We spent the first 3 nights in Sedona. I landed in the airport, and while I waited for him to drive up, it started to sink in. I was going to spend 10 days in constant company, driving long distances. What if we didn't get along? Tbh the anxiety was minimal compared to the excitement. I let go and trusted. After all, he's used to traveling with people, I'm used to traveling with people, we can flow.
The car pulled up and it was like Christmas day. Jumping into a new reality. The car was full to the brim. He seemed to know where everything was. I knew where nothing was. The driver's seat was the cockpit. There was a GPS, cell phone, ipad, and wires everywhere. The rear-view mirror was connected to the backup camera. OMG. My home for two weeks. I named her Betsy 😆
That night we drove to Sedona. My first time there, the red rocks, the heat, the shedding of my previous existence. It was magical. We spent the night on BLM land in a field, arriving as sun was setting, casting the light of the golden hour, perfect for taking selfies. I didn't know the magic of BLM land.
BLM in this case stands for Bureau of Land Management. It means National Forest land where it is permissible to camp, following "leave no trace" principles. You can stay up to 14 days, and it's free. There are little to no facilities. My friend had everything in his 4-Runner- a fridge, solar panels, shower, so much. MAGICAL!
We spent the time in Sedona exploring- the New Age crystal stores, the outdoor mall Tlaquepaque, hiking to Devil's Bridge (off-roading more than half of the way, which had me learning more about off-roading. Bottom line? I enjoy off-roading to get to the beautiful remote places you can't get to without such a car. And avoiding the impressive heat that many people were sweating through as we passed them on the off-road trail 😅) We also hiked the cathedral trail, and to all the vortexes. We meditated, we enjoyed sunsets. We celebrated the 4th of July. We ate amazing pizza at Rotten Robbies- I am still dreaming about that pizza. We ate donuts at Se-donuts, and marveled at all the people not wearing masks. (We wore masks when around people.)
It was the beginning of the adventure, and the beginning of a lifestyle change. My intention is to continue in this vein, as indicated by the title of this blog, "Akemi's Adventure Travels." Will I have a car with a snorkel? Will I continue to find friends to tag along with? Will I change my sleep schedule to wake up with the sun? Of course it still includes flying off to foreign lands! I don't know the answer to any of this, and I am open to any and all possibilities. It starts with intention and feeding my soul. And this, this is feeding my soul.
Thank you for reading and get excited for the next leg of the journey! We are off to Alstrom Point, one of the wonders of the world, as far as I'm concerned. 😁