WEEK 31
LOOKING FOR AMERICA
March 30 - April 5, 2026
REFLECTIONS
I am currently sitting at my dining table, looking out at the horse arena at the Verde Valley Fairgrounds in Cottonwood, Arizona, near the famed city of Sedona. Beyond the arena, I see some of the tree-covered mountains of red rock and whiteish sandstone.
Yesterday, April 4th, we were treated to a barrel racing event. Youth from 12 to 18 competed with their horses. We met the mother and auntie of two of the girls. It was fun. David, who used to do sports photography, couldn’t resist taking photos. He gifted them to a woman in charge of the event on an SD card. They should have a lot of fun going through all 1300 of them!
We arrived here on Thursday, April 2nd, coming from a 55+ RV and Condo Community in Mesa, Arizona, where we had been since February 1st. It is quite a change, even though we are still in Arizona and still in desert country. In Mesa, it was unseasonably warm (90s and 100s!), and here it's in the high 70s in the afternoon, but it's in the 50s at night. We went from having to run our AC nearly 24/7 for the past several weeks to having to turn on the furnace in the early morning for a few hours!
The terrain is different, too. Though there are mountains around Phoenix, here we’re always driving through them or up them or down them. There are no saguaros, really. There are lots of juniper trees, which are sacred, as well as cottonwoods, sycamores, cypress and ponderosa pines, and evergreen oaks. Of course there are also a variety of shrubs and some of the cactus like Prickly Pears that we were familiar with further south. We’ve already gone on a few hikes into the hills and mountains with all their red hoodoos and layers of rock.
Today we hiked the Canyon of Fools. It began in a dry creek that is frequented by mountain bikers.
We came to a crossroads, and I spotted a juniper tree on top of a hill, and being hot and much in need of some time to rest and meditate and allow myself to absorb the energy of the land, I wanted to climb up and sit in its shade. Upon reaching the top, we were surprised to also find a bench that someone had built from stacking rocks.
As I’ve been catching up on my January stories from Colombia, I’ve reflected a great deal on all that happened over the past two and a half months and how it has influenced my life.
After Colombia, David returned to Arizona, and I went to Minnesota. I landed in Minneapolis during the coldest week of the winter with temperatures at -20 degrees and wind chills as cold as -45 degrees. By this time, Renee Good had been killed, and Alex Pretti was killed a few days after I arrived. I could feel the collective heaviness. As I watched and listened to the responses over the days that followed, I have never been more proud to be a Minnesotan.
Though there were false accusations of unruly crowds and violence during the daily marches, stand-ins, and sing-ins, this could not be further from the truth. What Minnesotans did reflected the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.’s passionate advocacy for non-violent demonstrations grounded in Love. I’ve quoted him many times, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only Light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only Love can do that.”
This video left me in tears and actually gave me hope in the midst of so much suffering, anger, uncertainty, and fear.
Here’s another from that week.
Facebook (Drew Dietle): 600 People Singing - Jan 17, 2026
I have friends who volunteered to distribute food and to drive children to and from school. I have friends who braved wind chills of -30+ to be out on the street together, marching and singing.
What touches me is that this unconscionable thing that descended on our nation, especially in Minnesota during the darkness and cold of winter, brought out compassion, caring, and unity amongst us. Were folks angry? Yes. Grieving? Most certainly. Does it highlight the need to draw that line and say NO MORE!? Absolutely. What it didn’t do was send people rioting and breaking into stores and setting fires and vomiting hate all over the place.
And it continued through February and right through March when well over 100,000 folks, with estimates at over 200,000 gathered at the Minnesota State capitol to protest, to sing, to continue to say — No More — no more of this hate filled agenda that our country’s administration is carrying out without any concern or thought to the suffering and devastation it is wreaking, not only in the United States, but across the world.
Again, there were no riots, no harm was done. People just showing up to be counted and to say, “NO”.
It brings to mind another song. This one by Sara Thomsen: We Are Each Other’s Light.
Then it was time for me to fly back to Phoenix to rejoin my husband and be with our friends at Venture Out (VO), a 55+ RV and Condominium Community. We had decided to spend a month there to be with some very good friends and to explore this novel experience of living in a gated community with folks our age. But I had been reluctant, even though I wanted to see our friends. First, I found myself spending the winter in the desert — something I’d said I did NOT want to do. Second, other than our time in Colombia and my two weeks back in Minnesota, we had spent 4 months in campgrounds. On the coast, in the forests, along rivers. We spent time now and then with family, but mostly we’d been just us. We met a few nice folks in these campgrounds, but we never actually got together with them. Now we were going to be in a crowded neighborhood, in the midst of a large city in the desert, for a month. The view out our dinette window was the Corn Hole court.
