Monday Afternoon in Preparation

    It's been a crazy week or two here in the Upper Arkansas River Valley.  Preparations are being made, tickets have been ordered, and appointments are now being rushed into position, as we make way to take V, the BattleWagon, to Ketchikan, Alaska, after 10 long years.   

Moving Right Along

The state of things is like a story arc in Doctor Who.  It's weebly-wobbly, timey-wimey, and complicated.  Let's break it down:

The big news is that the ticket has been booked, officially, for a northbound trip on the M/V Columbia.  March 28th is the big day.  It will be myself, Dash the WunderHund, and V, the big, red van, full of camping gear for the chillins when they show up for the summertime justice.

Otherwise, the new house is clean, fixed up, safe, and warm.  Dolly, my wife's car, has legal taillights now (finally) and a door handle that she can use to get out without rolling down the window.  Kids are busy in school, living dreams and whatnot.

Things in Washington seem to be careening towards.... something?  I don't know, but I don't like the way it feels.  I wanna bug out.  We'll see where life takes me.

Imminent Homecoming

Last November, I went back to Ketchikan, Alaska, a small town where I had spent almost 5 of the best years of my life. I had an amazing job, amazing co-workers, and I met my wife there. I lived on a sailboat. When I visited, I saw my friends, and we picked up right where we left off. I started making plans. 

As it stands now, I have about a month and change left here in Colorado. I'm looking forward to having a support system again, to having people around that I can depend on, that aren't lying to me or misleading me or forgetting about me or detached because of the wealth gap. I'm going to a place that still has the right to call itself a community. And I'm excited.

State of the 'Wagon 2025

I wanted to wait until the normal rigumroll of making vows and resolutions for the new year had subsided before unwrapping my mental 2024 and jumping in to 2025.

Last year, I learned a few things.  On one side, I learned to let some things go.  There are things that we simply cannot change.  No matter how hard we try, the universe just won't let us have the W.  That's okay.  That's part of life.  Learn to let things to.  Learn to realize when you're the only one carrying the baggage, and put them down.

I also learned to hold the line.  It's important to have your boundaries, to protect your head from everyone, including your family and friends.  Sometimes they're the worst! But that's what makes them family.  It's okay to draw a firm line on things you don't feel comfortable with.  It's okay to stand up for yourself.

Going into this next year, I'm hoping to temper some kindness and understanding into both of those lessons.  I am trying not to judge people from where I see them, but to understand them from where they are.  It's not going to be easy, but those are my goals.  Simple enough, yet incredibly difficult, as is my tradition.

V, the newest van, is running like a top, though!  I just had the oil changed, and I'm hoping to get the tires rotated soon.  She is a joy to drive, and the 305 gets way better mileage than the old 350.  I love everything about it.

More to come!  Live the dream!

My Tree

I have a laptop now.  After many, many years, I have my first new computer.  It's a small HP laptop, and I just made sure it could match the performance of the desktop I got, oh, fifteen years ago?  Anyway, now I can do fun things again, like post pictures with these updates.

I had to run to the big city the other day to take my puppers up to get stiches.  He hi-fived my living room window on Saturday.  Pretty obnoxious wound, but everyone involved was a consummate professional.

Oh my way home, my daughter encouraged me to stop and get a picture of my favorite tree in the world.  It's a beacon of resiliency, a single tree on a high-mountain, wind-swept plain, standing proud, apart from the other trees, defiant.

Process After Stagnation

There are so many gears turning. Where to start: mentally, things are good. I'm creating ways to keep me sharp, keep me challenged. Spiritually, things are incredible. I'm not exactly sure what I'm believing in these days, but I do believe that's good enough to keep me relatively kind. Emotionally, I'm a kid. I like to think I'm evolved and enlightened, but let's be real, I hold on to stupid shit for too long, and it's difficult. Physically, my knees are better than they were 6 months ago after UPS tried to destroy me. I'm off nicotine patches and not smoking cigarettes. I haven't smoked weed in over a week. And, I woke up this morning angry, not in a bad way, but in a motivated way. It's time. It's time to accomplish all the dreams.

FINALLY!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, her name is V.