We escaped the cold of Massachusetts and flew to Yuma, Arizona for two weeks of sunshine and visiting with our winter friends at Westwind and Araby Acres.
We floated in the pool every day, sipped piña coladas, and soaked up much-needed Vitamin D. We spent a day in Mexico, shopping in Los Algodones, where Joe visited his dentist and we enjoyed lunch, live music, and beers before heading home. We read, Sarah painted, and we grew a few new freckles.
Can you spot sun-safe Sarah in the pool?
We found a new caretaker for Cornelia and said our goodbyes to our faithful RV home. She kept us safe and comfortable for four winters and we will miss her, but she is going to be well-loved by her new owner and will continue to live in the desert.
“Living out the Chahta spirit of faith, family and culture.“
Vision Statement of Choctaw Nation
We spent the afternoon experiencing the Choctaw Cultural Center in Durant, Oklahoma, where we met a vibrant community of Choctaw passionate about sharing their culture with us. The beautiful building opens to a large concourse where visitors first meet twelve living people from the twelve different districts of Choctaw Nation.
So often, non-natives are introduced to this continent’s indigenous history as something in the far-distant past, or worse, we are fed harmful negative stereotypes and disparaging images in today’s mainstream media that perpetuate generational trauma and the erasure efforts of modern governments. It was incredible to be introduced to Choctaw people from across southeastern Oklahoma in the same way we meet people just living their lives wherever we travel.
Different language? Yes. Different history from our experiences? Yes. Proud of their culture? Yes.
Below are some photos from the first exhibit in the Orientation Gallery. **We were rushing to view the entire exhibition before heading to the social dancing and my phone battery was dying, so these photos do no justice to the complexity of this first exhibit.
“We honor the past, live in the present and look to the future. We are resilient people, overcoming adversity with grace and dignity. Those who are Choctaw Proud work hard to be successful and give back to their communities.”
We were invited to learn about Choctaw dancing in the auditorium. Five staff members stepped away from their desks and took turns explaining the significance of each dance. For millennia, Choctaw dances have been a way to reconnect with old friends from different clans and provide an opportunity to meet new people. Today, social dancing is still intended for participation and not performance. We were invited to join in and one need not be Choctaw to enjoy the dances.
One of the dancers told us that regalia is fun to wear for special occasions, in the same way we might dress up for a big wedding or gala event, But it is not necessary to wear every day! By dancing today in contemporary work wear, these Choctaw dancers are normalizing for themselves and for visitors the tradition of dance as a way to mingle and hang out with friends.
We learned that all ages dance and the dancers are accompanied by chanting. Rarely are words used – the chanter may be joined by the dancers for certain phrases and sometimes the chanter will use rhythm sticks to help mark the time or note a change in the steps. The Choctaw Nation is a matrilineal society and women dance in all three categories of dance: war dances, animal dances, and social dances.
A peaceful people, Choctaw historically would defend their territory when necessary. Eight days of dancing prepared the community for an impending battle. Upon the warriors’ return, more dancing would help re-assimilate them back into village life.
Choctaw have great respect for all living things and two of the dances today were inspired by animals. The turtle is an important animal to study and revere – by moving slowly and taking its time to move and make decisions, turtles are regarded as wise. Their long life demonstrates their success. The diamond-back rattlesnake teaches us to conserve our energy; a warning rattle alerts intruders. Taking a moment to look for escape before striking is a good lesson to us that encounters can end peacefully and violence is not always needed to co-exist.
Turtle Dance
Friendship, courtship, and marriage dances mark important social aspects of life. Today we learned the Friendship Dance.
The half-hour of dancing concluded with a short film detailing previously unknown stories about the last removal of Choctaw by train in 1903 from ancestral lands to present-day Oklahoma. You can watch it here online:
After the film, we headed to Champuli Cafe for fried bread and lavender lemonade before heading to the four permanent galleries depicting the journey of the Choctaw people from creation to the present day. Respect for nature and the interconnectedness of all living things is a core theme throughout the history of this nation.
We were both impressed with the quality and creative artistry of the first two exhibits. Sarah rushed through exhibits three and four and headed to the Gift Shop! Joe attempted to engage with all four exhibits but neither of us made it outside to the Living Village because the complex was closing. We gave ourselves only three hours to explore this facility and we easily could have spent two whole days immersing ourselves in all the things to see and do.
European contact brought devastating diseases and new weapons that decimated indigenous populations across the continent and left native survivors unable to physically defend their territory against Manifest Destiny. Less than 3% of the total US population today, many Native Americans still suffer from historical trauma, economic disparities, lack of access to healthcare and education, and exploitation of natural resources on their land.
