Bone Dry

I’m on a road trip, so this will be short. I drove up the Interstate 5 all the way through Central to Northern California and through Oregon in my electric car. Even though I’ve done this drive, especially up to Northern part of California many times before, driving a distance in an EV is a whole new experience than driving a gas-fueled car. The fueling stops are more frequent and longer. So I get to have time to look around while I’m charging.

While the South and many other parts of the world are getting flooded at unprecedented level, California and other parts of the West are bone dry. Living in the mountains we’ve been feeling the “thirst” of the Earth viscerally every day, and as I drove through it was so palpable. Besides the sky and the distant mountains were completely obscured by the smoke from the fire burning miles away. When I got to Ashland, Oregon, the server at a restaurant told me the tourism has been severely affected because of the smoke, and how they haven’t been able to enjoy the outdoor activities for the last few summers.

This is the reality we live today. This road trip was meant for me to explore the West coast with an intention of finding a possible new home, and it is also to really understand what’s really happening beyond our big little world of the Southern California where we’ve lived for over 4 decades. Again, I find myself feeling pulled into a despair, yet today after having spent 3 days of “alone” time in the car, I’m finding motivation to keep going with my life. May the new scenery provide some new perspective and inspiration. 🙏