Change -- and bug guts -- in the Air

Last Thursday was brutal, except for the first job in Aspen. I'd worked a little at that store the night before, so all I had to do was finish watering the plants. It helped that it had rained in the night, so between five and six in the morning, I watered all the plants beneath the awning and verified the others had moist soil.

With temps lower in Aspen (altitude / morning), the day steadily heated up as I drove down valley to Carbondale and then back up to El Jebel. The temps reached the mid-to-upper 90s, but it felt hotter to me as I worked in the sun to reset shelving units and unload racks of new outdoor floral product. Both stores received five racks, so I had to be creative with placement by merchandising the new eye-catching product where it would be sure to be seen. Then, I liked to use smaller quantities of other color-popping product, like red and purple, to draw eyes toward all the rest of the outdoor floral department. I wanted to sell plants, especially the petunias because I was tired of deadheading the yellow ones. For some reason, those flowers were always sticky at every store and with every batch.

I tried to stay hydrated, especially at the El Jebel store because the floral manager asked me several times whether I was drinking water. She insisted I take four bottles of a super smooth pH-balanced water with me while I worked. I was already five or six hours away from 40 for the week. If I could just work a little longer, I wouldn't have to come in on Friday. I'd already made a ten a.m. Friday appointment with my new boss. So I pushed through.

By the time I finished the day around 4:30, I felt swollen and sore. My white and striped cotton shirt showed smudges of dirt. This would definitely have to be a shower night. Usually, I could do a good wash in the restroom or at the hose, but not tonight. So....in honor of my now-extended weekend, I stopped at the new Love's truck stop in Parachute.

I was trying out the Love's app for the first time. I'd joined another gas station app (K&G) and got 15¢ off a gallon on my first fill-up. I wanted to see what Love's would offer. The young guy behind the counter was helpful and friendly. He wasn't going to make me pay until we found out what the app offered. Instead, he told me about commuting in from Junction to work at this truck stop.

The manager hurried over. "What seems to be the problem?"

"We're just waiting for the app to open," I explained.

"Well what did you need? We've got bad internet right now, so that might not load."

"I just wanted to get a shower, but we were looking for a coup--"

"Never mind," the red haired boss lady said. "I'll just give you your free shower."

It wasn't until I felt that blessed water washing away the sweat and grime that I realized the boss lady must have thought I was a trucker since she assumed I had a free-shower credit on the app. And, she might not have trusted her employee was handling things efficiently, which is why she rushed over. Either way, it saved me $16, which I desperately need to save because life is about to get really expensive as I work through the process of moving vehicles.

And.... while we're on that subject....yes, I do need all three vehicles. The Godspeed (RV) is my home. The Xterra is my exploring/dirt-stomping/snow-crunching vehicle, and the van is my fuel-efficient stealth camper for when I finally earn enough money and have some free time to go visit people.

That night, I watched the sun go down as I drove through Rifle, to Meeker, and on into Craig.

I wish I could end with that last sentence. It sounds so idyllic. But--alas!--I cannot.

That's because of the Mormon cricket invasion. Mayhem and death on the roadway! The seething mass of insects blanketed the roadway. Where patches of roadway lay exposed, a brownish stain discolored the normal grey. Quickly, I rolled up the windows to shutter out a pervasive stench of insect death. It smelled like the upstairs wooden window sill of an old farmhouse...times one thousand.

Later I learned that these are not true crickets but are more closely aligned with the cicada, despite their cricket-looking legs. They seem to like hay fields of northern Colorado, southern Idaho, and parts of Utah and Nevada. Oh...and...they are also cannibalistic.

So, on Thursday night, I went to sleep wondering about accepting a teaching job in Craig. Did I do the right thing?

The next morning...Friday...I got ready for the day at the K&G gas station. I'd dressed in the car, a sundress with a denim-collared shirt. The whole configuration screamed of a summer-loving professional who interrupted summer to get caught up with planning and details. Applying my makeup at the gas station wasn't a problem, but brushing my teeth was. It was one of those sensor faucets. Sometimes it started, sometimes it didn't. My hair was also a problem. In the end, I just wore it down, using my eyeglasses atop my head to hold it back. Again...busy professional.

While speaking with the college bossman, my colleague, I felt the old enthusiasm for teaching start to flow as we discussed college needs and student learning objectives. He showed me around the campus, and I selected my office...a space where I can lay books and papers and will not have to pack up every time the wheels move!!! The books I store on these shelves will not fall from cabinets when I make a sharp turn! Then, I started to wonder what books I had left. I'd just given all my Native American books to Osh when I was leaving the hotel. I only kept the ones most important to me, but those are back in Escalante in the RV.

While driving to Vernal to meet a former- and now-again- colleague in Vernal for an early Friday dinner, I thought about moving vehicles and course prep. On long stretches of open road, I jotted scrawling notes while mostly keeping my eyes on the road. I needed this think-and-planning time. I'd agreed to teaching five classes. And I have to move vehicles.

On Friday night, I slept at around 8200' in the mountains north of Vernal.

You already know about Saturday's fiasco. In the end, I put a tarp under the cooler. I don't think it's leaking now. What appears to have happened was this: a blanket got caught at the back of cooler between the lid-cooler seals. So, as I tumbled over some dirt roads and turned corners, the melted ice sloshed around, saturating the clothing and bedding behind it.

On Saturday, I took the long drive back from Vernal, through Grand Junction. I slept on the hospital lot in Rifle, and this morning two young security guards knocked on my window and told me to "move on." It was only the second time since starting to nomad in 2017 that I've had someone say I couldn't park there. The other time was a couple years ago when the marshall (!) knocked on my RV door in DeBeque, telling me that sweet little spot by the river was not for overnight camping.

I'll be happy to get out of nomading for awhile. I just hope I can find a campground where I'm going so I will have electric, sewer, and running water. It will be hard in winter with the cold winds beneath the RV floor and the field mice wanting to get in. Looks like Buena has herself a job with that!

Already this morning, I mapped the Great Vehicle Migration, got the insects washed off the car, finished new-hire paperwork, and wrote this blog post. Now I'm going to start thinking about how to structure my five classes.

Thanks for reading! Have a blessed day!