There was a Christopher Guest movie a few years ago called “A Mighty Wind" in which one of the characters kept saying “Wha’ happened?!". I’m sure that what everyone is thinking after seeing only two days of updates from our road trip and then, nothing. .I think that a lot these days.
Well, the truth is, I actually did an entry after the first couple of days, but it got lost for some reason. Since I don’t like re-doing work, I put it off, and then it was now...
Wha’ happened? We had a great time. Between May 10 and June 5, we drove through California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. All together, it was around 6000 miles. In a Miata. Some states like Alabama we didn’t even put a foot on, others like Utah we only stopped to see the Bonneville Salt Flats and to get more gas. We crossed the Continental Divide twice on the way west, which we still can’t figure out. We got snowed on in Wyoming drove through a small dust storm in the southwest. We got to spend time with family and friends in Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Florida. We searched for the best road food that gas station convenience stores had to offer. If we’d had more time, we would’ve searched for the Big Ball of String, the Largest Frying Pan and that elusive UFO sighting. Alas, we were drawn back to California to see what was happening with our house, which is going up for sale in July.
Since we have returned, we have been selling, giving away, and storing stuff that we have collected for the past 30 years. We have never moved ourselves, never. Every time we have moved in the past, every aspect of the move was handled by someone else (well, except those parts that Liz handled, like finding the next house). We put a table out in front of the house with a “FREE" sign on it and have been loading it with old junk for the past two weeks. It mysteriously disappears. We’ve also been using http://www.freecycle.org" which I highly recommend. Hey, one man’s junk is another’s treasure, and if it doesn’t end up in a land fill, that is a very, very good thing. I’ve also been using Craig’s List and eBay to move the stuff that we really just don’t need anymore.
We have found out what most people do - we have too much stuff. We also have discovered that a huge portion of the stuff we have is the stuff we don’t need, so all of this trimming down has been a real blessing. One of our Mexico expat friends said, “You will be amazed how unencumbered you feel". I guess we’re getting there.
George Carlin died a couple of days ago. He had a routine about “stuff". Here’s a transcript: http://www.jefallbright.net/node/1581. I still remember when I was a teenager, driving from Springfield, Missouri to Omaha, Nebraska with nothing but a George Carlin 8 track tape. Even the hitchhiker we picked up got tired of it.
In a week or so we are going to pack a smaller version of our stuff and head south for a while. We want to be in Mexico anyway, and it’ll be a good thing not to be in the house while it’s being shown.
One door closes, another opens.
One closing comment on this posting. If you have a chance, read “The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. Amazing.