The heat has finally come to the mountain so I am sitting outside, watching a woodpecker peck on my pile of wood, listening to the kids playing outside and watching two blue jays play with one another and a squirrel scampering around. It is not easy pulling myself from that world into this world of writing. So, I am compiling a week's worth of writing into one blog.
Minnie was in the need of a good washing and it is one of my least favorite chores. I have tried it three times and it is never as much fun as I think it will be. I watch men washing their cars, trucks, rigs and they seem to find such pleasure in this task that I wonder what I am missing. If I want Minnie washed I must do it myself, or hire a man. I found Jason, just the man for the job.
Jason is one of a multitude of children David and Chelle have raised. I lost count long ago as to the actual number of those children and all of their names. Jason, his wife and her three children, were evicted from their home and consequently have been living in a tent behind Chelle's RV. Neither of the adults have jobs and recently lost all of their welfare benefits. Here is a family in need of some money, and I am in need of a rig washer. Jason is 36, physically fit and strong, but has some brain damage which affects his behavior. Hard for him to keep a job. He assures me he washed trucks before to make a living and will do a good job. We agree upon a price, $25, and I provide the hose, scrubbing brush, soap, etc. He asks me if it is ok to go up on the roof, and seeing no problem with this, I give him the go ahead. I take my laundry and head off to wash my bedding.
About an hour later Chelle comes walking down to the laundry room. She reports the good news is that I can still sleep in Minnie, bad news is that while on the roof Jason has stepped on one of the hatches and it has broken. Why am I not surprised? Even though Jason has absolutely no money, she assures me that she and David will take care of the problem and have called a friend of theirs who owns a mobile RV repair service. The service call alone costs $60 and after finding out that the part only costs around $15, this morning it was decided that David would buy the part and their friend would tell him how to install it. This story will be continued, but as most things seem to be a comedy of errors up on this mountain, I am wondering how much weight Minnie's roof can withstand as David is a really big guy! However, Jason did a wonderful job and Minnie has never been so clean.
Wren spent the 4th of July at Mt. Adams, Washington, home of multiple UFOs, and a full slate of speakers for the annual ECETI conference. http://www.eceti.org/Eceti.IndexII.html I was there last year for the 4th and my life has never been the same. I am amazed at all the changes one year's time has brought. Wren stopped coming and going and pitched her tent behind Minnie and filled me in on all the details of the conference. I hope to get to Mt. Adams after my work here is done, but it is just one of many possibilities.
Which brings me to the fact that I have had the Road Atlas out which is one of the first clues that I am starting to get restless. Not only that, but I took the time one day to go through all the brochures of the places I have stayed, put them in plastic sleeves and put them in a 3-ring binder. Just wanted to revisit the fact that yes, some day I will be back on the road, traveling the highways, stopping at rest stops, staying at different parks, movin' and groovin', free at last:).
No comments:
Post a Comment