After being here for a few days, I, not surprisingly, have Some Thoughts.

1. Traffic is nuts. Maybe I hit the more congested parts of the town at the bad time(s) of day, but holy crap. It took me nearly 25 minutes to go 5 miles on the freeway into town. Thank you Apple Maps for giving me an alternate route that probably cut the remaining trip in half. Pretty scenic too, going through some older neighborhoods. Another instance of being stuck - unmoving - for 25 minutes in an intersection didn’t endear me to the traffic situation in the neighborhood. Having to drive AT ALL around UW is an exercise in insanity.

2. A hill-repeat is only steps away, no matter where you are. I’m accustomed to hills, but damn, these are steep! On my posted run, though, I didn’t go out of my way to really hit them. I needed to simply do a reasonable distance of non-stop running. My event in a few weeks is going to be difficult regardless, but I’d rather it not be a total suck-fest. Getting time on already sore feet is necessary.

3. Stamps? We don’t have any stinkin’ stamps. Is there a national shortage, or is it a local thing? I tried to get stamps in three different places and all were out. Out of stamps. Effing weird. I ended up getting what I actually wanted to mail at the third store, and hoofing it back to a UPS Store where they could meter-mail it. Something that I expected to take 15 minutes ended up an endurance event lasting hours. Traffic included.

4. The architecture and landscaping in the area I am in are spectabulous. Most of the houses are (I’m guessing) at least 70 years old, and the variety of colors and textures in both building and landscaping materials is quite something. I’m a little too early for the real color show, but what a show it will be, with the varieties of maple, oak, beech, birch, and a veritable plethora (had to work that in) of understory deciduous plants.

5. The AirBnB I’m in is quite nice. Remarkably quiet given a highway is about 200 m away. I can’t hear it at all. Also includes wicked-fast Internet. Is that a universal thing here? Cozy and comfortable place, good bed; everything I need.

Well, except company. I’m acclimating to pretty much completely solo, though. Having the man-cub a couple of K away is nice and is easing me into the mode. Poor kid has to work though. Sucker. We had legit ramen last night. It’s radically different from the bags o’ ramen I ate in college.

Next stop is going to be Spokane, and a visit with my brother. The man-cub is going along for the weekend as well. He hasn’t seen his uncle in a few years. This should be a fun weekend!

Until next time, take care of yourselves, and if you can, take care of someone else, too. Above all, be excellent to each other, eh?

A few quick hits from the beginning:

1. Sure looks like I didn’t keep much. The image below is the total of what I’m taking on the plane. I’ve got a bit more now, since I’m going to be in colder weather and I’m dropping stuff along the way. But that’s the pare-down over four and a half years from a nearly 4000 sq ft. house filled with furniture, four cars and plenty of toys.

2. It’s weird not having a house key for the first time in almost fifty years. (Excepting my brief, one-month stint in the Navy.) Soon, I’ll be without a car key, too. NO KEYS?! Madness.

3. I don’t foresee a return to Carson City except for a visit. The difficult goodbyes made it hard to go, but the only way I would stay has such a vanishingly small likelihood of occurrence, as to be indistinguishable from zero. Okay, let’s just call it zero. Even so, I wrestle with my decision to pack up and leave hourly, if not even more often than that. But in this case, I’ve decided I’d rather deal with the demons I don’t know.

Ciao, my dudes.

This image really strikes home, especially as I embark on this solo adventure. Source: “PostSecret” by Frank Warren.

As things wind down to the bitter end, I find that I am probably taking more pairs of glasses than anything other than socks and skivvys.  I have a pair of progressives, a backup pair (really?), single focus for computer/reading, prescriptive sunglasses, and plain sunglasses. Wait. FIVE pairs of glasses?! How did I get here?

I need the dailies, well, because daily. A backup pair is a nice-to-have, but probably not really needed. Those go to the bottom of the list. Computer/reading? Yeah, my progressives have that prescription at the bottom, but I am finding myself looking down my nose at the computer when I work. I guess I could sit up straighter, but I'm fucking retiring, and you can't tell me what to do, MOM.

I guess it depends on how much time I may spend on a laptop. I plan to update this folderol semi-regularly, and I do have a couple of work contracts that I may get some work out of, so...I don't know?

Prescription sunglasses? How else am I going to read on the beach, and still be able to people-watch properly behind dark lenses? Pretty much a necessity, don't you think? 

