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WELCOME, TRAVELER.Why "wonderlust" instead of "wanderlust"? You'll find out. This is not travel just as adventure, but as spiritual gift. Bring your mental camera, tie on some imaginary hiking boots and join me.
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I know I paint a rosy picture of endless gorgeous views and intriguing travel. However, I need to 'fess up. There's a cost to this lifestyle. Every RVer pays it, eventually. My payback came while crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. My line was at least two hours of stop and go before I even reached the gate. Stop for five minutes, pull forward for 10 feet. Stop for 10 minutes, pull forward for 5 feet. You get the picture. My '94 Ford engine was not happy, despite my checking and adding a quart of oil before leaving San Felipe. Eventually, as I neared the gate to show my passport, the engine died. It refused to restart. Yikes. I did not know what to do. Someone in my caravan posted on Facebook Messenger and the word reached Michael. Who had a tow strap. Who was close enough to jump line and pull forward. We hitched up and he pulled me through to the closest U.S. intersection. Long story short, I am towed to El Centro, CA, just in time to miss the Saturday closing of the local RV shop. Which means waiting until Monday for service. Which leads to another long and sad saga of repair shops. Repair shops that cannot figure out what is wrong with my engine (except that it had burned though its oil while waiting in line). In El Centro, they tell me that they have probably fixed the problem and it won't happen again. WRONG! I went through four shops (not counting the ones that turned me down), including Ford, and spent thousands to NOT fix the problem. Thank God for the Phoenix repair shop that finally diagnosed and fixed the actual problem. They called in two old-time RV techs and used an oscilloscope. My flux capacitor was dead. (That's a joke. But it was a capacitor on the engine control module. Misdiagnosed as everything from a broken fuel pump to chewed engine wiring to dirty Mexican fuel.) Here's the spiritual lesson I seem to be working on in this love-hate relationship: Do not shut down when an RV repair problem comes up. Just know that everything is here to help me. And breathe, Mary. Gotta breathe. Gotta pay for those endless gorgeous views, you know?  Yah, sometimes I just wanna push it over the cliff . . . .
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WHO
Metaphysician. Vegan chef. Jewelry artist. Writer. Star gazer. Seeker of hot springs. And now, wonderluster. Meet Mary.
WHAT
1995 was a good year. They made this 21-foot Chinook RV, now my home as I wonder in what writer Ellen Maloy described as, " . . . attention to the radiance, a rise to the full chase of beauty."
WHY
Nature + travel. Why do they inspire us so? I believe we discover -- and connect -- to our deepest selves in those spaces of beauty. Despite what separates us (politics, geography, philosophies), the stories and photographs here show our world as connected and whole. Imagine the finest fabric, woven in never-ending creation, on the loom of the universe.
I will meet you there. WHERE
Current location: Lake Superior.
WHEN
There's no time like the present. Actually, now is a pretty cool space to hang out. Yet another reason to join me on my travels.
ARCHIVES
February 2019
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