Connecting the Dots

Last summer, I was enjoying a glass of wine with a friend while she entertained me with stories of the many interesting projects she has pulled together over the years.  She is one of those people who talks to everyone and ends up bringing people together at just the right time to accomplish amazing things (like teaching girls who have been rescued from the sex trade how to sew—see?  Not your everyday projects.)  Marveling at how she pulls it all together, I asked her,

               “How do you do it?”

               “I just connect the dots.”

               “Damn, I need to get myself some dots.”

We shared a good laugh; as with most humorous statements, it was mostly funny because it was true.

***

Right now I am sitting in the DeAnza RV Resort in Amado, Arizona, just north of Tubac, my first night here; I am tired after towing down from Prescott.   Once you leave Prescott, it is an ugly drive to be sure, until you get south of Tucson where you find mesas filled with low trees and tall bushes drawing your eye across to the mountains in the distance.  It is surprisingly beautiful.

My pitch is lovely, I have a gorgeous view of said mountains and, being the small rig among the giant bus-like RV’s, ample room in my pebble filled area.  I am looking forward to meeting up with some dear friends and spending some time discovering this area.  If my friends like it, I am sure to like it as well; over the last five years, we have managed to live as neighbors in two different states.

Let me connect a few dots here:  I last wrote from San Diego where my sole purpose was to visit friends and family and for that, it was priceless.  But I could not wait to hitch up and drive away from the chain linked nightmare that is the Mission Bay RV Park.  I hit the road as early as a dog walk, tank clean-out and hitch up would allow and headed toward Prescott, Arizona.

I have been to Prescott numerous times over the years as my parents have lived there for, I think, over 20 years now.  I have driven up from Laguna and Phoenix but never from San Diego.  So I headed out I-8 East, anticipating the dry and desolate landscape I was sure to see after leaving the water’s edge.

But, as with so many things on this trip, I was completely surprised.  Driving east from San Diego, the hills began to pop up and they look just like the hills that surrounded me in Ramona while growing up.  The same sage- and low brush- filled slopes with rocks that jut out every which way.  And soft looking rocks, light in color and mild in shape.  But some quite large:  Boulders.  I was taken back to my (what I call) formative years, sixth through twelfth grade, when I would walk along the many trails from our house, usually dog in tow, climb the hills and sit on the giant rocks.  They are such fond memories.  I guess I should not be surprised at my affinity for hiking.

Of course, I flashed back to that memory I alluded to in the prior post.  It was such an innocent time in my life; the most innocent love I have experienced.  As life would have it, Modern English’s “I’ll Stop the World” came on my playlist—it was “our” song.  (Just to give you an idea of the randomness of this, I have over 300 songs on my playlist and it is set to shuffle.  I have not heard this song in months.)   I love life when it turns like that.

Unfortunately, the rest of the drive was horrendous.  Long, hot, boring.  I arrived in Prescott with the intention of having dinner with my parents but I was too stressed out.  Eight hours on the road and the last half hour is twists and turns so sharp I was down to 25 mph.  That’s what it takes to get back into the mountains.  I begged off seeing my folks and instead downloaded the new Sam Harris Waking Up App (finally available on Android!) and began the course.   Sam is a neuro-scientist whose main philosophy (and the subtitle of his book, Waking Up) is “spirituality without religion.”  I thought we were soul mates.  I could not wait to begin the course.

You can do the lessons in any order, so I swiped through a couple before seeing, “Free Will”.  Yes!  This was for me!  I love free will, I live for free will, I would rather die than not have free will. 

Sam does not believe in free will.

I will leave it to you if you want to investigate this more.  I will say this, he has a good argument but I am a long way from taking that side.  This is great though, this is just what I wanted out of this trip:  tests; new ideas; and maybe a dot or two.

My four days in Prescott flew by:  I discovered a friendly and competitive tennis group who quickly adopted me for their Tuesday/Thursday Cardio Tennis hour and took a ninety minute private lesson on Wednesday from the Pro.  Wow, did that feel good!  Other than two days hitting against a backboard in Bishop I have not played since leaving Seattle and I missed it terribly.  I was sore and relished that feeling. 

My campground in Prescott, the Point of Rocks RV Park, was nestled near Watson Lake, up on a hill with trees and boulders to maneuver through.  Ideal.  (No sarcasm, it was ideal.)  I could take the dogs right from my pitch and hike trails for as long as I wanted.  The first morning I hiked over to Watson Lake (the photo above) and, when the trail became nothing but rocks, I noticed a sign that said, “Follow the dots”, looked down, saw white dots here and there along the way and thought, "I have dots!".    

Opus’ favorite route, however, was the six mile round trip to the off leash dog park where he ran so fast through all the people and dogs that one man put his hands on his hips like a super hero, puffed out his chest and said, “Mighty Dog!  The fastest dog on earth!”  I love finding funny people, people who are not afraid to be who they are wherever they are.

“Nirvana for now” is what I texted a friend of mine.  And it was nirvana for four days.  I even took over my Mom’s kitchen and roasted a (free range, organic) chicken and vegetables for dinner one night—a treat since Beagle does not have an oven.

I enjoyed my time there so much, and the tennis folks were so welcoming, that I exercised free will (yes!) and changed up my plan a bit.  I will be here in the Tubac area for about a week before returning to Prescott for a week on my way to Palm Desert.  

No rest for the experience seekers.

-K