Thursday, August 18, 2005
Like the Mad Hatter said...
"Change places!"
A small change in the format for time being, as I document my trip west to Washington.
DAY 1
My sister was to fly in from Washington, I would pick her up at the airport, and then we would return home, where I had already finished packing the van and the trailer. There would be many tearful good-byes, there was no avoiding that. And well there should be (tears, that is), for the magnitude of the moment. And then after a long day of travel, we would find ourselves in the wonderful state capital of Bismark, ND.
That was the plan.
Reality for me very very rarely follows the plan.
What really happened was that my sister's flight was delayed an hour in Seattle. I wasn't able to pack the trailer, because of a dang good rainstorm the night before. I went to the wrong terminal to get her, but thankfully her plane hadn't landed yet anyway. Once I picked her up, we scooted home, and started the final push to load up the van and the trailer. Both were stocked to the gills, leaving presciouslittle moving space for the cabin crew.
And then the inevitable moment came for us to say farewell. The mother of my children kissed and hugged them, and whispered to them the sweet and flowery words that only she could shower them with. I couldn't bear to watch, because I knew the pain of such a moment would be greater than anything I could imagine in my heart. And then it was my turn to say good bye. For all of our differences, she was still the person that I had been married to for 8 years, and the woman who I loved for 10. I hugged her close, and told her Thank You, never knowing if the full weight of those words would ever be known. For her to trust me to take them on my own to Washington, and enroll them in school, and handle all of the day to day issues, and all of the unexpected twists and turns that life turns up...it shows alot of faith that she has in me, regardless of her feelings about me and me alone. I can only hope to live up to those expectations.
And then it came time to leave. A friend of mine tried to console me by saying that it was a new beginning, and not the a sad end. And he was partially right. It was both. We haven't been husband and wife for some time now, but it still stuck bone deep the pain of it all seeing the final curtain fall on that act. Obviously, I am not at my writing best today. But I just don't think that my writing talents, or that of any other writer, can properly convey the anguish that she felt in her soul for them, or the same for what I felt in mine for her, and for what we had.
We then pressed on, driving to the local gas station to fill up on fuel and to fill one of the trailer tires with air. (driver's side. There is a reason which side is important.) ONce tht was done, we hit the trail. With damp eyes, trembling lips, and heavy hearts we climbed onto I 94. Things seemed to be going fine, which of course meant THAT had to come to an end, roughly about an hour and a half or two hours outside of the city. All of a sudden, we felt the whole van shaking, and it could only mean a blown tire. So I pulled off to the side of the road to find out where. I had the kids climb out to make sure that if something were to hit the van, they would be safe. Meantime, the PASSENGER SIDE wheel on the trailer had lost it's tread. OHhhh ka. Well, noone else was going to do it for me, so I broke out the jack on the van, disconnected the trailer, and jacked up the trailer and swapped the tire. The kids had gotten spooked out by the number and size of the spiders along the side of the interstate so by the time I had finished, they were already back in the van. I mounted the bad tire onto the spare rack on the van, and the spare was firmly in place on the passenger side. The only downside was that the nut had stripped the bolt it was mounted on, leaving only 4 of the bolts useable. Whether it was my fault or not, I'll never know, but it was likely, given my luck.
Tire replaced, we headed back out onto the highway, and were making up good time. With a little bit of luck we would only be a few hurs behind schedule, and still make Bismark.
Well, we can't have THAT, now can we? The whole van starts shaking again, this time about 40 minutes or so outside of Fargo. So we pull off again. I am convinced in my noggin that it was going to be on the drivers side this time, forcing me to put my back to the traffic coming up behind me. Once to the side of the road however, it turns out that it was the spare that I had mounted on the passenger side on the trailer. It had lost it's tread completely as well. And we had no spare. And we were a good few miles away from town. I am beginning to curse this trailer,a nd everything in it that I, for whatever unknown reason, decided I must ahve out in Washington. The temptation to simply cast it off like a parka in August at a nudist beach became more and more tempting.
So we limp to the next exit, and are lucky enough to find a Daiy Queen in town. We set teh kids up with something to eat, and then form a gameplan. Family rides to the rescuefrom within Fargo in the form of Aunt Kim. She drives out to meet us, and escorts the limping van over to a nearby park, so that hte kids can play with Aunt Ginger while I run to get 2 tires to replace the now bald tires that gave up under the stress of simply existing, I suppose.
$94 and some odd cents later (not to mention 2+ hours later) we arrive back at the park to re-attach the tire, and then cautiously get the van into Fargo. It's near 9pm, and a rainstorm hits. Everyone is tired, physically and emotionally drained for the day. So we stop into a hotel, and crash for hte night. The next day, I will replace the other tire with the now good spare, so I am riding on the 2 good tires, and the older tire taht is still holding up will act as the spare. Maybe things will look better in the morning, eh?
