I have a word problem. I saw “Olm” used to describe something or the name of something and have been unable to track it down. We have an Olm among our stuffed critters. It looks like a naked eyeless salamander. We picked up the stuffed critter when we visited the Postojna Cavern in Slovenia and it rides with the fox, the owl and the sheep pillow from NZ. 

I went looking for Olm on Google and the best I could find was Oriental Light and Magic, a Japanese company that makes films we would never watch – Pokemon. I intended to write this piece about the juxtaposition of the two “olms” but I no longer have the context.  For that matter as happens more and more often I have no idea what I am writing about, stay with me and we will all find out.

We don’t acquire many items when we travel since we are limited in space to display or even store stuff. The fox has ridden on our bed through at all our RVing and is a reminder of Red Fox a stuffed animal Yechiel had when he was Joel. The owl landed on my arm at an Audubon shop someplace where we had hiked on their birding trails. Or maybe it was the day we had a talk by a predator bird rescuer who did a demo with an owl which rode on my gloved hand for 10 minutes. The sheep pillow just slipped into Carol’s arms as we walked by it in a shop in New Zealand where I was buying lanolin for a sore heal.

The last step of making the bed each morning is to put the critters in appropriate – or inappropriate – poses on the bed.

I’m not sure anyone ever gets to see this display, bedrooms are not usual visiting places and in the RV world it is not even common to visit in someone’s RV. Visiting is mostly on the patio, even pre covid. There is no “social space” in 400 square feet of living space and stuff tends to fill most of the spaces we aren’t sitting in ourselves. 

It will get interesting next week as we prepare to travel and all of the stuff that has moved out onto counters and chairs needs to find its way back into secure storage. Looking around it seems daunting, but we have made this transition many times and I have no doubt we will make it happen again. Then in travel mode, only what we actually need for the moment will be brought out for use and put back immediately to be prepared to move on. It is a different living mode. I am looking forward to it. 

I have some trepidation as I keep reading about state parks across the country being booked solid through the summer. Then I remember there are many other places to stay and many private campgrounds away from major destinations that will still have openings for us to drive up. Also many places that do not have all the amenities will not seem welcoming to the new RVers setting out for their first season of travel. For us electricity is nice but not necessary and water and sewer are luxuries. Also without children we are uninterested in the attractions that draw families with children. 

For those interested in our route, so am I. It is a work in progress. If our work at Redlands Truck & RV is completed in a day we will head up to Sacramento to visit the Braunsteins. If we are delayed, we may have to visit in the Fall on our return. Reservations are only in Albuquerque NM for a visit with Erica (late May) and Rock Springs WY for Escapade (mid July). We plan on Rochester for mid August through September and a stop in Charlottesville followed by a Red Bay visit or not. 

The only critters we are likely to accumulate are pictures like this California Quail that is one of the multitude that inhabit our resort.

His plume is hidden in the shadow 🙁

When I have a better idea of the actual route I will post the plan, usually followed by what we actually did.