The Final Post

A long drive, a minor breakdown, and then, safe at home.

AS I LEFT WISDOM, the thoughts of home warmed my heart and mind. My little house, my dear partner, my beloved dogs, my sweet friends, my messy life, these all called to me, urging me on my way.

But I also wanted the trip to go on forever. There’s nothing quite like days on end in which my only job is to find thrilling new landscapes and paint them. And especially when I can sleep in the van - there’s not even the need to line up a hotel for the night. It is pure painting, and opens lines in my heart and vision. Opens new abilities and ideas. It is exhausting - and incredibly rewarding.

But the West was still pulling at me, every moment that I drove east, and leaving it, and the whole painting trip, made me a little sad. Still, it was time to go, and I was missing home.

So I vowed not to stop. But that vow didn’t last long.

Here’s the one painting I made on the trip home, at a scenic overlook just outside of Sheridan, Wyoming.

And my painting in the landscape:

IN SPITE OF my vow not to diddle around on the trip home, there were some detours I just couldn’t turn down.

The first was Buffalo, Wyoming, where I had a cup of coffee and a plate of homefries at the Busy Bee Cafe. Fans of the Longmire books by Craig Johnson, or of the TV series, will recognize Buffalo and the Busy Bee.

Two more places called to me, and I got off the highway briefly to visit. One was Wall Drug, in Wall, South Dakota, where you can still get free ice water, a cup of coffee for 5 cents, and have your photo taken with a hard-assed cowboy. If you don’t know the story of Wall Drug, it’s worth a quick read. It occurred to me that Wall Drug, with all its highway billboards and its immense amount of useless junk for sale, is the western equivalent of South of the Border. I admit, I am a hopeless collector of useless, kitschy junk, so these places appeal big time!

I ALSO DETOURED into Mitchell, South Dakota, to take a quick look at the world-famous Corn Palace, which I’d never heard of until Carol Baney and I took a trip to see and paint sunflowers (and she dug for dinosaur bones). We stopped at the Corn Palace, and were amazed.

The murals that line the front and side of the Corn Palace are all made of corn cobs! Yes, really! And they change every year, or so we were told. And as I drove past, I saw that, indeed, it was different than what we saw several years ago. Amazing. The sign was on a gas station store, and looked for all the world to my eyes as if it were advertising an “inconvenience” store.

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AND THEN, I was in Virginia, and so very close to home. In fact, 87 miles from home. And I know that because, in the middle of a construction slowdown in Hampton, Bella stopped running.

I pushed her onto the shoulderm just before a VDOT truck appeared, driven by a young man who could not have been sweeter. His truck was one of the ones with the giant bumper thing on the back, and he parked behind me to keep people from running into me. He also called a VDOT tow truck, one of a fleet on call to get people like me out of the construction zone.

I called Dave, who said he’d come and get me, and then I posted my predicament on Facebook. Friends who live near the south end of the Shore said they could come get me and Dave could pick me up at their house. I was touched.

When I’d been waiting an hour for the tow truck, I called AAA - and found out that I could be towed 100 miles with no charge. Part of the service I’ve been paying for all these years. And I was 87 miles from Shore Tire, where, I knew, Harry would be able to fix Bella.

I called my friends, but they’d already left, and in fact, were on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, which made me feel terrible. Because of their kindness, their evening had been disrupted, and worse, they would have to pay twice to cross the CBBT.

But they were cheerful and forgiving. The tow truck driver was a delight; we talked earnestly and deeply the whole way. And then there was my dear Dave, picking me up at Shore Tire.

In the end, Harry replaced the battery, and that was that. When he took it out, he said, the sides were bulging. He said he thought that all the heat and all the long days of driving had done it. So, new battery, new life.

I am off to Arts in the Park in Richmond this weekend. When I get back, I’ll put all the paintings up on my website, send my sponsors an email, and we will start the fun fun fun selection process!

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DOG OF THE DAY

IT’S TATER, a 14-week-old bulldog that Harry of Shore Tire got after his old bulldog died. Tater is wriggly and soft, unbelievably heavy, and doing well with his housebreaking. It’s kind of impossible to keep from smiling when you see him.

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NEXT: Let the choosing begin!