Everything is packed. The house is cleaned and ready for our renter. I made the mistake of touching up some paint, which resulted in me having to paint a couple very large walls, one of which was 15 feet high. That sucked. I also had to repaint part of the kitchen because a handyman I hired to help get some things done around the house to get it ready for us to leave the state had used the wrong paint, cream not white. That sucked too. Home Depot is like a black hole. Why is it that if I have to make one trip to Home Depot I end up making at least three? I hate that! I can never seem to get what I need in a single trip. I suppose it’s best that the house have fresh coats paint now. It will surely save us money later. It still sucked.
In preparation for the trip I’ve got my podcasts stacked up on my iPod and some new audio books to tide me over during the 30 hour, 2000 mile drive. I have the route planned. If you like, you can review it. If I had more time I would take a route through Wyoming our mover was telling me about that’s mostly 2 lane highways and not much longer. However, I have to be in San Diego Wednesday for a conference on Thursday and with Ashby an all…we’re going to get the drive done quickly. We’ll be sleeping in or near Omaha, Nebraska tomorrow night. I’ve taken this route before. Tara hasn’t. Hell I think I’ve taken darn near every reasonable route one can take from MN to CA. I considered going south to Oklahama City and cutting across to avoid any potentially bad weather. I took this route last time though to California and stopped off to visit Paul Yellowhorse (an old buddy I’ve known since I was about eight) and I’ve trafficked that souther route from east to west most often recently; so, this time I figured I would take the route through Colorado, which I haven’t done for many years nor has Tara ever seen.
I can’t wait to get on the road. It definitely feels like I’m going home. I’ve also been freezing my ass off today. It’s bitterly cold here in Minnesota. Bitterly cold. I mean really freaking cold. Also, my gloves were packed. I think I lost two fingers today.
I just finished reading Cobra II. Well, I say reading, but I use this loosely. I actually listened to the audio book over the last few days as I packed and cleaned the house. Wow, what a book! I suspected Rumsfeld was an incompent and stubborn Secretary, turns out I was right. Great book. Must read.
Aaron Fulkerson 