Time to Get Back and Go Again ?

 

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

 

Thursday rolled around and it was time to return to Portland. My flight was an early one. The plan was to be at the airport by about 5:30 for a 7:00 am flight. Having a flight that early means you lay awake half the night waiting for the alarm to go off and that’s what I did.  After all I didn’t want to miss the flight. By 3:00 am I was wide awake and couldn’t sleep.  If I couldn’t sleep, you can bet Tammi couldn’t sleep either.  We were up much earlier than planned.  She was taking me to the airport for the flight back to Portland. 

My breakfast selection

At least at this time in the morning there weren't long lines at security. It was a snap to get on the other side and settle in for boarding time. I always like uneventful flights even more than I like uneventful RV travel.  With fewer airplanes flying this route, more people wanting to get there and upgrades harder to come by, getting lucky enough to get an upgrade to first is much rarer than it used to be.  However, I did.   I really like being upgraded. I'm always amazed though at the number of people I've sat next to on those early  morning flights who feel just because the alcohol is free in first class, that they need to consume as much as they can and as fast as they can.   The fella next to me drank all the way. Well, I did too but I drank coffee.  He was going to Japan.  He’ll be in real trouble if he thinks he’s going to drink all across the Pacific!!

 

By the time I arrived back in Portland I was zonked.  That’s when the 3 AM wake up time starting taking it’s toll.  The weather upon arrival was quite a bit different than it was in Phoenix and also when I left about a week ago.  You could tell fall was in the air.  It’s definitely time to start thinking about getting the motorhome in shape for that trip south.

Traveling by air is a lot different than traveling down the road.  There are definitely pros and cons both ways.  We’re so lucky we have that option.  This trip has also made me realize how much I’ve missed this kind of travel.  We used to do it frequently.  It was obvious that I was definitely out of practice.  I think we may have to do something about that.

 

Actually, we’ve got quite a few things we need to do to get ready to hit the road. The cabin needs to be secured and we have two girls playing soccer so we’d like to see a few more games.  We’re thinking two or three weeks before we pull out. 

We still aren’t quite sure where we’re going to settle or even if we’re going to settle any place long term.  I’m not so sure it would work out for us.  We can always park hop between the county parks, Elks, membership parks and boondocking.  For some reason I just like doing it that way best.  I think we’ve been trying to force ourselves into finding that perfect RV park.  It might work for our friends but just maybe it’s not going to work for us.  I get hitchitch way too often.  Well, it may not work right now but one day it might.   I think I like the moving part best for now.  Someday .. we’ll find that perfect place if we still want it … maybe.   I also know we need to be someplace in Arizona this year.  Terry doesn’t think we really need to be in the Phoenix area but  a couple hours away would work.  Regardless of whether or not we’re happy with that, it’s where we need to be.  The good thing is that we also have lots of folks we know heading that way.

So now we know kind of where we’re going. The route to get there is still up in the air.  This week the maps come out, clean up and clean out begins. 

The Elks Lodges in Arizona

In the meantime the deer have their winter coats.  Our deer feeder is finished but I know they’re going to miss us just as we’re going to miss them.  They’ve learned in order to get our attention all they have to do is stand in front of our glass door in the morning.  I’m glad they don’t know how to knock or they’d probably try it.  Duchess sure doesn’t like seeing their nose up against the glass.

 

We finally had our little family get together for those three birthdays we had to postpone.  It was tough trying to get it scheduled when all nine of us could attend but about 8:30 Saturday morning we decided it would work at 11:00 that morning.  PANIC!!  I had shopping to do and Tammi flew to the store to put on a lunch spread for us.  Naturally …. I forgot my camera so clicked away on my iPhone.  I have a few mighty blurry shots. 

It wasn’t Sandi’s birthday but since the old folks (Sabrina, Robert & Terry) couldn’t get those party candles to blow out, she decided to show them how it was done.

‘Tis definitely time to think about getting on that road again.  I can certainly tell humidity is in the air and fall is just around the corner.