Obviously, I have had a lot on my mind and on my ToDo list dealing with things around here. My thoughts about selling the house have gone from memories of particular events to the relief of having this process done & I am excited about going back to where I belong.

Some of the memories were good, but that alone is never enough. It is a lot of work and I was not catching up as fast as I wanted because I was doing so many maintenance things and it was getting expensive. Of course, I did not want to be here but I did my best to take are of things…and it was a big pain in the ass at times, but I still did what I thought was right. The county actually just raised the property taxes quite a bit after I sold it so every year it just kept getting more & more expensive for me.

Since the weather has been pretty hot during the day it is really nice at 22:00 so I have been out looking at the night sky for the final times. In a way, I guess, it is a metaphor for me as I head back out into the universe. The Universe is a great equalizer to everyone and we are a very small part of it all.

I remember lying out on a blanket in the yard looking up at the stars & planets in the night sky until the wee hours. And, I remember seeing my first satellite fly over – that was just amazing! Men had landed on the moon as we were moving to this house. NASA was still sending people into space and I would be out in the yard, looking up at it, and the vastness was incomprehensible when you are a kid.

But, as “the day” draws near, I have now become pretty ambivalent about the house. There has been so much BS I have had to deal with in the years before & weeks after the sale; especially replacing the septic tank, the closing getting pushed two weeks, and I am living in my driveway.

That has really kind of given me a “whatever” attitude these last few weeks. I think that I subconsciously said my “goodbyes” to it long ago & mentally cut the ties with the house because I am sick of dealing with it. I am ready for the future. I am tired of waiting to get gone.

The past few days I have been really thinking about where I am going & how it’s gonna happen; with the closing in a couple of days I needed to get it figured out. I pretty much now definitely know how I’ll be going and have already picked out a few places to stop for the night that I need to look into tomorrow. I hope that at a few of the places I need to go through the weather holds out until I can get outta there. Of course, if you care to hear about it, I will be posting updates about what & where on this big trip. As always, they will be delayed several days but posted with the correct date.

I am still keeping up on the weather along my proposed route and it still looks like it will be okay. The winds I mentioned a post or two back are still in the forecast so I may have to stay put in a few places along the way to ride out the worst winds. That is okay and it is totally expected going across the Great Plains. My sway-bars really help a lot with winds but if it is too strong it can blow your trailer over. I have never had more than a few hours of tailwind traveling in the Plains states – like on I-70, I-80 & I-90 – and the headwinds or crosswinds are always there no matter which way I am heading.

I really do not have too much to do to pack up & leave. I have some ideas for the first few days, but I at least know a route for the whole way. I will put a few loose things on the bed & secure everything in the trailer but otherwise I only need to hitch it up, load up the dog crates, and we are out.

So there’s just a couple of days left.

See you again soon.

Shawn