Non-prescription sunglasses? Definitely necessary. Anyone ever tried running a technical trail wearing progressive lenses, where the bottom of the lens is for close work? Yeah, trip and fall likelihood just went up by a factor of 100. I guess for as long as I plan on running (or cycling for that matter), non-script sunnies will be tagging along. Although, they are cheap and easily replaced wherever I may be.

I may have to forego a shirt or something to accommodate the multitudes of lenses. Thankfully I take no meds. That'd take up way too much room, and I'd have to leave them behind.

Last night I attended an outdoor, free concert here in my (current) home town featuring Mumbo Gumbo, a band that has been playing the area for thirty years. Of course I went, since I'd seen them play probably eight or more times since I've lived in the area. What made this experience especially poignant to me was how it bookeneded (if that's not a word, it now is) my living here.

Mumbo Gumbo played my wedding way back in 1997. That was really the cement on my adherence to the area, as now I was married, had a good job and had plans for kiddos. The ceremony was a blur - ask anyone who attended, since I mispronounced my future wife's name - but the reception was memorable to all: it was a party for the ages. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, who attended had the absolute best time: great food great music, plentiful alcohol and the dancing went on into the night.

After last night's show, I had the opportunity to meet and chat with the two lead singers (Chris Webster and Tracy Walton).
"1997, a wedding at Edgewood. Do you remember?"
"OMG! We were just talking about that yesterday! Who stole a piece of the challah bread?!" I jokingly pointed to Chris.

They remembered. I was disproportional happy about that. We chatted about how they were at the beginning of my life here, and now, at this particular concert, they were at the end, since I'm on  my way Walkabout. I'm pretty happy they remembered playing the reception; I always will. I'm glad they played at the end of my stint here in this town as well, as it was less bittersweet and more rockin' an exit. I'm going out with a bang.

 Over the weekend, I did a practice packing with the minimum of stuff I planned to take. Wow. I didn't realize I had such bare minimums. I was able to add a fair amount of additional clothes.
Overall, things are progressing nicely, and the countdown inexorably continues. I've turned over nearly all work to my replacement, I've put ads out for all my furniture, and what doesn't get given away, I'm making arrangements to have taken. What I plan to keep is containered and scheduled to be housed in a friend's storage shed. The photo below is the bins of keepsies, and the two packed travel bags.
I'm going light. If I find I need anything along the way, I have a suspicion I can get it wherever I happen to be.

​All that's left is to arrange for turning off my utilities on the day I split, party before I split, and split.

It's the final countdown. This holiday weekend I will be doing a full practice packing to see just how many pairs of socks and shirts I will be taking along. It's pretty remarkable how many can get packed into a small bag with the new fabrics. What gets bulky and requires more concentrated decision-making are bulkier items like warm outer layers and, most especially, shoes.
Shoes tend to be the biggest problem - pun intended. I'm not intending to get all stereotypy, but from personal experience, women tend to think to bring along multiple pairs when traveling: day, night, beach, casual, exercise, etc. At least my ex did. Me? I've never gone in big on shoes, and I'll be addressing this with a single pair of shoes that can be used across all situations: running shoes. They are only optimal for running (which I plan to do, definitely), but, and I stress this, can be used in virtually all the situations I envision myself in. I can sightsee and visit museums, I can walk the beach, and I can go out to restaurants wearing them. Since I'm not taking any kind of even semi-formal wear, upper class restaurants where I'd need something a bit more classy, are not on the docket at all. I'm also taking along flip-flops, because my dogs need to breathe.
I'm addressing the problem of bulky outerwear with a decisive two-pronged approach. The first prong is the easiest: since where I go and when is completely under my control, I'm not going to go where it's really cold. Boom, done. The second prong on this is to go with multiple layers: layer one is a Houdini windbreake that is ridiculously compressible. Layer two is a puffy jacket. Not an expensive one, like a Patagonia, but one I've had for a few years, and quite serviceable. Layer three is a rain jacket. I spent some coin (for me not my Witcher) on a Nike Hypershield Flash a few years ago as well for quality and visibility. (It appears this is no longer available. Huh.) When I'm out there in the dark, I look like a running disco ball when lights hit me.

Top that off with a beanie, gloves and neck gaiter, and I'm good to decently bad weather. Stay tuned for how well the packing goes.