Tuesday, October 30, 2012

POST 693; 10/30/12; MISSOULA, MONTANA

Yes, I do seem to get around.   Having purchased "back" my trailer for $2,500.00 from PW from whom I received $2,000.00 when he purchased it from me 3 weeks ago...all my belongings are loaded aboard and have arrived safely at this way-stop (Missoula, Montana), enroute to Brother Jim's (deceased) home on Whidby Island, 50 miles north of Seattle, where I have been invited by Jim's offspring to become their "caretaker" for the immediate future.

Leaving OBX on Friday at Noon, I have stopped off to visit Craig and Karen.  Karen has completed liver biopsy confirming suspected cancer having travelled.  Her fourth chemo begins tomorrow, Wednesday...the first of many lasting 6 months.  I keep in daily communication with Craig and Karen...two who know what real love is !

I say this (...two who know what real love is !) because of my disappointment at the unfathomable dismissal by Pastor Steve...the very same Pastor Steve who daily professed to one and all that:..."I (he) love you and there is nothing you can do about it".  Guess I expected better of Steve.  Even so, I feel only sorrow and regret for P. Steve, his family, his church, and Food Pantry.  I'm OK.  I hope for Steve that all is also OK.

My drive across America has been with some problem.  Both trailer tires have failed.  One blew out two days ago driving at 65 mph on I-90 35 miles west of Sioux Falls, North Dakota.  After waiting parked on I-90 for 3 hours - with trouble flashers blinking -, I dropped the trailer (I had no spare), drove back to Sioux Falls where I retrieved my telephone - I left it in my motel room - and purchased a new tire mounted on a new rim.  AAA Road Service, of which I am a member, drove from Sioux Falls to the trailer, where the service man changed my tire.  In the next town, Mitchell, North Dakota, I stopped at the Goodyear Tire Company, where I purchased a second new tire, which I had mounted on the rim - of the blowout -, which was then installed on the trailer.  Now I have two new trailer tires and one spare.

Stopped for the night at Sister Carol in DeKalb, Illinois, where the staff put me up for the night on the reading-room couch.  Carol has been receiving 100 % assisted living for 5 years, all the while battling Sugar Diabetes and Parkinsons.  Another - like Karen - high spirited lady facing a tough fight for life.

My MPV has been performing splendidly - knock on wood -, pulling a much over-loaded trailer...the reason the tire blew.  Tomorrow, I should reach Jim's...then begins unloading, moving in, and setting up.  Again, this will be done by myself...as it has been in the past.

In the morning, have 150 miles more of the Rocky Mountains to cross before reaching Spokane, Washington.  Then, only 350 more miles, including crossing the Cascade Mountains, to reach Jim's.

Snow has been lying along I-90 for the last 200 miles.  So far, temperatures are in the 50s with another such day predicted for tomorrow.  Look to another uneventful day...perhaps my last of over 50 driven crossings of the USA by car / truck.  This trip has taken me along / and crossing my recent walk from OBX to the Peace Arch near Vancouver, BC, Canada.  Cannot imagine anyone walking across America, for this is one BIG country.  Without any doubt, the most satisfying and pleasurable endeavor I have undertaken.

I look forward to Lisbon / Beijing in the not too distant future.

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