Storms, Spirits and Sisterhood - Part 2

(Start with part 1 here)

The next morning, the skies were full of gray, wavy clouds, a dark ocean above our heads. I was nervously checking the radar, and decided that we would wait a bit for the storm to pass before heading out. According to the weather app, it looked like it would pass quickly to the north of us. We sipped our coffee from the camper and watched the skies open up. 

Once there was a lull in the wind and pouring rain we decided to lock it up and roll out. It was 9:30 am, much later than I wanted to leave, but we were able to drive easily through it and saw sunny skies to the east. After a couple of hours of driving it was time to stop for gas again and although we were just past the storm, the radar now showed it circling back around.  

Through my psychic healing journey so far, I had been becoming more connected to my own intuition and building trust with myself. I intentionally set my energy and mind to be intuitively aware and pay attention to my gut. 

So as we were crossing the border into Iowa, it was like the lights went out as we drove into dark skies. The wind picked up and we felt like we were in a boat, swaying side to side. I felt that feeling in my gut. It’s the one that sits under your ribcage and over your belly and it sinks all at once. My intuition kicked in and told me to drive through it. If I chose to pull over to wait it out I would continue to chase it all day and run the risk of hitting even more storms that were brewing behind us and would never make it to New Hampshire on time.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kacey gripping the handle above the door, hanging on for dear life, as the sound of the rain hitting the camper and the truck consumed us. It may as well had been rocks falling from the sky and the noise drowned out the radio.

“Kace, my intuition is telling me to drive through it to get to the other side. How are you feeling about that?” 

“I will defer to you on this as the driver and your comfort level.” 

“Okay, we got this, we are going to have to drive through it, I think if we stop, we'll get stuck.” 

“I trust you, you’re doing great, let’s keep going.” 

I put my hazards on, slowed down to about 30 mpr and white knuckled it. Driving a top heavy, 6,000 pound vehicle in the dark, windy rainy highway felt terrifying. I tapped even deeper into my intuition and became highly aware of all my senses, especially my 6th. I could see my totem wolf with us, as she circled around the truck. I could feel her and see her strength as she ran, and it felt to me that she was adding a layer of protection around us. This was the first time I saw her on this seven week long trip, and it wouldn’t be my last.

When I said previously how I knew that Kacey was the right person to have along with me, it was an understatement. She continued to have trust and faith in me, and in my intuition, and cheered me on. 

“OMG, Jane you are such a badass! You’re doing great. This is really bad and you are handling it like a boss.” 

She was truly impressed with my ability to drive a heavy boat that swayed back and forth through a storm and she said all this while still holding on for dear life!

The more she told me I was a bad ass boss as I was driving through this storm, the more I felt like one. A good lesson at how our thoughts create our reality. I can’t remember how long it took us to drive through that storm, but after what felt like hours, we were through and managed to expand our distance from it. Kacey kept pulling out her phone and checking the radar keeping me informed and counting down the miles to clear skies. I peeled my fingers off of the steering wheel, and flexed the blood back into them as we drove into blue skies ahead. 

Iowa is sneaky-beautiful.  If you've ever driven along Interstate 80 through the low rolling hills of Iowa you know what I’m talking about. We were chatting, singing along to music and as I was driving I saw a picture of an old woman. I don’t know how to explain how I saw her, except that while I had my eyes on the road, she just appeared into my line of sight. She looked like a petite old Italian woman, with gray hair and waving her bingo arm at me. In my mind I heard, “Nonnie, Nonna” She was cupping her hands over her mouth and screaming something, thinking that if she yelled I could “hear” better. 

By this time in my psychic journey, I had connected with my own ancestors many times, but this would be the first time I would connect with someone else's, and one that would just show up. Is this what it’s like for Theresa Caputto? 

It took me about an hour or so to get the courage to mention this to Kacey. I realized that this old Italian lady wasn’t going to go away until I did, and it took me that long to actually believe it myself. 

So I casually asked Kacey, “Did you have a Nonnie, or Nonna, Nanna? I see a short Italian grandma and she wants our attention.” 

Immediately Kacey replied, “Yes! I had a Nanna and a Nonnie. Nonnie was an Aunt and Nanna was my grandmother.”  

“Kace, I see her, and she is here with us.” I described to her what I saw, 

“She is wearing a dress that I would describe as a “house dress” that is either light pink or peach and has either blue or purple flowers on it and bits of lace around the hem on the short sleeves.” 

“Oh my God, it’s like I can see her wearing that dress! I bet if I went through some old photos I would find a picture of her in that dress.” She confirmed that it was her grandmother. 

“It’s funny I can see her waving and smiling and laughing! She is so happy for you and to see you on this trip. She is loving that you are living your best life and having this adventure! She wished she could be on this adventure too!”

Kacey talked about her grandmother, and her mother and how she always wished that her grandmother could have met her husband before she passed. I was able to tell her that her grandmother does see her, and her husband and is tremendously happy Kacey has found peace and joy in her life. 

We both teared up, and I said good-bye to Nanna. 

Because we had a late start to the morning, and it was almost 3 now, I had to make a decision to either find a place to camp before we hit the Chicago metro, or to drive through to Gary Indiana. By this time, after navigating the storm, seeing my wolf and Kacey’s Nanna, I will admit I was feeling like I was on fire. Fire from confidence, trusting my intuition and having psychic experiences. 

