However, I can not leave the rock until this fall because there are at least five things which require that I remain here, or at least to stay close enough to be able to return within a few days as the need requires me to.

However, I can not leave the rock until this fall because there are at least five things which require that I remain here, or at least to stay close enough to be able to return within a few days as the need requires me to.

Earlier, a thought came to mind, methinks that I could take a vacation.

This October will make twenty years that I have lived on this island and I have yet to take a real vacation.

Most of what came close to calling a vacation was my work related travel, like the three weeks in the Hawaiian Islands early in 1992.

Even though it was a nice three weeks, the travel was during January, the coldest month, and there was need to work every day while there. I did have a round trip ticket in the summer of 2005 to go to Alaska for a four week vacation, but the unexpected closing of the mobile home park where I was living required me to stay and find a place to move my mobile home to.

This quire records the passage waiting for my home to sell and for my retirement to begin.

I would rather just leave it all behind, forsake everything, but I know that if I do that, it would be no time before I am out of money and in need of a job and a place to live while earning money. So, instead, I must need remain here until my social security catches up to me, and that is not too long to wait, just 1241 more days.

However, there is that need of work, work so as to maintain my primary income. Therefore, I must needs take my computer with me to continue my paralegal work, to make journal entries into my online journal and to be able to stay in touch. ¹

I have set my goal for the start of this sabbatical to be on my way no later than the second week of this month. The only concern that I am dealing with now is to decide on what to take and what not to take. Yes, by making these decisions, I hope to once again gain a firm grasp on understanding and appreciating what I call my life lesson eleven, know simplicity.

After having made this decision, I call my sister Susan and tell her about the vacation. She immediately asks me, “What are you doing this for, to search for God, or to get back to the mountain like in the earlier journeys or just to get away from your routine life on the island.” I pause for a moment to reflect on her question and then answer her, “Yes!” and she laughs. Susan has come to know me quite well.

Methinks, much like my walk on the Appalachian trail which begin in March 1978, this sabbatical will allow me to relearn those lessons that previously took many long months to discover and come to appreciate. Only this time, I already know what the lesson are that I am striving to relearn, and I hope to achieve the same outcome with a much shorter learning curve.

Too, this sabbatical will allow me to rest from the worldly distractions, from physical labors, from material possessions, and from mental drowsiness, all of which have had a strangle hold on me for years.

Methinks that in doing thus, I will return to the mountain where I may search for solitude, simplicity and solace, three companions I once knew intimately, and upon my returning to regular fellowship with these three, will also acquire the abundant spiritual riches which come with their associations.

It is about three in the afternoon when I drive north out of Oak Harbor but east on Highway 20. It is a nice day, about 50°F. and in about ten minutes I arrive at Deception Pass State Park and notice that the Pass is in bloom, but I don′t take photos of the cliffs because I have several photos of this place, even when in in bloom. I do photograph the reach of the fog on the bridge. Next stop is in Burlington at an outdoorsman outlet to look for a pair of high top boots for a hike this fall. I want to get the boots soon enough so that I can break them in properly, and I prefer a soft leather high top that will not require many weeks of sore feet. ²

Then I continue east on state route twenty (SR20) which travels upriver along the Skagit. It is not too long after I enter the forested area, when the river begins cascading and the side creeks begin to waterfall into the Skagit. I have traveled this route many times up the Skagit and over Washington Pass (5744 feet) but never before in the spring when the snow melt floods the creeks and streams. All the way up, with Wolfgang Amadeus playing in the background, as I come waterfall after waterfalls. I really did not know there were so many waterfalls along this highway, and stop often to photograph many including the beautiful George Creek waterfall.

The sun was shinning most of the way up and at just after entering the national park, it begins to rain. I search for it, and there it is, a rainbow over the mountain pass but the road conditions do not let me stop to photograph it. All along I see many mountain peaks covered in snow.

Soon the snow begins to show up on the road side and then as a wall along the edge of the road, first a foot high, then two feet high, soon four feet high and then higher than he top of the Windjammer when I stop at the Pacific Crest Trail.

The road takes me across Rainy Pass, the PCT and then on to Washington Pass and as I climb higher onto the mountain, I notice that each time I stop to take photos, the temperature is just a little colder and upon arriving at Washington pass find the temperature to be below freezing. After leaving the hight pass, the road drops quickly below Silver Star Mountain.

