In a conscious relationship, there’s a commitment to growth and awareness. Both people know that, in order for the relat

I thought about it and foresaw walking along the ocean [which I love to do] — but it mentally felt no different than walking along the river so I said thank you but not my thing — not now.,Then suddenly there was no road! It had washed away! We sat there a bit shaken before backing down to a spot where we could turn around. Eventually, we got turned around and drove back to the “main” road. We thought there might be a better road to the campground, but nothing showed up as a possibility except the one we had just tried.,I think it was my pandemic life catching up with me. I have worked at home for years, but I was never S.T.U.C.K. at home. My now infrequent trips to Costco are the highlights of my months. I live in a nice spot — on a river — and it’s summer — but even that river life lost its glimmer for me.,This middle of nowhere is in a Bureau of Land Management [BLM] area and we set up camp near a reservoir intending to relax and drive to Glass Butte the next day. The variety of birds was amazing — but then came the bugs! We thought they might dissipate but they got worse. None were biting but they were on and getting in everything. We decided to break camp, drive directly to Glass Butte, and set up at the small BLM campground near the obsidian.,My daughter-in-law said she’d love to go do that with me and so we started planning our camping-digging-for-obsidian vacation. We figured what foods we wanted, packed extra water, lots of fruit, camping gear, boots — and layers of clothing.,One highlight of this camping spot was that we saw some of the Perseid meteor showers. Another was being woken at sunrise by a murder of crows who were sitting in and on our camp chairs!,After a bit, I said what I’d really love to do is to go to the high desert and dig obsidian — but it was not a trip I wanted to do alone — especially in this pandemic time.,The pandemic had created a host of issues we had not considered. Our plan was to get away and go camping and digging — but we quickly figured that agencies like BLM were not doing maintenance.,My daughter-in-law asked me what I’d like to do — and I said get away somewhere — go someplace other than Costco! She said she’d watch my pets and I should go the coast — I’d be treated to a vacation.,Consider how odious it is that films such as Jefferson in Paris depict Sally Hemings as carefree and flirtatious. At the time Thandie Newton was cast to portray Hemings in this film, she was 23 years old. It’s telling that the film’s producers shied away from selecting an actress that would represent the reality of the child slave’s age and appearance.,Leaving the Glass Butte area, we decided to go west and find a campground. That led us into Bend, a major tourist area, and after checking a few crowded, no social distancing places, we found a small private campground in La Pine and set up camp — for the 2nd time that day. It was hard to believe it was still the same day.,This is a “good” section of the road to the Glass Butte obsidian camp and digging area. Barely wide enough at times for one vehicle and not many spots to make room for anything passing us.,We left our spot after breakfast and started driving up the coast — looking for a spot to stay for a few days. I was laughing as I had turned down a coastal trip — and yet here I was — on the coast.,The traffic we encountered was worse than in a city. Masks were not seen on many and no-social-distancing-crowds abounded for anything that was open — including paths to the ocean.,At this point, we were frequently singing about being on the road again. We were having a fun time in spite of everything. We drove down into California for a quick pass to get to the road we needed for the Oregon coast. Not having been there for years, I said hi to the state!