Unlocking Secret Rooms and Crashing Sexy Parties

How I fell in love with travelling by the seat of my pants

My partner and the remains of our oyster lunch with a beach view (Thursday, June 27, 2013). This and all other photos were taken by me.

I always travelled with a plan. Then in 2013 my partner took me on a trip his way. No plan. No tickets. No reservations. But a lot of ideas. On this journey that broke down my inner control freak stop by stop, there would be many surprises. In this installment: a lost dog, a lost lunch, a pride surprise, and a secret room unlocked.

A Lost Dog

I’ve been in love with love
And the idea of something, binding us together
You know that love is strong enough…

On the way back from our dusty desert detour, my partner found us seats in a rideshare to our next stop: California. So we hopped from a Lincoln to a Jeep at a gas station at Crescent Junction, Utah. There were five of us in total:

• The jeep-driver and dog-dad who I’ll be calling “Smokey”
• Bandit, his loyal pup
• A gal who I’ll be dubbing “Granola”
• My partner
• Myself

We drive through the night on long open stretches of Utah and Nevada desert. Our driver has strict ground rules about not speeding, and for good reason. The open flat road stretching to a far horizon beckons you steadily…