Kacey checked the forecast, and noticed storms in the Chicago area the next morning. It was Sunday afternoon and now that I had a newfound burst of energy after being so damn psychic, I decided that we would push through. Easy peasy. 

So on that late Sunday afternoon we drove around the city through 2 lane construction with jersey barriers to my left and semi trucks to my right. Not so easy peasy after all. White knuckles for the second time today. 

I would watch her again, my wolf, circle the truck as I was driving. I felt her power with a sense of hyper awareness of semis, traffic, barriers, exits and speed. Today was the first time we really worked together, well that I was consciously aware of anyway. 

By the time we made it to Indiana Dunes state park that evening I felt exhilarated, powerful and tired. Every intuitive decision I made that day was the right one. If we waited out the storm we would have been stuck somewhere, if we decided to camp early in Illinois, we would have had to drive through Monday morning Chicago traffic with the construction and even more semi’s. 

I remember feeling a small surge of adrenaline, because it was a day full of psychic awareness, intuitive direction and many small but mighty successes. We went for a garden walk, checked out the bath house (which was really nice and clean!) and relaxed. To help jump start my garden walk I had eaten a garden gummy (or two) and I was feeling nice and relaxed. 

The one thing our truck camper does not have, is bathroom facilities. Eric and I had opted out of it because we knew that we would either have access at a campground, or we would dig a hole. We made the decision because in such a small space, I didn’t  want to experience nasty odors coming from the toilet and we didn’t want to deal with any black tank excrement, so for us, it made sense. 

However, for two post-menopausal women who got spooked in the pitch black of the woods at night, this meant having a last call to the bathroom which was about a third of a mile away from our site. We had made a pact on that first night that if one of us had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, we would wake the other one up and go together.

Around 9pm, we grabbed our headlamps and walked to the bathroom for our nightly routines.  When we were walking back down the lane of campsites that only had one dim light on the corner which seemed to only highlight the shadows, I saw a raccoon scurry across the road and into someone’s campsite about 50 feet in front of us. 

“Oh my god a raccoon!” I whispered a scream as softly as I could and put my arm through Kacey’s arm as a means of unified strength. I was feeling pretty high from my garden walk and gummies by this point and those shadows were lurking and teasing me. 

We kept walking slowly and cautiously, trying to keep our voices low so we didn’t disturb any other campers. As we passed by the truck where I saw the raccoon go, I looked over and saw it. 

“There it is!” 

I screamed and tightened my grip on Kacey’s arm which in turn, caused her to scream. 

“Ahhhhhh!!” 

We then took off jogging to our own campsite, got up the step ladder and into the camper, slammed the door and locked it! 

She said, ”I can’t believe I screamed!” and we laughed and laughed. 

We both started to settle into our beds and she mentioned it again “I still can’t believe I screamed! I NEVER do that!” 

I had to tell her. 

I said in my calmest voice, 

“I have a confession. I didn’t actually see the Raccoon when we walked by, I think I just saw a shadow that I thought was the Raccoon, but it was really just a shadow.” I don’t think we have ever laughed harder than we did that night.

I woke up in the night to headlamps and whispers at the campsite next door. I looked out and saw that two people had arrived late and were trying to set up their tent in the pitch black dark with just a couple of headlights. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

As dawn began to break, I heard a weird noise through the open window. I looked out to see the truck that had come in the night, rocking side to side. 

I whispered over to Kacey as softly as I could, “Oh my god Kacey, people are having sex in the truck next to us!” 

“No-way!” just as softly as she could muster. 

She crawled up and we watched the truck while their tent still lay on the ground flat as a tarp, and we had the best giggle. 

By day three we were in a good routine. It was also the longest and most mundane drive from Gary Indiana to Lake Erie NY which I was ever so grateful for after the experiences the day before. I was also beginning to feel that sitting in the truck driving all day was giving me swollen calves. To prepare for the long drive, I promptly put on my neon argyle compression socks, baggy jean shorts and a tank top and slid my feet into my birkenstocks. I wasn’t going to win any fashion shows, but I was comfortable sitting in the truck for 9 hours for the third day in a row. Can’t be too careful when it comes to blood clots, am I right?

By the time we made it to Lake Erie State Park, it was hot, humid and our hot flash irritability was high. Our campsite was overlooking the water, however it was still sunny and warm so it was the last thing we wanted. We turned the AC on in the camper and had a walk down to the water. It calmed us. 

We were wearing flip flops and on the way back Kacey’s big toe was impaled by a rogue stick. After spending the previous couple of weeks in wilderness first responder school, I decided it was my time to shine! I cared for her wound like a professional as we laughed about it. 

“You just wanted to use your new first aid kit!” 

“Hey, that's why I have it!” 

The fourth day brought us home. Home to New Hampshire, and as we drove through Vermont, I was greeted with the familiar smell of mossy forests, trees for miles, and the feeling of old comforts and old wounds. 

I did it. 

I just drove 2,000 miles across the country in my truck camper, with my friend by my side and we created heartwarming memories that I will cherish forever.