We turned the truck and trailer in this morning in Camp Verde. We were very happy to no longer have responsibility for this rig.
This is the small amount of space for feet on the passenger side. My legs ached a lot the first night but surprisingly they seemed to get used to it.
From Camp Verde, we drove the 20 miles to Sedona and had brunch. We spent a short amount of time at Tlaquepaque in Sedona looking at some local art. Then we drove up to Jerome, an old mining town sitting at the top of a mountain and then down the other side back to Prescott. It gave me a very good idea of this part of Arizona. The rocks are beautiful and there was a little green along the way but not much. The light and air are wonderful. The lack of biting insects is very appealing but I don’t think I could live here full-time. Craig does not want to move back here but it would be a great place to visit in January and July/August.
We fly back to Indianapolis tomorrow – arriving at 1020PM. By the time we get the luggage and our car we will get on the road back to Springfield between 1130 and 12. I think between the two of us, we will be alert enough to make the 4 hour trip home. We are looking forward to sleeping in our bed.
It has been a great adventure and I will have more reflections on it later.
This was a very different week with spurts of activity but a LOT of sitting so I had no idea what to expect when I weighed in yesterday morning. I managed my snacking in the truck pretty well and my hunger does seem to have diminished.
I lost 5 pounds this week which really surprised me. I don’t want to lose weight any faster than this. I have another month at this dose and then I may have to double the dose for insurance to continue to help pay for it. I guess their thinking is to pay for as few months as possible BUT I think they would be better off allowing the weight to come off slower giving people more of a chance to modify lifestyle in ways that allow them to keep it off.
I am hoping that the injection pens will allow injection of a half dose but I am not willing to run the risk of wasting half a dose trying it out. Time will tell.
When we arrived at Susan’s yesterday morning, she was all smiles. She had completely set up her computer work station and was even able to print. Craig set up her TV; Dan broke down boxes and I unpacked her kitchen. She is now fully functional in her new home and can take her time unpacking and organizing.
Susan is with Bill and his brother Phillip on the right . Susan met Bill decades ago when Susan worked for the organization that provided Bill’s first service dog and they have remained great friends since. Bill is the person who called Craig in mid February and said, “We have to get Susan back to Prescott”.
Karen used to work with Bill in Kingman AZ (where Bill still lives). She subsequently moved near Prescott. When Susan relocated to Prescott in the early oughts, Bill connected them and Karen was her first friend. She came over to Susan’s yesterday to welcome her back to Prescott and re-establish their friendship.
Susan is Craig’s 4th wife and he met Bill through Susan. Early in our relationship, Craig shared with me that he had a close friendship with Susan that he hoped I would be OK with. He offered Susan as a reference and I talked to Susan a couple of times. It was clear she and I could become friends as well.
Craig and Dan worked together for decades at the Prescott Post Office and led the local Postal Service Union. They have great stories about their union work that greatly improved the working conditions, morale and productivity of the Prescott Postal Service. Dan met Susan through Craig. Once the idea to get Susan back to Prescott was mentioned on one of this groups periodic Zoom calls, Dan quickly identified the perfect home for Susan and interfaced with the landlord.
Craig and I volunteered to manage the move and the group was able to work through Susan’s resistance to the move. She agreed it would be good for her to get back to Prescott, but couldn’t imagine how she could do everything that only she would need to do. She initially wanted a few months to organize the move but everyone knew she needed to get out of Lafayette as soon as possible. I told Susan her movers were available the last half of March and she agreed to the accelerated timeline with me as the Project Manager. We unloaded her furniture one month later.
Susan has transformed over the 5 days she has been back in Prescott. It has been such a positive experience for all of us to know that our group efforts have been able to make such a profound change for the better in a friend’s life.
It was so wonderful for me to be able to meet Bill and Dan in person. Craig and I now have a couple of days to explore the area before returning home on Tuesday.
Craig had mentioned he wanted to stop in Winslow but as the day was getting longer and we were still over 2 hours from Prescott, I was surprised when we exited at Winslow. The entrance from the east was pretty dismal – mostly closed businesses. I was pleasantly surprised when we hit the small downtown and it appeared vibrant, fully embracing the fame the song has brought to them. It was sunset and there were just a few people still taking photos.
We filled up with gas and fully intended that Winslow would be our last stop, but as luck would have it the gas station’s bathrooms were flooded. There was a Rest Area a few miles down the road built amongst the big rocks. They don’t make rest areas like this in the midwest.
Susan’s new home is absolutely perfect for her. She is in a cul-de-sac of duplexes that are mainly occupied by single older women. It is QUIET. A dramatic difference from her recent residence in Lafayette. Susan’s move was planned and executed in 4 weeks which was a very fast timeline for anyone. I asked her Thursday if she had any regrets and she said “only that I didn’t do this sooner”.
The contents of the truck were exactly as Craig had expertly packed it. Unloading took 90 minutes. Craig hit a wall after we the heaviest pieces were unload. Fortunately the recliner was easily accessible. After resting and hydrating, he was able to construct the shelves. The truck was empty, the crew is happy and the bed is set up. The afternoon was one long nap.
The billboards start at least 15 miles ahead of the actual fudge factory. I am sure I probably missed some entertaining ones.
Another interesting visual is driving along side a wood turbine blade.
We felt like we had stepped back in time when we stopped for gas in Newark NM. This is the Route 66 gas station and Newkirk Post Office. I asked the owner how long he had been doing this and he said “too long”. The bathroom was porta-potty about 50 yards away.
