New Home

In the next two days I've got to be completely moved out of my current apartment. Our lease is up. I'll be staying in Dan's living room until the beginning of May, then I'll drive everything I own to my parents' house in VA and immediately fly out to Portland to begin my ride around May 13. So the things I'm packing into boxes will remain in boxes until I begin graduate school in August. This is pretty difficult for me. I had an airy cabinet full of spices and pots and pans; now I've sealed all my cooking things into three boxes. I'm used to a wall full of books; now I've reduced my summer reading to 15 or so. My desk had been pleasantly organized, with office things where they belonged; now I've packed six pens, 10 rubber bands, a tiny stapler, and a handful of envelopes & stamps into a plastic bag. A week ago, I owned four bicycles (a mountain bike, a road bike, a cheap commuter, and my touring rig); now I've sold my mountain bike. And perhaps most difficult of all, I'm trying to sell my kayak. This isn't difficult in the way giving up coffee is difficult (since high school, I haven't paddled more than once per summer.) It's difficult in the way selling your grandmother on Craigslist would be difficult. I've had so many rich experiences with that boat, mostly paddling with my Dad and two good family friends from VA, Ron and Cy. The Lochsa , the Ottawa, the New, the Gauley, the Arkansas, the Youghiegheny...