Chapter 1 - A Flat Tire in Heaven

At the end of the very first day on the road, we had a destructive blowout of one trailer tire.

As Larry was changing the ruined one, the tire next to it was also damaged and went flat.

Two flat tires.

One spare.

Here is the interesting thing about that moment. It happened near a highway exit, next to a massive empty carpark with big bright lights that allowed us to see everything and be outside of highway danger. We also noticed that there were multiple stores nearby that carried new trailer wheels and tires, which is extremely rare. On our last trip we had to shop around for hours to find a store that had them.

This brought us to discuss good and bad news, and while things may happen as often as not, when the light rises and becomes form, things will happen where support is most available.

A flat tire in hell, or a flat tire in heaven.. WTF, why even get a flat?

But perhaps I should start at the beginning.

May the Fourth: Calling the Legions of Light

This year, 2026, I turned 60 years old. For many decades I have talked about what I would do in my 60th year, if I ever got to it, which I doubted, and here we are.

One of the items was that I would start smoking again once the year began. Why is that? And why did I quit in the first place? Listen to the podcast to find out the details.

Even before this year arrived, however, I had already decided smoking was a prospect with challenges. Larry agreed, let’s maybe not start smoking again. Ah well. Things change and plans with them.

Which brings me to my topic for this article.

Instead of starting to smoke again, I decided to have a big birthday party at our land in Colorado.

The Shamanshack mystics, our panelists Dr Kara, Ash and Iliana, asked me if I wanted them to plan and execute the party in Colorado. I said, “yes.”

And here we are, several months later and Larry and I are still on the land after the celebration, which we decided to hold on May The Fourth. This date known as Star Wars Day is celebrated annually on May 4th, a pun on the iconic “May the Force be with you” phrase.

Why hold my party on Star Wars Day, you may ask. Well, I had opened the invitation to the legions of light. And, we would be holding it on what is now established as a land that is a reservoir of power. There is a whole story behind how we discovered this land to be a reservoir of power, and what Gaia and the human collective asked of Larry and me. We will share that story on the podcast as well, DrivingToTheRez.com

Because of that, the day May The Force Be With you seemed to fit perfectly.

The party was scheduled and the invitation went out. The planners had planned for 20-30 attendees. I had envisioned 5,500 people minimum, with an optimum number of 20,000.

However, as I looked at the disparity between the numbers planned and the ones in my mind, I realized that we are not trained, or equipped, to host legions of lightworkers this year. Therefore, I said, “20 people is perfect.” I knew that whomever was ready for the land, would arrive. We had a total of 25 participants, excluding Larry and me.

The Road

Leaving our home in Washington, which is 1,345 miles away from our land in Colorado, was a challenge. We are well rooted to our rewe and routines. But we got on it and prepared the RV, truck, animal care, and our 20 year old son for holding the fort while we were away.

Some of you may remember last year’s article Crystals, Black Magic, and Sanity: A Colorado Initiation, where I shared part of our first experiences with this land in Colorado. At the time, I thought the initiation was about cleaning the land. I am beginning to suspect the land had other ideas.

One of my favorite subtitles ever written is There and Back Again, which many people think belongs to The Lord of the Rings, but it is actually the subtitle of The Hobbit. It was the title of Bilbo Baggins’s memoir, his journal of leaving home, having an adventure that changed him completely, and then returning home again. But journeys are rarely the same in reverse. We like to think we simply go somewhere and then come back unchanged except perhaps for a few stories and photographs. Yet, on some journeys, something happens on the road, especially when the journey is difficult, meaningful, or strange, and the person who returns is not exactly the same person who left. And perhaps that is why the “back again” part matters just as much as the “there.” We get home and notice how everything is “the same,” while we have radically changed, a change we may never have consciously noticed without the sameness of home waiting for us.

The journey “there” began with our cat Theadora in tow, but after only 6 miles down the road we had to turn back and drop her off at home again. She really wanted to go, but not really in a truck or a trailer.

Then there was the $6-7 per gallon gas prices! Oops, did we have enough funds? Not really.

Also, we were scheduled to travel in convoy with the organizers and friends from our Peninsula Tribe. But we didn’t leave in time, and didn’t catch up with them for a full day.

And then there was the tire situation.

Larry had two spare tires for the trailer, and a niggle to bring them both, but he left one behind thinking it was silly to bring two. There’s no real place for two, and who needs two anyway?

Well… At the end of the very first day, we had a destructive blowout of one tire and the one next to it was also damaged and went flat as he was changing the ruined one… niggles.

A niggle is an interesting thing. Quiet. Easy to dismiss. Often inconvenient. And oftentimes absolutely correct.

Miracle Hot Springs

The next night, we finally caught up with our travel companions at one of our favorite hot springs locations, Miracle Hot Springs in Idaho. We spent a couple of hours playing in the hot springs, had a wonderful evening meal and good sleep. The journey to the land concluded the day after that, and I will tell you more of what happened there in next week’s article and podcast titled “Wind, Sigils, and Lightworkers With Shovels.” It has been quite the adventure! And it is not over yet.

Continue the journey in next week’s article and podcast: “Wind, Sigils, and Lightworkers With Shovels” at DrivingToTheRez.com

For the full story behind the smoking revelation, the reservoir of power, and what Gaia asked of Larry and me — tune into the podcast episode.

The discussion doesn’t stop here - listen to the full podcast episode for unfiltered insights from Inelia and our panelists.

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