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In Santa Rosa NM, we happened upon a celebratory small town parade including police cars, fire engines and many cars for some high school event. On Facebook I was able to determine that we had just witnessed the send off for the High School Cheer Team going to the state competition.
We arrived safely at 10 PM and had a warm welcome from Susan and Dan, our host and Joyce. We had a snack, shower and are off to sleep! I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the morning. It will be great to get unloaded and to return that truck!!!!
Between St. James MO and Oklahoma City, the flags were all pretty much flying high and straight due to the wind. The base wind was about 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. It was slow going.
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Maps indicates our trip yesterday should take 9 hours and 19 minutes. We were in the truck from 830 AM until 130 AM and Craig did all of the driving. He was not able to drive close to speed limit until we got to Oklahoma City. We only made one meal stop. We added an hour with our misadventures: a stop at a truck stop where the power had just gone out. Fortunately, we had enough gas to get to the next exit. There was construction at that exit with very confusing signage and we ended up going the wrong direction for about 8 miles before we could turn around. I kept Craig’s coffee mug full, his chapstick at the ready, his Kirkland nut bars open and was the DJ. A much easier day for me.
It started raining just as we entered Oklahoma and we started feeling water dripping down on our necks. It is hard to appreciate in the photo but the little bumps along the bottom of the black strip are drops of water. The seal between the cab and the “furniture” box was not water tight. Not much we could do about it so we kept on truckin.
Craig is using his shirt to collect the water that was dripping down his back. I didn’t realize until the next stop how wet I had gotten. When I stood up, my back and back of pants were soaked.
My laugh for the day was when I put my hoodie on when we got out of the truck to eat before I took my seatbelt off. I didn’t get very far!!
We will make it to Prescott at the end of today!!
Social Security update – I thought I would use truck time to wait on hold with Social Security to see if I can get my error corrected on my application. Guess what – the server is too busy to allow me access to my application. I will keep trying but I would guess I may have to get up very early tomorrow to try before the East Coast wakes up.
Craig is out for coffee. Our Economy Inn does not offer in room coffee – nor should it for $55/night. We were not sure how far we would be able to drive last night. Our original goal was Joplin MO. We quickly ruled that out; then set Springfield MO but then modified it to within an hour of Springfield as the trip progressed. We ended up in St. James MO – 2 hours from Springfield. Craig hit a wall not too long after his coffee ran out. This little motel had 4.5 rating on Yelp and those are accurate. Very basic old style motel. The room appears to have new carpet; hot water with good water pressure and an adequate bed. All that we needed.
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This is the route we are taking. I love car trips and in my romantic version of this trip I saw us listening to books and me crocheting while I was not driving. Having never been in the cab of a truck like this I had no idea how limited the cab space was. There is no space behind the seats. Fortunately the middle seat folds up to create some floor space for our drinks and snacks. The footwell on passenger side is only large enough for two legs/feet so the yarn did not even make the trip. I will be doing a lot of Sudoko. We started listening to the novel James – Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective. Highly rated and it is excellent thus far.
As I got settled in the driver’s seat yesterday I started channeling my older brother Terry. I am still a bit nervous about having to change lanes in traffic. Maybe I won’t have to if Craig does all of the city driving.
With the winds, it is unclear whether we can make our original goal of Tucumari, NM. We will get as far as we can safely get.
The past 2 days could not have gone better. Susan had 90% of the packing done when we arrived Monday morning. We picked up the truck and were able to leave the car trailer at the rental place until today which was helpful. We loaded 90% yesterday and finished up this morning.
The truck is all loaded by 11 AM today. Susan in her empty, very clean apartment. Craig and I took the Susan’s Subaru to the rental place to load it on the trailer around 1130. After the car is on the trailer we notice that one of the trailer tires is low. So we have an unexpected trip to Discount Tires. I took a Lyft back to Susan’s to get the our car with her luggage as I was doing the airport drop. Susan and I drove the last of the cleaning supplies to the moving truck at Discount Tires and took off for lunch and the airport. Craig to managed the tire situation which took about an hour and half and headed for the Fairfield Inn in Plainfield where we were parking our car until we fly back from Phoenix next week.
I waited with Susan until her escort arrived to help her navigate the airport then drove 10 minutes to Plainfield met up with Craig. We headed west at 5 PM. About an hour outside of Indianapolis, I got my driving instructions from Craig. I have never driven a truck that big or anything with a trailer. The wind was pretty gusty. I did GREAT!!! I drove before sunset and then continued in the dark. As this was across rural IL, I did not have to pass anyone so that will be the challenge for tomorrow.
We are exhausted and thrilled that Susan landed safely in Phoenix and has almost arrived in Prescott on the shuttle. We will ALL sleep well.
I set a goal of leaving at noon today and we pulled out at 1200 PM to go to Indy to spend the night with a college friend.
I have new “uppity woman” glasses following the cataract surgery. The “uppity woman” is in reference to Gloria Steinem. I am totally function near and far without glasses but reading is much easier with them. This is my first time buying glasses online. These are progressive, transitions lenses. With frames they were $200 – a really good deal compared to getting them at optometrist.
Tomorrow we pick up the moving truck and do most of the loading. Final loading is Tuesday and then we drop Susan at Indy airport in the early afternoon and head southwest.
By the way, Craig lost 4 of the 5 pounds he intended to in a week.
Tamara Unleashed 