On the east side of the Cascade Mountains, it becomes noticeably dryer and the temperature is back up to near fifty degrees. I drive into the town of Winthrop but see that most all the stores are closed so continue on the Twisp where I stop at a grocery mart and park in the parking lot near the road.

It is just after 9 pm when I arrive and soon begin writing in my Journal. Now it is four minutes after ten and it is 47°F. It is easy to determine this because the store sign is flashing the time and temp.

Friday comes early, about 5 am, as I did not sleep well. The floor of the Windjammer is no where near as soft as my bed at home plus I am cold and I need to get moving to warm up the jammer. I start without breakfast, but grab a hot cup and begin driving east on the highway. The mountain on the east side of the crest is much drier, but because there is still a lot of snow melt, I see several waterfalls. However, there is no where near as many waterfalls as yesterday because the coast side is know as the Pacific North Wet.

It is now about 9:30 pm and I am tired from driving all day with many stops but I will take the time to write today′s journal entry before it is lost from my memory.

After leaving Twisp, I travel east on Washington Highway 20, (the same highway that goes through Oak Harbor) through small town after small town, while the road seems to twist and turn unceasingly. This route takes me through Sherman Pass nearby White Mountain, (which had several major fires in 1988), alongside Crystal Falls, and finally to the Washington state line where SH 20 ends at the junction with US 2.

Here, I continue on US 2 west into Idaho and it does not seem too long before I cross the state line into Montana. I anticipate that the drive in this state will be a long one. The first place that I must needs stop for a picture is at Kootenai Falls.

This day has come and gone, it′s after dark again as I sit here in the back of the Windjammer trying to remember the many things that I have done today and the many nice people I have met.

It all started with an early morning drive into Glacier National park where I purchased an annual pass. Then I go into the Apgar visitors center and spend an hour or more reading the displays and looking at all the awesome pictures. The latest date ever that Logan pass was opened was on the 18th of July and this year it is not expected to open until late in June. After looking for some time, the park ranger, Claudett asked if she could help me. I reply, "No, not really, but so much has changed since the last time I was here 28 years ago in 1980." She looked at me funny and says, "That′s the year I was born!" and we both laugh. We talk for a bit longer while I buy an eight color fully embroidered patch. Then, I leave to explore the park, first to the south lakeshore to view the mountains in the north.

Next, I drive up the east side of the lake and then north on the Going to the Sun road, stopping often to take photos, especially at the flume and MacDonald Falls.

Each time I stop, I talk with Mike who is driving in his motor home and also stopping frequently. The road is closed at Avalanche Creek and after a quick snack, turn around and head back down checking out some of the side roads. One road leads to the north ranger station that is not staffed yet but here, I take some great photos of the mountain views to the south.

On the way back south on park road, I stop at Lake McDonald Lodge, which I find out first opened in 1913, almost a hundred years ago. Upon leaving the park, I stop at the Canadian Visitor′s Center to check out the exhibits. I enjoy talking with two of the personnel, Larae and Kathleen.

On display are many taxidermy replicas of animals, including a very large bison. As I was walking towards the door, I turn and ask "What′s the difference between a buffalo and a bison?" By now most of the staff walk towards me while one girl tries to explain. After listening to her explanation, I say "a buffalo is a big hairy wild cow and a basin is what an Australian washes his face in." You just have to hear my down under accent! I head south and make my way to the National Bison Range where I see a lot of wildlife besides bison, including this falcon.

A few miles outside of the park I begin to smell my brakes burning and stop to look at it. After playing with the petal and the emergency brake, determined the front left to be where the problem is located. I figure that there could be a rock lodged in the brake keeping it from releasing. I stop at a w-mart and log on to the Internet.

While online, I find out that within the next ten miles on US 93 to the south is a tire-auto shop, a small National Forest Campground, and a hall where I can attend the meeting tomorrow. I drive to the camp, a primitive one (no showers, only outhouses), and take a bucket shower. Then, I climb into the jammer and update my journal. Now, it is late and time to go to sleep, and decide to look at the brakes tomorrow after the meeting.

Last night, when I turned off the computer, I looked up through the trees to see a sky full of stars and recognized the Big Dipper directly overhead but I was too tired to stargaze. While waiting for sleep to arrive, I noticed that there were no noises coming from the highway, none from the neighbors, not even any from the animals, it was absolutely silent. It then occurred to me that this is the first time that I have heard the Silences on this trip. I am finally glad to be back on the Mountain.

