Widow's Voice

Solo Traveling

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a red and white teardrop trailer and a black jeep wrangler

I’m currently on a 4 day outing on the Oregon coast and typing this post up from my little teardrop trailer. On the drive out here on Wednesday, it occurred to me that I’m not really “camping” in the old sense of the word. No, I’m basically just traveling and living in my little home away from home. I have all of the conveniences that I never had when actually camping (kitchen with a fridge, bathroom, heat…), they’re all just miniaturized. So I am not solo camping, I’m solo traveling.

This is actually the first time I am staying at a park with full hookups (water, electric, sewer). Of course, it’s not perfect. The trailer is not that high off the ground and the sewer connection is about 5″ off the ground, rather than in ground, so I can’t actually use it properly. I had just the “grey” water – the water from the sinks and shower only – hooked up and it all just sat in the hose because there wasn’t enough incline to make it from the trailer connection UP to the sewer connection in the ground. And because the trailer is low, I couldn’t use the expandable holder thing that can provide a fix for this particular situation.

Stuff like this doesn’t really get to me though. I expect it. I learned that these sorts of things just happen when you’re out traveling because when I was kid, every year my parents and I would take an extended vacation and travel around the U.S. in a travel trailer. I have some super fond memories of those times and I remember really looking forward to those trips.

So now, I’m out here making new memories in my own tiny trailer.

Anyway, yesterday was a perfect day. The drive out here was mellow. The forecast was calling for rain, but it ended up being mostly sunny. Check in time at the campground was after 2pm, so I made a stop at one of my favorite beaches first. There was barely a breeze when I climbed up the sand dune trail to get to the beach. That is rare. Even in peak summer months, Oregon beaches are typically quite windy.

I spent about an hour walking up and down the beach and just sitting and watching the waves roll in. The Pacific Ocean has always recharged me. It took me about an hour more of driving (along some of the most scenic parts of the central Oregon coast) to reach the campground. First thing I did after setting up was to make lunch – a black bean, tempeh, veggie burrito. Even when I was actually camping, I always made the same kind of food I do at home. That’s a serious difference from when Mario and I were camping. He always just wanted to eat hotdogs. Occasionally, I’d bring some potatoes to roast on the campfire or something, but I ate a lot of veggie dogs on those trips!

There’s a trail that leads out to the bay from where I’m staying, so I’ve been walking that a couple times a day.

Today I drove up the coast a little bit to go to big aquarium. The last time I was there, Mario and I went. I remember taking a snapshot of him standing behind a display of giant shark teeth, so when I passed by them, that memory came flooding back to me and I just paused and stood there for a minute. It can be a little emotionally tough when the old memories and new memories collide like that.

Did I mention the trailer has a tv and DVD player? Like I said, really not “roughing it” out here like in the old camping days! So I brought along a movie to watch last night. Tonight I just ended up streaming a movie on my laptop (not sure why I thought to only bring ONE DVD movie!).

I am doing a tiny amount of work while out here too. Couple hours at most. Today that mostly happened while there was a light rain in the afternoon. I actually find I’m super productive when I do work from the road. Probably because there are really not many distractions and there’s a lot of relaxing and recharging happening when just boosts my overall energy and focus.

Tomorrow is my last full day and I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet. If the weather holds out, I may head a few miles inland to a small lake and do some kayaking and then of course, more time spent on the beach. I’m sure on the ride home on Saturday, I’ll already be looking forward to the next trip.

About Sherry Holub

I met my spouse, Mario, at UCLA School of Art in 1993. After graduating in 1995, I founded a small agency specializing in web and graphic design. Mario became my partner in the company in 1999. In 2002, we were married at the Costa Mesa, CA court house because neither of us wanted a big wedding ceremony (after already being together since 1995).

Mario was a highly talented artist, musician, illustrator and 3D Designer, but a tortured one. He was one of those gentle, creative souls who ended up burning twice as bright for half as long. Mario lost the battle with liver disease induced by alcoholism (almost exactly 6 months after he became sober) on 2/10/21.

I’m a long-time artist and writer with a background in photography who enjoys cooking, getting outdoors, staying young at heart, and sharing experiences to potentially help others. When it comes to writing, I’ve written both for fun and professionally over the years. Writing is also sometimes therapy for me and I don’t mind sharing my personal experiences with a wider audience.