Have you ever wondered about the intensity of being in your life, in your day?

These two days in Portales, New Mexico have been - only one way to put it - so in the moment for me!

We arrived here at noon and thirty on 31-10-10, sitting in the cab of ABC Towing Service truck, driven by Murlyn, occasionally peeping in the side view mirror to reconfirm that Sweet Chariot was on the tow platform, chained and secure and going with us to find a new drive shaft for her and someone who would fix it on Halloween Sunday.

Murlyn took us to David (who took on the car), took us to find Sands Motel and showed us the entire town including the big grocery store, the many restaurants and the University complex. So here we were, in Room 25 of Sands Motel, waiting for the car to be functional again.

To describe the transition from functional to KABOOM to waiting - we left Santa Fe 15 minutes behind schedule, at 4.15 AM to drive all the 800 miles to Houston. We were excited about the long drive, itching to get our feet and teeth into the almost 15 hour drive. Pocahontas was great - she had us on a great route. We started on the Old Santa Fe Trail, turned left on the Old Pecos Trail and were out of Santa Fe, again into the sea of darkness. We picked up fuel, drove for hour and a half, changed drivers and there I was at the wheel, feeling great, in my body and delighted at the adventure of the drive ahead.

7.30 AM, the sky had pinked beautifully, the sun was raising its brilliant bald head, Carol had saluted it with the new flute she had bought from Sky Redhawk the previous day. We were deep in the thrill of an audio book that was nearing finish - A Wrinkle in Time.

"KHA-DUNK- - - DUNKKK --- DHHUNNKK ---" sort of describes what happened next. Quick to react Carol said, "We've got a flat. Pull over." Slow to connect, I thought, "No. It doesn't feel like a tyre. What is she saying?" I pulled over to the side. The car would not stay in park gear. As I pulled the hand brake up, Carol predicted "oh-oh this is something serious."

So the sun still brilliant and rising, birds chirping, sky doing it's colorful routine and time looking at us asking - "what was it to be? - loss or gain? - moving or standing still?" Time is pretty undiscriminating. It always is what we want it to be. So we chose standing still. We called up AAA, who obligingly responded first through machine and then helpful operators who brought the promise of 'towing to Clovis' as soon as someone in the vicinity responded. The vicinity? Where were we? About 700 feet from Truchas Creek and a sign declaring the joys of being at Sunnyside Springs and the land where Billy the Kid was buried. Somewhere before Fort Sumner and 126 miles from Santa Fe. Modern ways of print, communication and other support systems that I am not even aware of until I need them have made being in situations like this so easy!

All contacts were made. I did the Indian thing and went and peed behind the reeds in the ditch. And we sat and listened to the rest of the audio story as we waited. It was great. Both of us were unperturbed. So, we were not going to reach Houston tonight. So we would have to get our car towed. It's expensive but we have money. We'll find a place to stay. We were alright. As Murlyn said to us, "Don't let this spoil your vacation." There was no reason for it to do that. Life offered us a chance to experience something different and ourselves differently.

So here we are in this motel, catching up with our blogs, the movies we have on our hard drives, the post cards I wanted to mail and a lot of the walking I wanted to do. We've also caught up with ourselves - individually and together. This is an interesting relationship. We've been friends for many years and road trip companions often and this time, intensively for more than a month. We have uncannily and almost eerily entered each other's auras. She speaks what I am about to say and she reports I say what she is thinking. So it is nice to be in a quiet place, with nothing to do but everyday things like walking to meals, clearing the room, doing our blogs. Nothing that requires major option-choosing or declaring reaction to the fantastic-ness of the world, nothing that brings us to the unprepared for wonder of being in such symbiosis.

And Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to hear and to share with you that David called to say that the part should arrive in Portales in 30 min. He'll fix it in another 30 and then we can be on our way. Yipee!

With love, gratitude to all who are sharing this journey with us.

Shane, thank you for reading commenting on the blog. Are you in the list of followers. Would love it if you are.
Meenu, thanks. I am so happy you are reading. Join us on this whirlwind trip if you can. In anycase keep reading and commenting. Do you know I spent so many years dreaming of something like this and now as I live it, I feel grateful to everything in myself and in my world that has helped me come to this.