The last several days have been hard. I’ve been saying “goodbye” to close friends. For awhile each “goodbye” made me want to break down and cry as I was thinking, “this is the last time I will ever see this person ever again”. Ironically the goodbye process made me realize how many good friends I have in Rochester and I decided that I DID want to come back someday. Then I was able to stop the whole “goodbye forever” mentality and tell them, “I’ll see you again someday”. That helped, but after living there for 16 years it was still hard. I find myself seeing memories on every street corner. Sometimes it’s rather pathetic. I was eating my favorite cheese burger at Famous Dave’s and I caught myself thinking, “this is the last time I’ll ever eat here”. Oh boo hoo, woe is me. I’m such an emotional, dramatic wus sometimes. I’ve been planning on leaving for roughly a year. I realized the problem was that I was living in the past. “Once I leave I’ll be better”, I thought.
Melanie’s mom and sister, my ex-in-laws, whom I still love very much stopped by for one last hug. I’ve had so many fun times with them over the years that they really are family. Melanie’s mom told me she loved me. Fighting back tears I said, “I love you too”, but told her that I would see them again. We promised to keep in touch and I think we will.
I got the bus ready to hit the road and waited for my long time friends Cesar and Becky to stop by for one last beer. They were late as usual, but when they got there and we started to B.S. about Michael Jackson dying and what good concerts we’re coming up, I felt at home and didn’t care that I was falling behind schedule. Besides I have absolutely no plans, or appointments. I’m totally free.
When they left I hooked up the Jeep and headed for Saint Peter, Mn where I had lived since I was born until I was eighteen.
The hour and a half drive went by fairly quickly. I’ve made the drive hundreds of times, but decided to go a slightly different route worried that my emotions might get the best of me. You know the whole “last time” thing. I stopped in Owatonna to check on my Jeep since it was the first time I’d towed it any distance. I pulled into a parking lot, put ‘er in neutral, popped out the parking brake knob and stood up out of the driver’s seat. To my amazement I was standing in my living room. I went to the bathroom, grabbed a snack in the kitchen, washed my hands and thought, “this is so cool, this is my home, just like I’m used to”. I sat down and drove away.
When I was able to deviate from the route that I usually took to my parents house I finally felt like I had left Rochester behind. I pulled into Saint Peter and went to the Mill Pond, a place I had been many times throughout every age of my youth. I remembered there had been some camping spots there, but my memories were fuzzy. Sure enough there were 11 sites. The sign said “$20 dollars a night, check in at the public works building”, which is also the police department located at the entrance of the park. “I’ll check in after I’m settled in”, I thought. It was Saturday night and most spots were taken. There were campfires burning, radios playing and people seemed to be lurking in the shadows. I picked what looked to be the best of the open spaces and in front of on-lookers backed in like a pro. It felt good to know what I was doing from recently getting my commercial driver’s license at truck driving school.
When I got up out of the seat I noticed that the cupboard had opened and my bottle of dish soap and a liter of Canadian Whiskey that my friend Youry had given me we’re laying on the kitchen floor. “That could have been bad” I thought. When I picked up the whiskey bottle I was immediately shocked that it was way too light. It was empty. The glass didn’t break, but the top of the plastic cap had broken off. “Sad, that was such a nice gift”, I thought. It felt great to still be friends with Youry. We dated years ago. Plus I was really looking forward to relaxing at the end of day one of my journey with a drink. There was still about an inch of whiskey in the bottle, so I set it on the counter and tried to comprehend that virtually a whole liter of whiskey had soaked somewhere into my floor. I felt around and only found a wet spot about twelve inches by four inches on the carpet next to the hard wood kitchen floor. That’s when I noticed the smell. “Good thing I didn’t get pulled over” I thought. I put a towel on it and put some heavy phone books on that, an old trick I learned as a teenager when someone would spill booze on their parent’s carpet. You just leave it for a couple of hours, most of the liquid will absorb into the towel. Old ladies will tell you to “blot, don’t rub” a stain. What they really mean is “absorb”. It works.
I went outside to hook up the utilities. There was electricity, but that was it. I was used to that, plus city water, sewer and TV cable. I knew there’d be no cable, but was caught off guard by the city water. I knew there was a sewer dumping station on the campground, but wasn’t sure where I would be able to fill my fresh water tank. I had filled up a little before I left, but not much. Lesson learned; fill up your fresh water tank before you leave. I was mildly agitated because I needed a shower, yet remained optimistic. “No problem, I can find water tomorrow” I thought.
Time to try out my rooftop TV antenna and digital TVs. I cranked up the antenna with the hand crank on the ceiling, turned on the TV and hit scan. It only found two channels which is what I expected. When I looked at the TV the signal was not watchable. Sometimes I’d found that the reception can be improved by cranking up, or down the antenna slightly. I started to try to fine tune it this way. It was never good, but kind of got better, so I continued to adjust when the crank fell off of the ceiling in my hand, followed by the bracket which it was inserted into. “Okay…no big deal…I can always turn the remaining metal stub with pliers if I have to. If I’m gonna rough it I better get used to no TV.
I just had splurged on an air card, so I fired up my laptop. I quickly felt my mild agitation slip away with the comfort of my email and facebook friends. I’m relying heavily on my laptop to keep me from going mad from loneliness on the road. The air card worked great and I was very happy I had gotten it.
