Wandering Artist's Journal

Most of the rest of the continent has been dealing with unprecedented killer heat for the last week or so. Here in the high desert, it’s the usual summertime killer heat. I don’t do too well in heat - have been having increasingly frequent heat-exhaustion episodes and occasional heat-collapse. In the past, I attributed my ability to survive here to the invention of, and access to, air conditioning.  Now, I’m developing other strategies. The whole  world looks different when you no longer live in an air conditioned building. Some part of my brain is on constant alert for shade. Especially shady parking places. I’m starting to accumulate a mental file of reliable spots. I have thermometers in the van and the difference is:  Outside, ambient temp- 97 degrees F Inside with no shade- 120+ degrees F Inside with shade- 85 degrees F This morning, I left my nighttime parking spot and moved to a Starbucks parking lot with a shady area  big enough for ...

Almost two years since my last posting here. What a journey - but it’s mostly been interior progress. Nothing to report. (Unless you’re a recent widow. In which case, let’s talk.) Let me just cut to the chase - I bought a van, moved into it (yes, I’m living full-time in the van) and I’m moving in increasingly larger concentric circles as I spiral out from Reno. This blog is written for family and friends and I’m blessed to have many of them, scattered all over the world, mostly on this continent, and mostly on the coasts. I plan to visit all of them in the next year or two, or however long it takes. This is NOT going to be one of those “how to live in a van” blogs. I think that territory has been covered. This blog is a means of updating people who care about me. A cargo van, built to suit me, is just a tiny house on wheels. I know some of you are worried - how can an old lady do this all alone? Relax. My basic needs are met - a safe, comfortable place to live, dream, re...