I arrived under the weather and remained so for about ten days. I saw our friends, listened to some music on the terrace, and went on a hike to the Salt River in search of the wild horses. I had to admit I was mildly impressed.
Then my energy resurged, and life got busier than it has been since we left home in August. There were hikes and morning exercises in the ballroom. There was bocce ball and a swimming pool. There was pickleball. I joined the Sewing Club and learned to use the longarm quilting machine, and made a practice quilt that will go to charity. I took a gourd painting class. We went to two Friday night dances and to Tuesday afternoon Music on the Terrace. Our friends introduced us to friends they’d made since their arrival in early January. We met folks who make sourdough bread and got inspired. We went to the library book sale. David learned lawn bowling and participated in a glow-in-the-dark putting contest (he misses golfing). And we barely scratched the surface of what we could have been involved in! And went on only a fraction of the hikes we might have. My favorite hikes, though, were out to the Salt River. One of the times we got lucky and came upon a bachelor band of wild horses.
There is a Writer’s Group here at VO. And a Music Group and a Theater Troupe. There is nearly every outdoor game/sport you can imagine, and many clubs such as Pottery, Woodcarving, and Woodworking. Silversmithing. Glass Art. Sewing Club. Photography Club. There are indoor games that meet every week, such as cribbage and mahjong. There are interesting lectures every Friday. There are several styles of exercise, from cardio to Tai Chi to Pool Aerobics. They host special dances and concerts. There is more than any one person, however active, could possibly do!
But despite all that, this is what changed my attitude and my life: the friendly, warm, inviting attitudes of nearly everyone you meet, both residents and staff. Everyone you pass while on a walk greets you. Since there are dozens of lemon, orange, and grapefruit trees in the place, you often pass homes with bags or boxes of freshly harvested fruit set out with a sign, FREE.
A woman we became acquainted with, who makes sourdough bread, gave us 100 grams of sourdough starter whose origins dated back to 1849 in San Francisco! After I screwed it up, she gave me a second jar to start over. One of the couples we met, also from Minnesota, offered to let us store our Travel Trailer on their land when we are in Minnesota this summer, since we will be staying with my aunt and will have nowhere to put our trailer.
These kinds of people populate Venture Out. Generous. Open-hearted. Compassionate.
They are community.
People here are active. I’ve seen very few “old” people. You know, grumpy, complainy, nosy, sedentary old people. Like, I think I was in danger of becoming. The first dance we went to — it was classic rock from the 70s and 80s — the dance floor was packed the entire time. And as the wine and other beverages flowed, the crowd got increasingly vocal, singing along to the songs they knew. My eyes were wide. I was smiling. I watched a couple who could have been 90, dancing, being romantic, like a couple of teenagers… and when the dance was over, they walked a bit gingerly to their table, as though not all their parts agreed with them moving as they’d just been doing on the dance floor. All the dances, all the concerts at which many folks danced wherever there was space, brought out the youth that still resides in us.
As I watched the dancing, I remembered a family Christmas gathering when my brother and I were having fun dancing, and my kids were convinced I was drunk. I wasn’t. I just felt alive and free for those 20 minutes or so of dancing. They weren’t used to seeing me happy and free.
What happens to those of us who become so serious, stodgy, uninvolved, isolated? Have the burdens of responsibility, unrealized dreams, or unhealed wounds simply become too heavy to bear?
After I quit my 8-5 job in 2009 and began working as an independent contractor, I lost regular contact with folks I had a lot in common with. As an introvert, I really didn’t mind being alone a lot, since I didn't have an immediate community to be part of. My closest friends lived south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, so visits were infrequent. My family is scattered. I kept busy, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I realized how starved I was for community. But there wasn’t much we could do about it, though it triggered many deep and serious conversations about what we wanted to do and where we wanted to live after David retired.
So, the biggest blessing that Venture Out gave me was community. Once we settled in, we only had about five or six weeks, but even in that short time, it changed us. We are going to go back again next year for several months. To deepen relationships with people we met here. But also, with those we saw maybe once a year back home, but who also winter here in Phoenix. Hopefully, we’ll also meet many more. I plan to join the writer’s group and the gourd painting club. David plans to join the pottery and woodworking clubs, among other things.
The second thing it did was get me active again. Even with our travels, I didn’t exercise or hike to the degree I do now. It feels good. I’m continuing to learn Tai Chi, and we brought a recording of the Cardio Class we participated in at VO so we can continue this fun exercise as we travel.
We're also still experimenting with sourdough bread. This was our third loaf. Third time’s a charm, I guess. It turned out beautiful and delicious. We’re due to make another tomorrow.
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