Travel Day

We finally got out of Golden not too far behind what we were aiming for. The Honda scooter Randy bought from his brother was easily strapped down on the pull-out tray behind. The weather was clear (even sunny at times), warm, and little winds once we got past the front range (foot-hills).

The drive was beautiful--getting glimpses of snowy peaks ahead of us, then eventually being among the high mountains. It was fun passing a number of ski resorts that are right along the freeway. One of the places literally skis down over top of the long Eisenhower Tunnel! Reminded me of one of the ski runs in Chile which did a similar thing (although that road was NOT a full interstate!) Vail looked like a hoity-toity town with mega mansions everywhere---definitely NOT a place we ever plan to visit! (Now I'm curious what Aspen is like...but we don't plan to go out of the way to see.)

It was strange to see the mountains changing as we passed over the continental divide...much drier and rockier, eventually looking far more like high desert than the mountains we have seen so far.

Glenwood Canyon is GORGEOUS...and that is before the aspen trees are even leafy! We had never heard of it before...but I-70 runs right through its 16 mile length. According to my aunt, it used to narrow down to a one lane road each direction, beside the Colorado "River" (looks far more like a CREEK along here!), with the train tracks immediately on the other side of the water and canyon walls sheer to both the railroad tracks and the road. Because it is supposed to be an INTERSTATE freeway...it is now a double decker roadway through the canyon, with each direction getting two lanes (sometime close beside each other like in this photo, sometimes westbound on TOP of eastbound!!!) Pretty amazing!

Brainless??

I think my brain went journeying before we were packed up and ready to leave...

Here's a short email I sent a friend (in frustration) right before I shut down my laptop and packed it up to travel earlier today:

"Awwkkkkk! I'm having problems sticking to any given task right now. There
is chaos all around as we try to get all the last stuff stowed so we can drive
our house down the road---who ever came up with this idea of a MOVING house
anyways??!! (Don't worry---we are making good progress...and so far all are in
good temper.) I thought about calling you this morning...but that would be a HUGE distraction from moving out!"

I would like to think all my list-making actually helped in the packing-up-and-moving-out process. Or I would like to excuse my distractibility by stating that I was sick the day before. But I suspect the truth is...I was just temporarily brainless!!

Oh well, my family put up with me (and even laughed a little) and we finally got packed up and pulled out somewhere within time frame we were hoping for so I guess no harm was done!

(Here we are, pulling out of Golden Colorado...with the butte, symbol of Golden, in the background.)

Goodbyes

I overheard Randy telling someone on the phone that we have many goodbyes to say as we get ready to leave. We haven't really put down roots while we have been here--knowing we wanted to be back on the road again at some point--but we indeed have many goodbyes needing to be said.

We must say goodbye to family we have gotten to know better over the past few month. It has been a privilege to spend so much time with Randy's brother and sister-in-law and with my aunt. We will miss having such regular contact with them! We have said hello and goodbye to some of my relatives that I have really never known before. And I have enjoyed time spent with a new friend/"family member" I've gotten to know in Boulder.

We must say goodbye to new friends at the Arvada Vineyard--many of whom have opened their hearts to us, have listened to us, shared with us, prayed with us, and laughed and cried with us. We will miss spending time together in worship, socializing, and in marriage communication class. (And Jakob and Anna will miss playing with their new friends.) Keep in touch while we wander down the road!

We must say goodbye to fun swimming and bouldering at the Golden Community Center and we must say goodbye to the Golden Library---just a short walk down the pathway along the creek (meaning the librarians saw us every few days--and, yes, the Jefferson County Library System DOES have a limit on number of books that can be checked out at one time!!)

Finally, we must say goodbye to some of the stuff we have accumulated in the months we have been settled here. There are clothes that have been outgrown (or stained or ripped). There are books that have bred on our shelves (I SWEAR that must be how they accumulate so quickly!!) that need new homes. (Randy has decided that unlike Lucille Ball in the old trailer movie who collected rocks everywhere she and Desi went, my "rocks" which will overwhelm our weight restrictions are actually BOOKS.)

Then it will be on to the final details of re-packing this home so we can safely move down the road without our possessions ending up strewn all over the place and/or shattered with travel over bumpy roads. (pictures off the walls, drawer units stashed on our bed so the bed can slide-in under the wardrobe, pillows stuffed into kids' hidey-hole toy storage, and more...)

Why, again, did we decide to travel? Oh, yeah, the adventure, the new places to see and experience, the new friends we will make, pursuing dreams, healing from wounds...I guess there are good reasons for what we are doing. It just doesn't feel that way when it's

TIME FOR GOOD BYES

Moving on...

