Pack Rat

Just look at this mess in the family room and another pile of soon to be homeless objects are spread out on the dining room table. Yesterday I accomplished nothing because my back went into a rebellious spasm after Tuesday’s packing marathon and I ended up sitting on a bag of ice with the remote and a cup of coffee. Did you know that there is nothing on television in the daytime?

About Me

About Me
What can I say about me? I am finally retired and much like a paper kite I am free to drift, lingering only when the breeze whispers in my ear that it is a good time to just be.But to be more precise in the introduction I will tell you a story that may partially explain why I am about to do what I am about to do.

When I was in the fifth grade the child sitting directly across from me fainted (probably bored to unconsciousness) and fell on the floor. Eventually she became conscious and the teacher got her to her feet and led the wobbling girl towards the door; as she headed towards the nurse's room the teacher instructed the remaining students to "take out our your pencil crayons and do something creative".

When she returned I was sitting straight faced amongst a few tittering classmates with hands folded on my desk top and pencil crayons dangling from every orifice in my head. I suppose I looked like some sort of maniacal jack-o-lantern but I thought it was creative. The teacher obviously did not; she sent me to sit out on the fire escape until I had regained my senses.

It was one of those spectacular fall days with a sky so blue you could drown in it and I wasn't about to return to the spelling lesson that was going on inside. Instead I whiled away the rest of the afternoon "trying to regain my senses" until the bell rang and everyone left for the day with me forgotten on the fire escape. In many ways I am still sitting out on that fire escape!

Posted by jen at 7:35 AM July 27, 2008

What????

Ok. Remember I mentioned that I was about to do something. Well here’s the what: as many of my friends and family know, I am newly retired and I am in the process of packing up our belongings in preparation for a move from my home in Canada -- the land of my birth -- to our new home in Mexico.

When I say we I mean my partner, Cath, and our four Wheaten Terriers: Cayden. Lizzie, Ayelish and Hadley. The reason for the blog is that it seems like the easiest way to keep anyone who is interested up to date on our travels, and on the day to day as we set out on the great adventure and work our way towards Lake Chapala in Mexico.

What I am doing currently is sorting the NWOTV (not wanted on the voyage) boxes from the “let’s load it into the motor home so that it is handy” stuff. Yes. That’s right. I said Motor Home.

We are taking off in “Gertie”, a medium, sized motor home that should cost us a tidy sum in gas but on the other hand we expect to make some of that up in missed hotel bills and restaurants. And let’s face it: there are a lot of hotel managers who are going to simply turn on those red “no vacancy” signs when they see us coming with four dogs, especially four terriers. Then too we are really hoping to turn this into an adventure that is the ultimate celebration of freedom. Our proposed schedule goes pretty much like this: drive, eat, sleep and explore at will. The ETA: whenever.