What's Next

After a little over two weeks of [free!] residency right smack in the heart of Santa Fe's not-even-remotely-inexpensive historic district, I've been beginning to feel the slight itch to move on...but then unexpectedly, Randy the Mobile Codger rolled into town the other day. Not surprisingly, at least to those who follow the man's musings, the Codger's presence has breathed new life into the Santa Fe experience, so I'll be sticking around a little longer. That, and I just placed an order for some new reeds today, so I have to wait for them to arrive before going anywhere.

My typical evening busking routine continues to yield results (both musical and monetary), so I'm good with staying put a little longer for that as well. I have set myself the goal of bringing in enough money to cover the gas expenses for a rather long upcoming trip I have planned in a couple of weeks, and am on pace to do so in just a few more days.

What's this upcoming trip, you ask? Well, sometime around the beginning of July, I'll be saddling up and making my way directly to....St. Augustine, Florida. Because, hey, that's the place to be in July, right?

Right?

But seriously, the purpose of putting myself in the Sunshine State precisely at the time of year when no self-respecting full-timer would be caught dead less than 1000 miles away is for a call that I'm grateful to have such freedom to answer. It's been pretty well documented here that a chief benefit to living on wheels is having the ability to be wherever I want to be and for as long as the situation warrants, but a new twist on this that never really occurred to me until recently is having the freedom to be around when those one loves the most are in need.

Without going into more detail than necessary, dear Mom, who you may recall heroically swooped in to the rescue a few months ago while my appendix was kicking the absolute snot out of me, is going through a serious health setback of her own right now, and because having someone around for July and August will be a big help, I'm going to exploit my freedom-to-be-anywhere in a new sort of way and, well, be there.

I confess that I've been wrestling a bit with how to divulge these plans here, as I don't want to come off even remotely sounding like I expect accolades for choosing to help take care of Mom. I mean, it's Mom for crying out loud -- how could anyone living this carefree wheeled existence not happily rise to such an occasion?

In the meantime, I figure I might as well bide my time here at elevation in the Land of Enchantment, since pretty much anywhere east of here is going to be just plain hot right now. And if I do end up leaving Santa Fe prior to making the long beeline to St. Augustine, it won't be terribly far from here. Maybe just a little higher up to some cooler temperatures.

For now though, The Codger is in the house, and an amateur philosopher like myself can't resist the opportunity to soak up all that the man himself has to say.