WE HAVE ARRIVED IN OREGON!!!
May 1 was moving day. We picked up this 26' Uhaul truck and a trailer for Gary's motorcycle mistress and began packing. Our daughter, Kimberly, arrived early along with Gary's sister, Eileen along with her "Dollie. Then our shamanic family, Keith, Jennifer and Deb showed up. Kimberly called some of her big buff guy friends to help us coercer the hot tub into the Uhaul, and then we really got down to it. Lots of others showed up during the day to lend a hand and say goodbye.
For a while it looked like things were going okay and we'd have plenty of room, until we started packing in the furniture. Now mind you, we don't have much as we live pretty simply, but next thing we knew the truck was full and there were still pieces of furniture and boxes on the lawn! We had even gone to Ikea and bought new desks to assemble and left them in the boxes so they wouldn't take up so much room. We loaded up my truck like the Beverly Hillbillies and donated the brand new cat pole and storage cabinet to Kimberly and her cat as well as leaving some additional things behind for Brian, our son, to move into his apartment. Plus our tenants got to keep our lawn mover (which probably wouldn't have worked here, we're on 1.5 acres and it was electric!) By the time we were done, we were too pooped to pop. We headed to the hotel for a shower and then Kimberly's for our last family dinner for a while. After that, we had to go back and collect our cats who were enjoying the yard one last time and stuffed them in their crates to head north.
Sunday morning bright and early, we hopped in the trucks and headed northwest. We were a good 22 hours on the road over 2 days. We arrived in Medford early Monday evening, got a good meal and a good night's sleep before we began the unpacking process. Gary had the forethought to hire a couple of young men here to help us unload. That was the best investment we made! They had the truck all unloaded, including the hot tub, in about 2 hours! Mother Nature even cooperated with us and gave us lovely days for both packing and unpacking.
We are currently renting a house in Central Point, which is just a few miles north of Medford. We are renting about 1.5 acre of a larger parcel. Our new home is a large double wide mobile home, with plenty of room for our offices. We have a big barn/shop and a greenhouse in the back, and lots of garden space. Debbie is really looking forward playing in the garden once we get settled. There was even a pad right by the back door waiting for our hot tub!
We now have our offices unpacked, computers hooked up, and internet and phones connected. So, we are back in business again after a short break (notice we didn't say "vacation"). For Gary it's business as usual. For Debbie, she is now moving into a full time shamanic practice as well as maintaining our websites (and developing a new one - not quite ready yet).
The only thing that has changed for us is our physical address. All our contact information stays the same. Yes, even our phone numbers, thanks to Vonage. So, no need to change how you contact us. We kept it easy for you (and us... now we don't have to remember new numbers when we have "senior moments").
So, keep in touch. We will begin regluar posts again.
Thanks to all who sent their thoughts, prayers and hard working hands to support our move. This is the first step toward building our retreat.
Mitakuye Oyasin, (a Lakota prayer as a reminder that we are all related)
Gary & Debbie