My Journaling Journey . . .

Some of you may be wondering . . . what happened to my journaling during this trip to Mexico. Never fear, remember, it's my passion.

I tried to dabble in painting while we were driving down here. Actually, the olives were a successful demonstration of "how to paint while riding in an RV passenger seat". They actually brought up some interesting thoughts. Roland and I have read recently, a book we first say mentioned by Pima Chodron, entitled "That Bird Has My Wings" by Jarvis Jay Masters. He's a death row inmate who now practices Buddhism. While we were at this rest stop where we found the olives, a prison transit vehicle was also stopped. I watched as the women, chained together, used the restrooms and then boarded their vehicle. I took me back to tales Jarvis had told about prison life. My feelings bounced between compassion edged with fear and then perplexed by my emotions. Anyway, it's a fascinating book, rather enlightened us about other cultures actual life conditions. I'd recommend it. Back to the journaling, after time, I realized that I wasn't able to do the more complex paintings while en route. Also, my memory began to confuse the days if I didn't write down soon where and what was happening ~ therefore I just stuck with the writing while in transit. But as always, its helped me sort out my feelings and more exact words ~ good stuff for my brain and spirit.

So since we've arrived here in Ajijic, I've been busy my pigments and I . . . filling my pages. I'd left some space on each page for images I'd envisioned and sometimes I was pleased. Not always ... but this journal isn't about perfection ... and so on we go. I was to say too, that I'm having some difficulty getting good lighting when photoing these pages too. So pardon the dull colors, I'll next attempt shooting outside or in direct light.

This first image is a blend, from us leaving foggy, grey Jacksonville melting into the hills of Los Banos where we spent our first night. Have to admit it was the first night I've ever spent at a truck stop, but it was amiable. We first tried parking away from the hub of trucks but, were asked to move. In the morn, we had become sandwiched tight between trucks with their motors running (we guessed to for electricity ~ that began us imagining how much gas they could save if they used another method ~ but that's another story). I'd slept well, surprisingly. Guess the roar of the engines just turns into, what's it called, "Grey noise"? The sunrise thru the truck next door was lovely, don't you agree?

The next day we are off and travel all the way down to Palm Dessert. I always love coming into the Palm Springs area, all those happy, waving wind mills greeting you as you come around one particular bend. Roland has researched all the Walmarts, and we find this one and locate where to park for the evening. When we were trying to start the PT Cruiser that evening we found the battery dead. With this particular auxillary brake system we have on the PT, it might draw a little power.

So we hope that's the culprit and plan on going to Sears in the morning for a new battery. As we leave Palm Springs, I do a lil' contour drawing of the namesake for the area . . . palm trees. Simple but fun.

And here's the full page beginning to my journaling of this Mexico adventure. We're on to the next day . . .