The Choctaw Nation (215, 000 members*) has worked hard collectively to revive and pass on its cultural traditions, language, and values. By investing in themselves and teaching respect for shared values, this tribe has created economic opportunities and jobs for its members. With a focus on education and pride in cultural traditions, young people are connecting to their heritage. We can learn a lot from the resiliency of the Choctaw people. We encourage you to make a trip to Oklahoma and learn about Choctaw history and culture for yourself.
*to contextualize population numbers, there are 45 countries in the world that have smaller populations than Choctaw Nation.
Tuesday dawned sunny but smoggy in El Paso. The local geography causes air pressure inversions that trap pollution from cars, trucks, trains, etc. along with emissions from local industries.
As we pointed ourselves northeast, we noticed a drastic improvement in Mike’s performance. We spent the day driving through west Texas, dominated by oil and gas fields. Sarah read that the Texas Department of Highway spreads 30,000 pounds (!) of wildflower seeds each year along the ditches. The Texas state flower, bluebonnet, is a regional species of spring-flowering lupin. There are a few different legends about how this blue-purple wildflower got to Texas. One 18th century story claims a Spanish nun appeared to indigenous people to teach them about Jesus. She was wearing a blue cloak over her brown habit and appeared several times to two different groups. On the morning after her last appearance, the fields were covered in a new flower the same color as the nun’s cloak. Even more miraculous is that the nun in this story never actually left her convent in Spain. It is said that she projected herself to North America through deep contemplation and prayer.
We spent the night in Seymour, Texas at the HH Creek Inn. We split a delicious 16 oz ribeye dinner at the Rusty Spur Saloon and thoroughly enjoyed watching the Breakaway Roping competition from the Lazy E Arena on the newly launched Cowgirl channel.
We bade farewell to sunny Yuma on Saturday and struck east for Deming, New Mexico. Crossing the Continental Divide at more than 4, 000 feet, Mike was struggling with the winds and the long, slow inclines. We made it into town at 7:57 pm local time; Si Senor (highly recommended to us by friends) closes at 8:00 pm, so we tried Cactus Cafe, instead. Delicious tacos, a homemade mushroom swiss burger and cold beer filled us up!
On Sunday morning, Mike just did not want to start. We were stuck until garages would open on Monday. There is not much to do in Deming, New Mexico. Joe made two trips to Walmart on foot and we settled in for an afternoon of Netflix and naps. PBJ for dinner!
No one in Deming could work on Mike, but the VanAlert app pointed us to Fox Land Auto in El Paso, Texas – 82 miles away. Gerry from AAA re-arranged his morning plans and safely towed us to Rico’s garage. Journey was a champ riding alone in the van being towed backwards for an hour and a half, while we sat in the tow truck cab with Gerry. it was about this time last year that Mike broke down on our way to Vegas. I think he’s trying to tell us he wants to stay in Yuma.
Rico conferred with our Vegas mechanic who rebuilt the engine last summer. After running some compression tests, we all agreed a leaky valve was probably the culprit. Rico also installed an electrical starter component, giving us more power and reliability.
We took an Uber to the Travelodge and checked in for the afternoon. Rico and his father had Mike fixed by the end of the day!
Rico, Sr. trained in Germany – worked on VWs for his whole career!
We celebrated with dinner at Carlos & Mickey’s Cantina. Sarah reacquainted herself with melon margaritas!
This winter we were kept busy with puppy training, in addition to our usual schedule of fun in the sun with our snowbird pals. Most days, we would head to the pool around lunchtime for a floating visit with friends. Stories were spun and jokes were shared and we all had a good time not shoveling snow.
Joe golfed on a few occasions and thought about joining the pickleball craze, but they start playing at 8:00 a.m. which is way too early to be bouncing around competitively!
Sarah quilted, joined a crafty card-making group, and painted a bit. We both read a lot of books and on colder evenings, watched Arizona PBS Check, Please and Finding Your Roots.
We flew back east for a long weekend visit with our grandchild to watch the Super Bowl. A quick road trip to Newport Beach for Joe to attend his Football Dinner gave Journey a chance to stick her paws in the Pacific Ocean.
We are grateful for another winter in the southwest desert. Thanks to all who came to visit us this season!
Adopting another dog, after Molly, was not a sure thing for us. In our marriage, we have been blessed with three extraordinary dogs, all adopted as adults/seniors. Shasta taught us the benefits of living with a retired service dog and Molly eventually completed training to work as Sarah’s service dog. When we started to look for a new dog, we were daunted by how the rescue/foster system has devolved into a money-making cottage industry. Folks are adopting the best-behaved dogs from the shelters and then re-packaging them as available for adoption for huge “re-homing” fees, rivaling the cost of purchasing a pure-bred puppy.
