I slept from 11 pm till 5 am. I woke up having dreamt I had fallen asleep on a toilet with several older women sitting around waiting for me. Don’t know what that was about but at least the bathroom was clean not like some dreams when I’m back in the Indian toilets or the three seater outhouses of my youth or the truck stop hells. I found my electric blanket had gone off so turned it back off after I had a trip to my very clean motorhome toilet. I like having my own toilet. Since doing a year of of surgery residency I’ve been a major fan of cleanliness.
I’m going to miss Ilyena and Ileana - I do have trouble spelling their names, the beautiful young athletic Polish women from Merry Maids. They have been coming to my Motorhome and doing a couple of hours cleaning every 2-4 weeks. I always feel uplifted after they have been. Not my roommate , the surly Cockapoo, Madigan. He is not fastidious and doesn’t like them moving his toys and cleaning up ‘his den’. Laura when she visits is happy. I say she comes for the dog and the steak I feed her but I think it’s the way the Merry Maids leave my place. She’s quite into cleaning herself though is a hoarder of boxes like a cat and her clutter and plants can expand to fill a space. Having live on boats and in RV’s I’m always fighting the clutter tendency. It seems like I’ve had a life of downsizing since ranch house and mansions. I’ve a mystery storage closet that I’ve long lost knowledge of what’s in it as I’ve mixes houses and offices and camping and sailing gear in it.
Now I’m awake and having my first coffee. I roasted some Etheopian Yirgacheffe beans before I left and now have the luxury of the original coffee. Found in the Yemen which was part of the Ethiopian Empire back when one of the wisemen of the Bible came to visit Jesus. Zipporah the first wife of Moses was Ethiopian. Beautiful people. I was blessed to be able to visit. I crossed the lake past hippos and through the falciparium malaria zone to visit the grass roofed monastery which house the Black Jesus painting. It was there I first saw the coffee tree and had coffee made by a little girl from just those beans sitting outside under the tree looking across the ancient lake. The underground churches were magnificent too. A wonder of the ancient world.
I’ve had so many blessings. I feel that knowing God I’m like a person who has their sight. I imaging people who lack spirituality as being color blind in a sense. I feel present. I feel like I’m not alone. I also feel that God is loving. I’m blessed because yesterday when a screw fell out and the blind fell I was able to find the screw, find my screw driver and put the blind up again. Then at the border I was in the Nexus lane and the pleasant guard complimented me on making the turn and coming down the Nexus car lane. For future reference I should take the bus lane. I think it was the compliment or my anxiety or being told I was going to have to wait for inspection. Whatever! Anxiety struck. As it did I wasn’t paying attention and pull forward hitting a sign and tearing off my right mirror.
The armed guards in black told me where to park and to open all my locked containers. Then to go inside and leave the dog in the kennel at the door. Poor Madigan! He’d been anxious the whole trip so far. He’s not used to the Motorhome, his home moving. It begins with the slide coming in nad the loud sound of the jacks. Then driving there’s bands and noises and he knows I’m tense. I don’t what all the noises are either. I found out that the major one was the shampoo bottles crashing in the shower. Then there was the picture banging on the wall. I became knowledgeable of all the sounds in my sailboat travelling up and down the coast and crossing the oceans. The motorhome is new to me and I don’t know what is normal sound or a bad sound.
The custom’s fellow was very pleasant with a soothing counsellor kind of voice. Definitely a ‘good cop’. I’d only not left my house plant so that was confiscated. It probably will get a better home. Madigan escaped his kennel while I was in seeing customs. I rounded him up and finished my businss. Then what to do about the mirro.,
It took goop and screw driver and a hammer to get it mechanically back in place so I could be legal. The screws were bent and I just duct taped the wiring together but actually had it mounted and could drive away. I was hardly underway leaving the border crossing behind when the propane alarm started screaming. I pulled off the I5 to find an RV park where I could wait for a mobile repair or at least find where the closest one was. The mirror kept turning until I found the screw that tightened held i t in place. The alarm let up off the high way and then I was in country roads. The view of the ocean from Birch Bay with my big Class A motorhome window was splendid. I’d sailed down that way. 5 nots an hour while now I was in this great land barge going 60 miles an hour with all sorts of noises and alarms and challenges. I love the iPhone that interfaces with the iPad Pro size monitor allowing me to see and plot my route.
I then found Bellingham RV Park. it was by the airport and so easy to get into. The gentleman at the office was so helpful too. He recommended Barry Lewis, OntheRoadRVService,com. 316-530-5020. I parked the RV without doing any damage. I didn’t put out the slide but plug into the electricity and city water. Then I set up the Starlink/
Barry arrived. He really was delightful. A thoroughly professional middle aged good looking fellow who told me he had his own diesel RV. He got the furnace started and showed m going out was likely the cause of the alarm. He didn’t think the alarm needed replacing but suggested I get a cheap alarm to plug into and compare before replacing this one. I ‘d just filled up with Propane so that might have contributed. I was carrying a propane tank to and tightened the lid on that.
The most amazing thing is that he knew the mirror and was able to connect the television and moving cables inside the mirror and reinstall it agains the side of the Thor. He had to take one of the screws out and tighten it and had a new screwed for the other one so bent that it couldn’t be reused.
Now I consider him a miracle. Here I was with this major dilemma and here he was a true angel. The cost was reasonable too. I have to get to LA in a number of days to where I have reserved and paid for an RV spot but most importantly I have to pick up Laura from the airport. This first day I’d only travelled 1 hour south. I’m supposed to be driving 4 hours a day.and covering a few hundred miles each day. I had worried I’d not be able to get help and lose a day or two. I catastrophise so readily. But I pray all the time. Thank God.
I have turned off the propane and have had the electric heaters but they’re not enough with the windows all open. Madigan had a poop on his walk. Then the electric blanket made our sleep. 6 hours for the first time right through in days. All the trying to leave was a challenge. Always there’s a build up of work and demand to leave. I remember the oceanographer’s wife with the beautiful singing voice and kids telling me one evening when we’d been playing guitar and talking, “No one likes the passages’. She’d said. It stuck with me. We really like arriving and we really like escaping and there’s all manner of beautiful experiences but passages are work which explains why so many people are sedentary. It’s also a steep learning curve. When you learning to sail or motorcycle or drive it’s not like sitting at a desk and learning a story or equation. In the driving it’s your life that’s on the line.
Well the sun’s up and it s time to be moving.
Thank you God for this new day. Thank you Holy Spirit. Thank you Jesus.
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