I turned 60 in the early part of 2022. I’m ridiculously pleased about making it to this age. Preoccupied with parenting and building school gardens for the last ten years, What’s next?

My adventurous friend Julie suggested maybe a weekend with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, or maybe a Holotropic Breathwork experience – both likely interesting, life-affirming experiences. For several years I’ve thought about walking the Camino de Santiago.

Camino de Santiago

A hike on the Camino is a popular trip thanks in large measure to the 2010 film “The Way,” about Dr. Thomas Avery, an American ophthalmologist who goes to France following the death of his estranged adult son, Daniel. It’s a poignant story of a father who is trying to connect with his dead son by retracing his path on the Camino de Santiago. As he ponders the life of the son he’ll never see again, Dr. Avery encounters people who, like him, are using the hike to confront difficult personal questions. Together the doctor and his new friends converse about their lives as they walk miles and miles through gorgeous terrain, stopping each night in quaint villages for a delicious meal and warm bed.

Will they miss me?

I pondered leaving for six weeks for such an experience. My writer husband Mark is always busy with a project and can manage without me. No doubt Mark will miss me. Like other long-married couples, we rely on each other in so many ways. I make his coffee every morning, selecting his coffee mug. We treasure our collection from past vacations. Can Mark make coffee? Pick out his own mug? Most definitely.

The pups without me for six weeks? No way. Who would make their special rice-vegetable turkey food?! Who will take them on their enrichment hikes? Who will continue with their training? This degree of pup care is just not Mark’s thing.

Boondocking with Harvest Hosts

An RV trip would allow me to bring Cleo and Nova. For years I’ve wanted to do a cross-country road trip in an RV. I took a quick deep dive into what such a trip might look like in practical terms. It became clear that making reservations at state and national parks would be stressful. At the height of the vacation season, we’d encounter crowds of families and their pets packed tightly into campsites. And the fees to reserve campsites- twenty to thirty park reservations- would require an excel spreadsheet. If there is a personal hell for me, it involves spreadsheets. And having a couple of thousand dollars tied up in park reservations seemed risky. What if I decided to alter my travel itinerary?

Boondocking for free on acres of farmland became entirely possible when I was offered, on very good rental terms, a luxury solar-powered RV. Oh yes, here is where I can reduce expenses at a time when gas prices are up.

Harvest Hosts is a cool online app listing farms, wineries, and breweries where you can stay overnight for free. Key here – overnight. Most don’t want you setting up camp for more than a few days. Works for us. The only request is that you patronize the business. Sort of a nice gift exchange with these small business owners. It’s a great concept for us, friendly, laid-back, with no upfront fees, parked on vast expanses of land we share with only two or three other RVs.

My husband’s response to such a trip? No. Nada. Nope. There is nothing about RV travel that appeals to Mark. Hard pass. He really isn’t thrilled with the idea of me being gone so long. Yet he understands that I will, on occasion, make such decisions for myself. Technology will get us through this. We have Facetime for digital good-night kisses.

Why am I doing this?

The short answer, I just want to. I’m not looking to make any big changes in my life. It’s a wonderful life filled with all the joy and pain. Yet I do need a reset. A marker, an experience sturdy enough to bridge the past with whatever is coming next.

My study of astrology over the last few years makes me conscious of how these feelings correspond to the movements of the planets, particularly in my case, Pluto.

Pluto takes approximately 248 years to come full circle. No one lives long enough to experience a complete Pluto cycle. Pluto is a transformational planet. Its transits bring about deep exploration and rebirth, a stripping away of the superficial. People experiencing Pluto transits typically let go of what is not working in their lives and/or re-engage more deeply with what is.

In the next ten years, Pluto moves into direct conjunction with four of my natal planets located in the eighth house. The eighth house is considered by modern astrologists to be the house of mysteries, birth, death, sex, and transformations. Eighth house transits are notoriously dramatic. I don’t like drama in my personal life. It’s wonderful to be approaching elderhood with all the great hormonal swings and youthful insecurities behind me. I feel grounded by years of garden work. So with what’s ahead, I’m more curious than anxious. The next decade could well be one of the most intense and impactful periods of my life. Taking time for myself on a solo road trip to reflect and ponder feels just perfect.

Donate

I invite you to follow along as I blog and TikTok about our travels to a llama farm, lavender farm, morgan horse farm, ostrich farm, wineries, and breweries. Please, if you are able, donate to Furever Friendz, the Spring Hill shelter where we found Cleo, to support their wonderful mission. Donate here.