Wayfaring Stranger

Chapter 1 - The Ancestors

'I am a poor wayfaring stranger

Traveling through this world alone

There is no sickness, toil nor danger

In that fair land to which I go'

- Wayfaring Stranger performed by Jack White

What the hell am I doing, I thought, while driving down the 191 to Navajo country, in December, in the middle of a storm, with a trunk full of camping gear. I shouldn't have read that book Wild, it gave me bad ideas like back packing through Canyon de Chelly alone. But my life had changed drastically and I was utterly lost. I wouldn't normally climb or hike solo in a place like Chelly but I need to do something different or I would just crawl into bed for the next fifteen years and never leave my house. I could hear Edward's voice in my head, yelling at me in his worst impersonation of an obnoxious movie drill sergeant "Get your ass moving, airman. You are not a quitter! Now get up!" So, I made my plans but took the necessary precautions and let my best friend, Tracy, know my route and my schedule so that she could call in the National Forestry Service, if I didn't check in at the right time. I didn't want to end up like that rock climber in 127 Hours cutting off my arm to save my life. In retrospect, I probably would have traded places with him had I known where my little adventure would take me.

I sold my house in Sherman Oaks and most of the furniture before my trip but it took longer than it should have and thus, I was on the road in December instead of October, which was when I originally planned on leaving. I put everything in storage, except what I was bringing with me on my trip, and gave the keys to Tracy to hold until I returned. I packed up my car with my old USAF go bag from when I was stationed in Afghanistan. I had mapped out the route from the Hollywood freeway towards Victorville and then planned to pick up the 15 north to the 40 east and then to the 191 north. The first leg of the trip was pretty mundane so I let my mind wander.

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"Lizzie, come on! We have to go! Your sister is already at the restaurant waiting for us," I hollered up the stairs.

"In a minute, Mom, I'm putting on my shoes," she screamed. The 'Mom' was that drawn out 'Mom' that all children use when they're exasperated with their mothers.

I turned toward Edward and threw my arms up in irritation, "Can you please go get her? We're late, and we have a ton of shopping to do after we eat and before the movie." I turned, walked towards the kitchen, leaned over to grab my purse and phone from the kitchen island and said over my shoulder, "She's driving me bananas." Edward could always find the right way to calm me down and I could feel his heat on my back and his breath on my neck, before he wrapped his arms around me with one of his giant hugs. He turned me around, leaned in, kissed my forehead and my nose, turned and walked up stairs. "Come on, Lizzie we're only waiting on you."

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December in California is much like it is the rest of the year, sunny and about seventy degrees. As I drove east about forty-five miles past the Kingman exit, I noticed the temperature rapidly drop by about ten degrees for every ten miles I got closer to Flagstaff. I turned on the radio to see if I could get a weather report and got the bad news that a huge snow storm was blowing my way. I knew I should have checked the weather before I left. I was hoping I'd make it to Flagstaff, but I had enough supplies if I had to sit it out in my car. By the time I was twenty miles outside Flagstaff, I could barely see past the windshield and was driving at a crawl. The storm had turned into a blizzard. I really needed to get my head examined for not postponing my trip to spring. I had gone too far at this point to turn back so I kept going. I should have taken Tracy's offer to stay with her for six months but instead was about to turn into a pavement popsicle, because I just couldn't sit still. I guess I'll never learn.