It’s the 26th of November, 5am and I am wide awake. Today is the final day of packing, sorting and sifting. The trailer is hooked up and packed to the gills. Our planned departure time of 12:30pm seems reasonable, until I look through my morning blood shot eyes at the kitchen counter and kitchen book case. It’s still jammed with stuff. Somehow, in the remaining seven hours, we’ll have to finish packing, take showers, do a load of laundry and clean the condo before we leave.
The other issue is we have yet to receive our registration plates. No use calling about them today, it’s Sunday. It will have to wait. There are other small details that need to be done, but thankfully others have volunteered to help and we remind ourselves how blessed we are with those who want to help.
We manage to get everything done and we are rolling out of the parking lot at around 12:45pm. We set our sights on Salem Ct., to visit friends. The two hour trip goes smoothly and I am reminded as to why I picked this truck, and this configuration. It feels solid yet only takes a light touch. No sway, no lack of power by any means. Both pedals do their job equally well.
We visit for a few days with a friend of mine with whom I have history that goes back several years. His family are monumentally gracious and insist that we stay longer than planned, and we do. My friend’s son Todd, is a photographer and videographer. We’ve talked in the past about doing some filming and photos to help us promote ourselves and he volunteers to do some photos and help me work on an Instagram clip. We spend the entire day Thursday working on the clips and photos, using my old stomping grounds as the back drop. During that shoot, I can’t help but to look around and see how far I’ve come. How far we’ve both come. I’m reminded of my old hometown with all of those who I grew up with, and I am torn, as we need to be in South Carolina by the 4th, and I hoped to drive the back way staying away from the interstates. But we stay, until that Friday. It was well worth the extra days stay. More time with friends, more time to learn. After all, isn’t this what it’s all about?
So on to the interstate we go, the back roads will have to wait. Some close calls ahead...