We continued our research and met several candidates in shelters in different states. None of them passed all of the tests we had set; a potential service dog must be calm and relaxed, responsive when approached, and accept boundaries and training readily. A dog that is clearly frustrated, reactive to people or other dogs, has issues with resource guarding, or is overly sensitive to touch cannot easily be trained to work as a service companion. Hip health is also important. It has been more than thirty years since Sarah last raised a puppy and Joe has only lived with adult dogs. Puppies are a big commitment and require a huge investment of time and patience. But as our search for an adult rescue dog with potential for service training continued with no definite results, we started to consider the benefits of puppy-raising.
This youngster was born in Indiana last June at Foxwood K-9. This extraordinary kennel is powered by solar and geothermal systems and the dogs are raised with love. She was ready to come home to us at the end of November. Because we were getting ready to leave Cape Cod for the winter, it was tricky to figure out the best way for our new pup to get to us. Delivery options were compromised by airline restrictions so we landed on the idea of picking her up directly from the kennel in Shipshewana.
We flew to Detroit on a Tuesday morning, picked up a one-way rental car, and drove to Indiana. We picked up puppy supplies and the puppy and headed out west. Thank goodness she adapted to car travel without incident! Mornings were spent bonding with Sarah in the front seat and the rest of the afternoon was spent sleeping in her crate. The three nights in hotels were relatively easy as she slept in her crate without complaint.
On our second day, we passed a sign that said we were 90 degrees west of Greenwich – one-quarter of the way around the world! An hour later we saw Mark Twain’s boyhood home before crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri. Chillicothe, MO is the Home of Sliced Bread and Sarah was stoked to stop at Missouri Star Quilts. After lunch, we passed by the birthplace of Jesse James. And in Kansas City, we met Boon and his human who works at Bar K Dog Park. We slept in Hays, KS.
Thursday’s adventures included meeting a flock of chickadees in a pre-dawn cold walk before loading up the car and heading into Colorado where we gained another hour due to entering Mountain Standard Time. The temperature was a bit warmer (56 F) as we cruised through Denver and headed up into the Rocky Mountains. When Journey woke up after lunch we were at ten thousand feet elevation in Vail and found Bighorn Park to introduce her to the snow. We stopped in Green River, UT (pop. 847) for the night – known for watermelons and its annual Melon Fest.
Friday morning was a bit tense as we got caught in a blizzard coming over the summit to Salina, UT. While Journey slept blissfully unaware, Joe did a great job navigating the un-plowed road and we made it to Mom’s Cafe for breakfast by mid-morning. We time-traveled to Mesquite Dog Park (Pacific Time Zone) before steering into the megalopolis called Vegas.
Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona
We saw a lot of sights and experienced a range of weather conditions (sun, rain, sleet, snow, winds, hail) on our journey cross-country. We returned the rental car in Las Vegas, picked up Mike (with his refurbished engine!) and after visiting our friends Friday night, we turned south to Yuma on Saturday morning.
We will be staying here in Arizona for the winter and plan to drive cross-country back home to Cape Cod in March. In these first weeks living together, we have set new routines, started training classes, and adapted to sharing our RV with our growing four-legged goofball. Her antics as she explores and learns about the world are keeping us smiling and we made more friends at the RV park in one week than the entire winter season last year. Everyone wants to pet the white, friendly puppy.
Joe proposed registering her as “Journey” because it was a journey to find her, we trekked cross-country on a literal road trip to pick her up, and we look forward to sharing many travel adventures together. She has the perfect name!
As we emerged from the underground Metro in Milan, we found ourselves at the centre of a march in support of the women of Iran. It was powerful and emotional.
We spent our last Sunday in Milano exploring the Porta Nuova district – an astonishing urban renewal project that turned industrial wastelands into upscale architectural marvels and large parks, including the Library of Trees.
“Biblioteca degli Alberi” is a ten-hectare urban park with 135,000 plants and 500 trees forming 22 different circular “forest- rooms.”
A Sunday market was filled with mostly locals and the vendors offered a variety of beautiful crafts, fresh foods, and patio plants. Joe especially enjoyed his vegan (!) green smoothie for lunch.
We were impressed by the modern architecture and green construction efforts. Two residential towers are built as vertical forests – amazing to see! Other buildings and the green spaces that connect them were equally interesting and were being well-utilized by locals and visitors. It was a real boost to our nervous systems to re-connect with plants and trees after days of urban living with its cacophonous soundscape of motorized vehicles and concrete dreariness.
Where in the world are the Gills? 