Those 70ish Girls

We are one step closer to becoming minimalists. We have until Tuesday morning, so we’re in pretty good shape, I think. The floor guys are supposed to be here at 9 am.

Our 10′ x 15′ storage unit is going to be pretty full by the time we get done. Kip says he’s going to go through all of his tools and get rid of the ones he doesn’t use anymore. That will be a fun experience. Kip loves his tools. One of the boys once said, “If you wreck your car, he’s very calm, but if you don’t put one of his tools back in the right place, all heck breaks loose.”

I called the RV Resort in Canton to make a reservation and was told they were going to be closed all next week. They’re fixing the roads. Kip found another RV park that looks nice. It’s between here and Athens which is only seventeen miles away and we were able to make a reservation there. It’s going to take 4 to 5 days to rip up the old flooring and put down the new one. Remember the ugly plastic strip that covered the cords to the electric recliners?…gone! The wires will go under the floor. I’ll take some before and after pictures.

I’ll be able to tell you next week what our plans are for this coming year. It will be an adventure that will either work out…or it won’t.

Kip and I have been pretty adventuresome when you think about it. Many years ago when we were living in Casper, Wyoming, we decided it was time for a change. We got our map of the U.S. out and randomly chose a little town in northern California. We got Kip’s parents to come and stay with our kids, arranged to take a couple of weeks off work, and headed that way.

It was a great trip. We went through some beautiful country. (I would post some pictures, but they’re packed in crates and in the storage unit.) I was driving while Kip napped when we hit the Oregon, California border. Suddenly, I felt like Alice in Wonderland. The redwood trees were bigger and taller than any trees I had ever seen. Did you know there is enough wood in one redwood tree to build at least four houses? The forest floor was covered in beautiful ferns. It was dark, which made it even more surreal. I woke Kip up and we slowly made our way to Eureka, California…a community of about 25,000 people.

We loved the little seaport town. The two industries that support the area are fishing and lumber. Most of the houses near the port are Victorian in style…colorful with lots of gingerbread. We looked around and liked what we saw so the next day we visited a couple of banks to check out the employment situation.  Kip was working at a bank in Casper at the time and I was a loan officer for a mortgage company. He was interviewed at the second bank and was told they had a bank in Fortuna which was about twenty miles south. They were accepting applications for the position of bank manager. I could tell Kip was a serious contender.

We left Eureka and drove to Fortuna. It is a smaller community, but equally pretty. It was surrounded by forests and about fifteen miles from the beach. As we were leaving Fortuna, we got a call from Kip’s mom. She had taken Mason, who was in fifth grade at the time, to the doctor. He had the beginnings of a cold when we left, but we were shocked when she told us he had mononucleosis. It’s a terrible feeling to know there is at least a two-day drive separating you from your very sick child. I didn’t think we would ever get there. Even knowing he was in good hands didn’t help.

Mason ended up spending six weeks at home. I left my job and took care of him. When he returned to school, he could only go for 1/2 days until he built up his strength? A few weeks later, Kip was offered the bank manager position in Fortuna. He flew out to meet with the bank president in Eureka and ended up accepting the position.

It was the middle of November, on the heels of a snowstorm when we left Casper. Kip was driving a moving truck, towing my car, and I drove his Audi. Heather was in California at the time, but we had Heidi, Mason, Craig and our Airedale, Calamity Jane. We had no idea what kind of adventure we were embarking on.

Mom with Calamity Jane and Calamity swimming

I will continue with this story tomorrow as there are some crazy experiences to tell you about. I wish I could show you some pictures, but they’re in the storage unit.

(I just found a Polaroid of us at the beach. It was an experience we often talk about. I will write about it tomorrow.)