My trip down to Lethbridge was calm. As in, no buffeting winds on the highway, which is always a possibility going down highway 2. These winds can blow over rigs of the semi type, and possibly the RV type when really strong. Thus I appreciated not having to lean into the wind while driving while I am still a newbie for RV driving experience. Staying with friends meant some touring, of which today was a drive and then walk around downtown Lethbridge.
I was back in Calgary after two days of decompress at a campground. It was time to finally sort out my moving mess into garbage, take, and store. The garbage was mostly taken care of, but I needed to work on what I was going to take with me for the next six months.
Getting out of the house into the RV in a rush had left me with unfinished business in Calgary. So, after one night north out of town visiting a friend, I was driving back in for one such task, taking care of the property surrounding my garage I was camping in. Grass must be cut. Lawn mower must be put away for the winter. After that, I’d have a few days to myself and it would be off to my first real camping in the RV!
I surveyed the mess below me from my bed in the RV – everything I needed to make coffee was somewhere in this pile, or randomly stuffed in a cupboard. But coffee being a high priority item in packing had at least gotten a prominent spot in the cupboard, and I could find a cup of some sort to decant into.
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The last day dawned with me not being in my house. This was planned, as part of my junk removal had been to throw out my mattress – too worn to be worth bothering to store at this point. But I wasn’t going to sleep on the floor. I had an RV parked out front of my house; might as well put it to use and sleep there before the last day in my house!
With a week to go to be out of my house, it dawned on me that I wasn’t nearly as far along on purging and packing stuff as I should be. Progress had been made – empty spots were starting to show up in the house, but the garage had not even been started and a lot of stuff remained. My sticks and bricks (the term used by travelers for those who live in one spot) still had a lot of deconstructing to do.
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Typing on my phone sucks, so this is going to be a brief real time update. After much rushing and chaos, I am out of my house and in my RV. I an not breathing a deep sigh of relief yet, as I now have to go through the inevitable teething pains of learning this new way of living for real.
I intend to post more about getting out next time, once the dust settles. That means this blog will always be a bit behind real time. Better for me, but more frustrating for the impatient readers. So, step back in time with me when my next post hits, deconstructing my sticks and bricks!
“Star Trek” sucked me in as a kid – people traveling to unknown destinations, seeing things no human had seen before intrigued me. I also liked reading old adventure magazines that told tales of exploring the deep jungles of the Amazon – at the time written one of the last places western civilization had not yet penetrated completely. But what really put the travel bug into me was reading Travels with Samantha, a journey one man embarked on after losing his faithful companion. I always had that thought in the back of my head, how it would be great to travel the continent somehow – seeing what there is to see in an area then traveling whatever direction seemed most interesting next. But while I occasionally looked at alternate ways of living that might allow me to travel, I kept following the well worn path most others follow living in western culture.
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My before dawn rising to head to the airport is probably overkill, but I’ve seen enough of Phoenix’s traffic jams that I’m not taking any chances.
At any rate, I’m up in the predawn, a few minutes before the continental breakfast is supposed to start in the dining room of the American Inn. I do a quick wash and head down. The continental breakfast offered is a basic fare, but they do have a waffle maker if you wish to partake. I’m sticking with toast and coffee. The room has a view of the indoor courtyard – I get to watch the sky slowly start to lighten up with the new day. I was hoping to have the place to myself or at least just a quiet couple of people. But a whole family arrives shortly after me, with their morning chatter.
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I’m not quite done talking about my adventure to the desert, but the latest post is taking longer to gel. My muse is more difficult to understand than usual. But in the meanwhile while we are all COVID-19 isolated, I have a little story, from much smaller travels: my walkabout in the neighborhood.