Golden, CO has been a good place to be for the past few months. We have enjoyed the blue, sunny skies (and begrudged the few grey days---my how fast our expectations of a "good day" changed!) Living right next to a rushing, flowing, dancing stream and looked over by a canyon full of mountains (at least, they are mountains to this flatlander) brought at least a few moments of enjoyment, no matter what else was going on.


We have tentative plans for the next few months: We will spend this weekend doing the "lasts" (trying to fit in last visits with friends and family and last trips to the rec center and the library). We plan to be "movin' on" by Tuesday morning, taking a few days to get to the Grand Canyon, via Glenwood Hot Springs, CO and Moab, UT. We will spend a month or so in Arizona. Then in mid April we plan to head towards Alaska for the summer.

So...we have a direction to head and a tentative schedule. That's more than we had when we left Ohio in December! Hopefully we move on stronger and emotionally healthier as we leave this place and time of healing. We are back on track as we continue our journey 2 wonder.

Too Much To Do?

The kids and I realized a few days ago that we only have a little over a week before we plan to leave Colorado and head south to spend time in Arizona with our older daughters. How did the "move date" sneak up on us so quickly?! Suddenly we look at our mostly unscheduled days and panic that there are too many things we still want to do or see with not enough time to fit everything in!!

I was thinking about taking an intro to kayaking class here (in the community center pool). We want to take Randy down to Colorado Springs to share Garden of the Gods with him. We still want to visit the Natural History Museum---after all, we get in free with our pass from the Field Museum in Chicago. My dad says we need to visit the visitor center of the Renewable Energy Labs here in Golden. And on and on goes the list.

So...it's decision making time. What things are most important to us? What places will we skip (at least for this visit)? Which people will we spend time with? What library books will we finish reading and which ones will be returned...unread? We also realize we need to do another mini-purge of belongings. We have gathered more clothes, more books, more papers, more STUFF in the two months we have been here. Which of those things do we keep? What things do we get rid of?

Living in a small space makes it so much more obvious how quickly "stuff" accumulates. Living in a movable home makes it more difficult to put down "roots" in the first place...and makes us realize how many connections we have already made in the relatively short time we have been here.

We enjoy the freedom that comes with a mostly-open calendar. But this week we will be busy. Time here is running out...

ARGGHHH! ... WIND!

The wind started blowing again last night. We have gotten spoiled with a number of warm, sunny, hardly breezy days. But the temperatures are dropping again which makes the wind roar down the canyon from out of the mountain ranges behind us.

The branches are whipping back and forth, sometimes the tree trunks even bend downward. It seems the stream is struggling to keep moving down stream...not UPstream where the wind is pushing it. The little red squirrel I enjoy watching is nowhere to be seen...probably holed up in her nest.

And us? We are hunkered down in our RV. Even with the furnace running and a space heater aimed at us, it still seems chilly. It is hard to focus on anything as the entire RV rocks in the wind, almost jerking with the big gusts.

I walk outside occasionally just to double check the jacks keeping the rear of the trailer level. No, they've not shifted so far...but these gusts make it FEEL like the trailer is moving!

And...all the hard work Jakob and Randy did during the freezing cold a few weeks ago is coming apart. Every so often Jakob has to go out and chase down long styrofoam insulation boards as the wind blows them out from the base of the RV, flips them, and tries to carry them off. Last time out, Jakob stacked all the pieces fully under the trailer, up against the down-wind tires (and only remaining insulation boards still standing), and tried to weight the pieces down with a folded up lawn-chair. Seems to be working for now...

I'm thinking I will buy a few more boards tomorrow. Jakob and I will try to get them all put back up and more thoroughly taped together before the temperatures take a big drop later in the week.

It's frustrating to have to re-do things we thought we had already solved...if we must keep coming up with innovative solutions at least let the problems be NEW ones!!

So...aaarrrgggh! to the wind! Bluuurrrgh to repeated frustrations! I think I'll go looking for chocolate...with that and a lovely, oh-so-soft white blanket to cuddle under I just might get my equilibrium back!

WIND...a poetic look

Here is a poem written by Jakob and Anna (with framework by me)

The WIND

TODAY it is:

• howling like a coyote
• strong, like a giant trying to push over the RV
• uneven as waves on a shore
• blowing cold out of mountain snow forts

YESTERDAY it was:

• soft like a kitten pouncing
• gentle like a playful lamb
• lifting the hang gliders to dance around the mountains
• warm like a breath of sun

TOMORROW??

• which wind will fill the air?