Day one

I just changed my address online, so I officially live in Portland now.

The confirmation email has a bunch of links there to change your address with the IRS, the Bank and so forth, since the simple USPS change doesn't hit all of them automatically unfortunately. Everyone has their own record. Just think of everywhere you've ever had to punch in your address, and that's where you have to do it manually.

One step at a time. And only just barely in time -- I had to do this online because I literally ran out of time for the post office, since it closed on Saturday early because of today's holiday. Then Dani did my Comcast for me, because she's a saint. When Nicole was over she vacuumed all of upstairs for us which was amazing. That's all she did was vacuum a carpet with a pad she's allergic to. She is my hero. And then you redid all the packing. I have a feeling that means my storage unit will have to be much bigger than anticipated, but really that's more my bad for not purging more beforehand. I feel so guilty about all the CRAP I still have. And I had to say goodbye to so much of it that wasn't expected, which was hard enough without all the other weird feelings swimming around. It's not the stuff I regret, it's the having it and having to throw it all away so last minute in the first place.



The view from the cockpit, just after filling up. Time to leave.



Here's that Greeley-in-the-rearview picture. Not a great one because of a.) the girth of my camera and b.) the need to kind of keep it together. Further down the road I was fine, but between the being shaken up anyway and then the wallet scare I was a bit distracted.

I saw a cowboy on a horse in the middle of a field in Northern Colorado, following his border collie between two groups of cows. He was in this great mist -- all wet browns and yellows -- and it was very cinematic and cool-looking.

It was very much like this landscape, which we drove by later in Wyoming:



Cameron came to the rescue with a much better shot:





I was feeling pretty good after Cheyenne. Gorgeous weather for me (not so much for those in the Uhaul, but you know. Builds character?) I switched to an audiobook and kind of got in the zone for a while. I probably could have gone for another three hours but Mom wanted to throw in the towel and not a bad idea. It does feel nice to sit here and just kind of veg for a moment. I will sleep heavily tonight I think. Right in the middle of this huge bed.