom I know from graduate school. (And whose family we had last met up with Burt while camping in Malibu in 2018, before cancer came.) (In Bend, I also recieved a call from a Mama sister friend in San Diego who had been roadschooling since February and who was heading north. We talked about meeting up together, as well! See - we weren't alone. We were on our path - it just doesn't always work out they way we expect or think it will.) Cee and I then joined Mama Alex and Raya as they traveled to Eugene to stay at a friend's house there. In Eugene, we enjoyed homecooked meals that Mama Alex made, the river behind the cabin and picking blueberries from the farm in the front yard. It was blissful! After a few days, we parted ways so that Cee and I could visit Auntie Jenn and Uncle Paul in Portland who were getting closer to their due date with baby Itzli. Then, Cee and I headed to the Prancing Unicorn Retreat and Recreation Center outside of Olympia, Washington. At PURR, we enjoyed time with some members from our San Diego Dance Community, one of whom owns PURR. We swam in a nearby lake regularly and again just enjoyed nature time while almost everyone else was hunkering down inside, alone and fearful. We rarely wore masks and the idea of doing so in nature was utterly ridiculous! Mama Alex and Raya met us at PURR for a few more days of blissful fun before they ended their caravan tour and headed back to Ashland. Then, Mama Dana and her family arrived. After a few weeks, it was time to keep heading north. With Mama Dana, who had the same van as us but only it was a diesel-sucking 4x4 beast, with drive to the Olympic Penninsula to camp in the rain in North America's only rainforest, Hoh. We also visited Port Townsend and Fort Worden, where I spent two years traveling back and forth to for graduate school. I never imagined when I was there in 2007-2009, that I would one day be returning as a widow with a young child surviving a global pandemic by roadschooling. Alas, there we were. From there, we drove onto the ferries for the San Juan Islands. Again, we visited with families and sister friends I knew from San Diego County. We saw an orca swimming in the wild, which was utterly orgasmic! This whole journey felt very magical and I could sense Burt's presence with us every step of the way. I felt remiss when it came to an end though because Burt and I didn't discuss where else we would travel to on the road. But then, I remembered - I had always wanted to see Montana. Ever since my early 20s when I tried to read 'Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintanence.' After another blissful week on San Juan, from where we did an overnight trip to Lopez Island to visit Nikyta, Cee and I struck out on our own once more. Heading east, over the Highway 20 North Cascades Scenic Driveway and towards Missoula. Labor Day was quickly approaching but the van's engine was struggling to crest the peaks. The van needed servicing which meant we ended up camped out in a hotel in the city of Missoula, after camping in the Nez Perce land during Labor Day weekend. We put many miles on our bikes. And though I realllllllly wanted to visit Yellowstone, Burt's 54th birthday was quickly apporaching. Releasing his ashes to the Pacific Ocean with our beeloved community in San Diego County seemed the best way to celebrate.