"Change places!"
A small change in the format for time being, as I document my trip west to Washington.
DAY 1
My sister was to fly in from Washington, I would pick her up at the airport, and then we would return home, where I had already finished packing the van and the trailer. There would be many tearful good-byes, there was no avoiding that. And well there should be (tears, that is), for the magnitude of the moment. And then after a long day of travel, we would find ourselves in the wonderful state capital of Bismark, ND.
That was the plan.
Reality for me very very rarely follows the plan.
What really happened was that my sister's flight was delayed an hour in Seattle. I wasn't able to pack the trailer, because of a dang good rainstorm the night before. I went to the wrong terminal to get her, but thankfully her plane hadn't landed yet anyway. Once I picked her up, we scooted home, and started the final push to load up the van and the trailer. Both were stocked to the gills, leaving presciouslittle moving space for the cabin crew.
And then the inevitable moment came for us to say farewell. The mother of my children kissed and hugged them, and whispered to them the sweet and flowery words that only she could shower them with. I couldn't bear to watch, because I knew the pain of such a moment would be greater than anything I could imagine in my heart. And then it was my turn to say good bye. For all of our differences, she was still the person that I had been married to for 8 years, and the woman who I loved for 10. I hugged her close, and told her Thank You, never knowing if the full weight of those words would ever be known. For her to trust me to take them on my own to Washington, and enroll them in school, and handle all of the day to day issues, and all of the unexpected twists and turns that life turns up...it shows alot of faith that she has in me, regardless of her feelings about me and me alone. I can only hope to live up to those expectations.
And then it came time to leave. A friend of mine tried to console me by saying that it was a new beginning, and not the a sad end. And he was partially right. It was both. We haven't been husband and wife for some time now, but it still stuck bone deep the pain of it all seeing the final curtain fall on that act. Obviously, I am not at my writing best today. But I just don't think that my writing talents, or that of any other writer, can properly convey the anguish that she felt in her soul for them, or the same for what I felt in mine for her, and for what we had.
We then pressed on, driving to the local gas station to fill up on fuel and to fill one of the trailer tires with air. (driver's side. There is a reason which side is important.) ONce tht was done, we hit the trail. With damp eyes, trembling lips, and heavy hearts we climbed onto I 94. Things seemed to be going fine, which of course meant THAT had to come to an end, roughly about an hour and a half or two hours outside of the city. All of a sudden, we felt the whole van shaking, and it could only mean a blown tire. So I pulled off to the side of the road to find out where. I had the kids climb out to make sure that if something were to hit the van, they would be safe. Meantime, the PASSENGER SIDE wheel on the trailer had lost it's tread. OHhhh ka. Well, noone else was going to do it for me, so I broke out the jack on the van, disconnected the trailer, and jacked up the trailer and swapped the tire. The kids had gotten spooked out by the number and size of the spiders along the side of the interstate so by the time I had finished, they were already back in the van. I mounted the bad tire onto the spare rack on the van, and the spare was firmly in place on the passenger side. The only downside was that the nut had stripped the bolt it was mounted on, leaving only 4 of the bolts useable. Whether it was my fault or not, I'll never know, but it was likely, given my luck.
Tire replaced, we headed back out onto the highway, and were making up good time. With a little bit of luck we would only be a few hurs behind schedule, and still make Bismark.
Well, we can't have THAT, now can we? The whole van starts shaking again, this time about 40 minutes or so outside of Fargo. So we pull off again. I am convinced in my noggin that it was going to be on the drivers side this time, forcing me to put my back to the traffic coming up behind me. Once to the side of the road however, it turns out that it was the spare that I had mounted on the passenger side on the trailer. It had lost it's tread completely as well. And we had no spare. And we were a good few miles away from town. I am beginning to curse this trailer,a nd everything in it that I, for whatever unknown reason, decided I must ahve out in Washington. The temptation to simply cast it off like a parka in August at a nudist beach became more and more tempting.
So we limp to the next exit, and are lucky enough to find a Daiy Queen in town. We set teh kids up with something to eat, and then form a gameplan. Family rides to the rescuefrom within Fargo in the form of Aunt Kim. She drives out to meet us, and escorts the limping van over to a nearby park, so that hte kids can play with Aunt Ginger while I run to get 2 tires to replace the now bald tires that gave up under the stress of simply existing, I suppose.
$94 and some odd cents later (not to mention 2+ hours later) we arrive back at the park to re-attach the tire, and then cautiously get the van into Fargo. It's near 9pm, and a rainstorm hits. Everyone is tired, physically and emotionally drained for the day. So we stop into a hotel, and crash for hte night. The next day, I will replace the other tire with the now good spare, so I am riding on the 2 good tires, and the older tire taht is still holding up will act as the spare. Maybe things will look better in the morning, eh?
