How We Be

We be retired now. We left Logan and the kids five days ago, and although I cried all the way to Provo, we managed to get 500 miles down the road to Mesquite.

Our true appreciation of Cygnus has begun. It is our only house now – no more “big house” to shower in or cook in. The last two months have been a great shakedown trip. We’ve learned a lot. Now we know how much it costs to replace a radiator hose and repair two hydraulic levelers. We know how long it takes to get a new microwave and we know how our electrical system is set up; I have to turn off two heaters on the left side of the bus to use a hair dryer if we only have 40 amps.

Finding an RV space in Mesquite was, apparently, lucky. This place doesn’t take reservations after 2 PM (no one answers the phone) so rigs come in and circle around looking for an empty slot. There were two spaces when we got here. It’s not an RV “Park” as I expected. It’s a large concrete slab with lines painted on it. People pull in, lay out their indoor/outdoor carpeting, walk the dog and then, I guess, they go gamble. There are all sorts of RVs and some of them appear to be here long-term. You can tell because they put pots of cacti out to hold down the carpet, instead of rocks.

We have spent three days wandering around, squinting and smiling, packing up winter clothes, and checking the temperature. (It has been a sunny 68 degrees and mid-thirties at night.) It has taken that long for us to slide out of a snow mentality into an awareness of “here we are in the south-west and we don’t have to go to work and it’s okay if we aren’t productive every day.”

Jason turned us on to “Napoleon Dynamite,” a great indie coming of age film set in Preston, Idaho (overnight stop on the Idaho Bike Ride).

The Bluebird feels good. We have more storage space than we thought, although Dave feels we’re overweight. We sleep very well and have begun to use the grill. We’re very happy in this bus, paying the toll of kisses or a pat on the butt, depending on whether we pass each other frontward or backward.

Life is good.

Love to you all,

Sam