I almost completed our December travel log but then abandoned it in favor of life itself. So much has happened in the last three months. Where do I start?

The last time I wrote here was from the northwest coast of the United States.

At the beginning of October we arrived in California. First stop – Mount Shasta. There is something special about this mountain: an ancient and timeless kind of magic, something I would like to return and experience more deeply.

We headed south to the San Francisco Bay Area. From there we split into two parallel journeys. Elan drove the mothership south to Los Angeles area and I, Michal, flew to Israel to meet Laor, my beloved son, and friends and family. I surprisingly received a summons to come to New Jersey for my naturalization ceremony, and all sorts of other family matters changed our plans until we finally met on Christmas Eve back in Los Angeles.

Even though some time has passed since then, I want to return to a significant experience we had in Lassen National Park. It is a huge park that surrounds a volcano with geysers, waterfalls, lakes and tens of thousands of trees. Following the recent visits to the national parks, we realized that they were announced this way because each one has a very impressive and special nature, each with its own uniqueness. That is why the sight of such an impressive and large park, almost 70 percent of which went up in flames, is heartbreaking. In the summer of last year the park suffered a heavy blow from wild fires. When we got there, we walked through the destruction and loss from the fires and during a hike to the recommended waterfalls we arrived (almost by surprise) at a stream and waterfalls with the flow of living and rushing water among all the soot and blackness. It was both a shocking and impressive experience at the same time.

With the same intensity of destruction and death, among the remains of the soot, living clean nourishing water flows. Lakes that reflect the mountains that stood and watched the trees go up in flames, crumble and blacken, in the snow that covers the area in winter, in the restoration of what was and what is born now. Like arteries of a visible miracle, water flows between thousands of stumped and burnt trees and reveals the secret of healing and life. Where there was scorched earth, now there is living earth. It will be very intriguing to return there after the rainy winter of the last two months.

Back to the present – we took two days to recover at a campground on the coastline in a small town called Carpinteria, and hit the road again. We crossed the border into Arizona and arrived at Yuma. It’s a town that borders a town called Algodones in Mexico, where many people cross the border to get cheap dental care. In Yuma itself there is not much to do. We stayed about ten days at the Thousand Trails campground, to overcome jetlag, and to be in a relatively quiet place while the world went crazy in honor of the new year.

Luckily we met a group of lovely people, each and every one of them, and we discovered the wonders of boondocking (camping out in the open). We have already had the chance to boondock a few days here and there, but not for long. We were invited to join the “neighborhood” that they created in the middle of nowhere in the heart of the desert. We positioned ourselves close, but not too close to give everyone their own space. Every evening we had a fire together, had a Shabbat dinner, shared meals sometimes, hikes, and lots of conversations of all kinds. It was a really good feeling to be together and find people close to our hearts. After 10 wonderful days together, we went our separate ways but decided to keep in touch and right now I’m writing from our new neighborhood near Quartzsite, Arizona.

Between the previous neighborhood and the current one, quite a bit of water flowed in the river. Actually – a lot of water. We drove towards San Diego and discovered that California had experienced amounts of rain not seen for many years. The positive side of all this rain was the bright green color that enveloped every hill and valley and a magical and lively atmosphere was created. After almost three weeks in the desert it was very refreshing. The less beautiful and even challenging and scary side was a flooded  road near the campground and many hours of helplessness in the middle of a narrow road. The happy ending was that we entered the campground and settled right on the bank of the stream for a week.

I almost forgot the drive through Joshua Tree National Park. It felt like we landed in a parallel universe. Cacti called Choola and the unique Joshua trees next to huge rocks. amazing amazing amazing.

But what I want to return to is the new experience of the simple life out in nature. It is true that we are relatively equipped and have a complete house on wheels (some may say a spaceship), but actually the longer we stay like this in nature, especially in the desert, the pace of life slows down and adapts to the terrain conditions. When the sun goes down, we sit together or alone by the fire. Pretty early in the evening it starts to get cold and everyone crawls back to their dens. Sometimes we download a movie  to watch, sometimes we go to bed early, or stay to talk or read a bit, and the silence envelops us into the night. It is very exciting to wait for the sun to rise early in the morning and to feel the world slowly thawing and waking up. In our area now there is not too much to do in the nearest city, so there is no reason to leave here except to fill the water and gas tanks and get rid of garbage. During the day we connect to the internet and work. I continue to hold Zoom meetings, and Elan is engaged in writing and accompanying schools. When it warms up a bit, we go outside for a walk in the immediate area. Our dogs are free and happy here, and so are we.

In the coming days, the continuation of the plans will become clear. On Saturday I celebrate my birthday and that will probably be the day we go to Baja Mexico for a while. Keep your fingers crossed for us please that these plans will come true and pass safely. We will update of course.

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Blessings until next time

Thank you for being here

with love

Elan and Michal