Feeling settled in and wanting to relax I headed to the liquor store to replace my bottle of whiskey. At the store I decided to take the loss of whiskey as a sign that maybe I shouldn’t drink so much. I got wine instead.
I returned to the bus, put on a Family Guy DVD for familiar TV background, chatted on my computer and went to bed. As I drifted off to sleep I thought, “shouldn’t I have checked in? oh well, if they don’t notice me tonight I can check in tomorrow and save twenty bucks”.
Melanie’s mom and sister, my ex-in-laws, whom I still love very much stopped by for one last hug. I’ve had so many fun times with them over the years that they really are family. Melanie’s mom told me she loved me. Fighting back tears I said, “I love you too”, but told her that I would see them again. We promised to keep in touch and I think we will.
I got the bus ready to hit the road and waited for my long time friends Cesar and Becky to stop by for one last beer. They were late as usual, but when they got there and we started to B.S. about Michael Jackson dying and what good concerts we’re coming up, I felt at home and didn’t care that I was falling behind schedule. Besides I have absolutely no plans, or appointments. I’m totally free.
When they left I hooked up the Jeep and headed for Saint Peter, Mn where I had lived since I was born until I was eighteen.
The hour and a half drive went by fairly quickly. I’ve made the drive hundreds of times, but decided to go a slightly different route worried that my emotions might get the best of me. You know the whole “last time” thing. I stopped in Owatonna to check on my Jeep since it was the first time I’d towed it any distance. I pulled into a parking lot, put ‘er in neutral, popped out the parking brake knob and stood up out of the driver’s seat. To my amazement I was standing in my living room. I went to the bathroom, grabbed a snack in the kitchen, washed my hands and thought, “this is so cool, this is my home, just like I’m used to”. I sat down and drove away.
When I was able to deviate from the route that I usually took to my parents house I finally felt like I had left Rochester behind. I pulled into Saint Peter and went to the Mill Pond, a place I had been many times throughout every age of my youth. I remembered there had been some camping spots there, but my memories were fuzzy. Sure enough there were 11 sites. The sign said “$20 dollars a night, check in at the public works building”, which is also the police department located at the entrance of the park. “I’ll check in after I’m settled in”, I thought. It was Saturday night and most spots were taken. There were campfires burning, radios playing and people seemed to be lurking in the shadows. I picked what looked to be the best of the open spaces and in front of on-lookers backed in like a pro. It felt good to know what I was doing from recently getting my commercial driver’s license at truck driving school.
When I got up out of the seat I noticed that the cupboard had opened and my bottle of dish soap and a liter of Canadian Whiskey that my friend Youry had given me we’re laying on the kitchen floor. “That could have been bad” I thought. When I picked up the whiskey bottle I was immediately shocked that it was way too light. It was empty. The glass didn’t break, but the top of the plastic cap had broken off. “Sad, that was such a nice gift”, I thought. It felt great to still be friends with Youry. We dated years ago. Plus I was really looking forward to relaxing at the end of day one of my journey with a drink. There was still about an inch of whiskey in the bottle, so I set it on the counter and tried to comprehend that virtually a whole liter of whiskey had soaked somewhere into my floor. I felt around and only found a wet spot about twelve inches by four inches on the carpet next to the hard wood kitchen floor. That’s when I noticed the smell. “Good thing I didn’t get pulled over” I thought. I put a towel on it and put some heavy phone books on that, an old trick I learned as a teenager when someone would spill booze on their parent’s carpet. You just leave it for a couple of hours, most of the liquid will absorb into the towel. Old ladies will tell you to “blot, don’t rub” a stain. What they really mean is “absorb”. It works.
I went outside to hook up the utilities. There was electricity, but that was it. I was used to that, plus city water, sewer and TV cable. I knew there’d be no cable, but was caught off guard by the city water. I knew there was a sewer dumping station on the campground, but wasn’t sure where I would be able to fill my fresh water tank. I had filled up a little before I left, but not much. Lesson learned; fill up your fresh water tank before you leave. I was mildly agitated because I needed a shower, yet remained optimistic. “No problem, I can find water tomorrow” I thought.
Time to try out my rooftop TV antenna and digital TVs. I cranked up the antenna with the hand crank on the ceiling, turned on the TV and hit scan. It only found two channels which is what I expected. When I looked at the TV the signal was not watchable. Sometimes I’d found that the reception can be improved by cranking up, or down the antenna slightly. I started to try to fine tune it this way. It was never good, but kind of got better, so I continued to adjust when the crank fell off of the ceiling in my hand, followed by the bracket which it was inserted into. “Okay…no big deal…I can always turn the remaining metal stub with pliers if I have to. If I’m gonna rough it I better get used to no TV.
I just had splurged on an air card, so I fired up my laptop. I quickly felt my mild agitation slip away with the comfort of my email and facebook friends. I’m relying heavily on my laptop to keep me from going mad from loneliness on the road. The air card worked great and I was very happy I had gotten it.
Feeling settled in and wanting to relax I headed to the liquor store to replace my bottle of whiskey. At the store I decided to take the loss of whiskey as a sign that maybe I shouldn’t drink so much. I got wine instead.
I returned to the bus, put on a Family Guy DVD for familiar TV background, chatted on my computer and went to bed. As I drifted off to sleep I thought, “shouldn’t I have checked in? oh well, if they don’t notice me tonight I can check in tomorrow and save twenty bucks”.
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