Shipped the truck yesterday from Hilo port. Matson was smooth, fast, thorough, caring and professional as they always have been through the years. I highly recommend them if anyone needs to ship across the seas. I watched her drive away with much emotion. She's the first of us to cross the Rubicon.
Got a ride home with the nice gal who is purchasing my Geo (she saved the day due to everyone else working, and a sudden bad injury to my original ride), then packed and shipped a few more boxes to storage and eBay customers. Good friends took me out for lunch at Luquins in Pahoa. A lilikoi margarita and some fave Mexican food, good conversation and laughter, making plans for the future, gave me a much needed sense of reassurance and normalcy. It's surely interesting to experience one's old life unraveling when the future is a blank, unknown canvas.
My friend Jules promised to visit Thor once a week and take him walking for me. They are very good friends. I hope to be able to call so I can talk to him and let him know I haven't forgotten him and that he will be joining us in Sept. I worry that he will feel abandoned when he is the only one left behind and in a place without us, even if he knows that place and likes those people. Is that crazy? :huh: He HAS to wait due to the small 737's can't take his "giant"crate through the cargo doors and we must wait and ship from the other side of the island when a rare 757 is scheduled. Malamutes are incredibly smart and sensitive beings. :heart: I am his mom and leader of our pack. It has been my habit to call and leave a message if I have to work late. Thor and Kingsley (the toy poodle) worry if I'm really late and this has seemed to calm them down to hear me say their names, tell them they are good dogs and to "Wait" and "Stay" on a voice message.
He's looking at me right now and I swear by all things good and holy that dogs have ESP. He KNOWS that I am writing and thinking about him.
My son called, concerned that I needed even more equipment and another contingency plan or two. A two hour conversation ensued. Remember he's a survival type guy, Army special ops, ALWAYS a contingency plan on a contingency plan! So now, as he is making ready to leave for Europe with the rest of the family for a last three year stint, he has decided I need even more things besides a fully set up trailer and the 9 boxes of stuff I have sent ahead. He has set aside a 2 man tent, a gas can, a cooler, a camp chair, a battery lamp, headlamp, tie downs, a camp stove and I can't remember all else. Then he starts fussing that my truck is going to be at her limit and I should just leave the TT and camp my way up to SD from CO. Yes, and then what of the dog and cats? Oh.Yeah. "Just remember Mom, to drive 50-55". "What are you going to do if the truck dies?" "Do you have enough money?" Gosh suddenly we seem to be in reverse positions. LOL. I know he is anxious that he won't be around to help me if there's trouble. I worry about that too, but will deal with it when I have something real to worry about. I feel like one of the settlers who traveled across America in a covered wagon and no doubt there will be some of my belongings strewn along the trail as I go. Less is more, yes I know, but I am not quite there yet. Common sense will kick in once the reality of the whole of the situation hits. Right now everything is still all long distance, sight unseen, in the planning stage and in my mind, not quite real, not tangible. In three weeks reality will hit. I will be in the trailer and able to see what is truly what. Thank God for the timing and place of this Summer's RTR. It couldn't have happened at a better time.
Planned my first camps and route to CO. First, the Coconino Nat'l Forest RTR. Then Sunset View Campground at Navaho Nat'l Monument. Then Madden Peak Road in the Hesperus Nat'l Forest. Then Twin Lakes View at the San Isabel Nat'l Forest. Then Rampart Range Road two miles above where my son lives in the Pike Nat'l Forest, 20 minutes by road or a nice hike up or down the mountain. Will have time to practice new skills: set up and break down camp and maneuver the trailer, meditate and get centered in the new reality, hike, draw and write to bring it all home. Jules, an artist has traveled all these places and says I need to look for the faces in the rocks at Sedona especially. Kind of spooky really when you think in Iceland, they actually build roads AROUND rocks rather than blast them and incur the wrath of the rock spirits.
But back to today: I MUST finish packing up the last of my stuff to ship to storage in CA and what I WANT for the road to my son's (dulcimer, sewing machine, N64 so I can finish Zelda untouched for the last 12 years (figure I'll be plugged in somewhere, sometime in rainy weather during the next three years and WANT to finally finish that game - I love Zelda), my journal and art supplies). Gosh, finally time for some fun stuff AND be able to gypsy all over the place! The real estate lady is coming to take pictures of the house on Friday and it is a wreck and doesn't even look like a home at the mo.
1.) Get my stuff out of the way.
2.) Move the eBay stuff, shipping materials, and yard selling tables and boxes of stuff to the empty back bedroom,
3.) CLEAN house (i wish there were 6 of me today),
4.) the yard person comes today, make sure the guava tree gets cut back proper good and the old lawn table, iron bed frame and brush pile are removed.
5.) Set up house to look as nice as can under the circumstances for the pictures.
I pray my back holds up....so far so good through all this...knock on wood. I'm feeling my age today.
A three year journey is nearly here. It's crunch time.