Leaving the camp, I continued south on US 93 with the Bitterroot Range to my right; a remarkably beautiful range and stop to photograph Trapper Peak.

Just before arriving at the Idaho border, I cross Lost Trail Pass, turn west on Montana 43 and immediately cross Chief Joseph Pass covered in deep snow.

After a short drive I arrive at the Big Hole National Battlefield. Not knowing anything about what was here, I watched the film and learned about one of this countries worst military blunders which occurred on the 9th and 10th of August 1877. Here, in a sneak attack, the US 7th Calvary came upon a camp of almost entirely old people, women and children who were under the protection of the Peace Chief Joseph. The US Calvary killed 90 Nez Perce Indians and lost 31 soldiers and many more were wounded on both sides. I left this place feeling sadness and shame for what this country has done to the indigenous people.

Afterwards, I turn south on MT 278 and stop at Jackson Hot Springs for a hot shower; there seems to be a shortage of hot showers here in the Rockies. Then on to Bannack, a ghost town preserved as a state park; across the interstate at Dillon and north on 41 to Beaverhead, an interesting formation and part of the Lewis and Clark journeys, one that Sacajewea recognized as near her homeland.

Just before sunset, I turned west on MT 287 and drive to Virginia City, a state owned ghost town that has been partially converted to tourist shops and restaurants. What a novel idea, and Betsy, who owns "Max Nuckles and Co." told me the history of how the gold dryed up and then the town of Virginia City was abandoned. When I leave there, I continue south on US 287 after dark driving towards Yellowstone and stop at another National Forest campsite.

Awake at 5 am but go right back to sleep because I drove late into last evening. Finally, a little after seven, I arise to a warm morning, open the door and look around to see what the surrounding area is like. It is a river valley of dry plains with hills all about. Soon I am driving upstream along Madison River and follow it all the way to Yellowstone National Park. I enter the park through West Yellowstone, a very large tourist town and stop to do laundry and have breakfast.

Later, upon arriving in Yellowstone, I immediately begin to see wildlife: an eagle in a high nest, two Canada geese and their gosling, a Harlequin duck in the river, an elk in the forest, a bison herd grazing on green grass and soon after, a calf bison nursing; all of these on the Madison River Flats in the first fourteen miles of the park.

I drive into the first campsite, check in and pay $20.00 in for the first night. Belle from Arizona helps me get set up with campsite A-1. I decide to spend the day resting and take the time to catch up on my journal writing. Then, just before sunset, I drive south on the park loop road to Old Faithful, arriving at 6 pm and go directly to the boardwalk.

Upon arriving on the boardwalk, someone says "Your late, you just missed it" and I smile back, thinking to my self, "No, I am early." I do reply to the person "I am not here to see the geyser, I am here for the geyserbow!" and then head over to Old Faithful to take some pictures. Most everyone here looks to be leaving except two young men who are sitting on the end of the bench in the northwest section of the boardwalk.

I determine that where they are sitting is the optimum location for the geyserbow with the sun setting directly behind them so I sit down on the bench near them and say hello. I find out that they both work in Yellowstone park and are off duty so they hang out here to watch the geyser. It is amazing how much information you can glean from the grapevine. I learn that a good location to watch the geyser is on the high ridge trail just to the east of the geyser valley. Also, if you are here at the beginning of the new year, and the temperature is just right, when the geyser goes off, if freezes in midair and falls as ice.

It takes 90 minutes between the geyser spouts, plus or minus ten minutes and it is funny how a lot things here is plus or minus ten. As I wait, the benches slowly begin to fill up for the next show. I get to know a family behind me and some other near by and tell everyone I talk to about the geyserbow. Soon, the number one question from the new arrivals is "When is the next geyser?" I answer, "Well, the last one was at five minutes before six o′clock, so the next one will be at seven-twenty-five, plus or minus ten minutes." A little after seven, the boardwalk benches are completely full and the large open space behind them is filling up with people standing; and methought this is suppose to be the off season!

Seven twenty-five came and went during which I have my camera ready. I say out loud, "Just wait, there is still the plus ten minutes." Then at seven thirty, Old Faithful gives a ten foot gurgle and I started my video. The the lady behind me asked "Is that it?, is it going to spout again?" and I replied "Give it a chance.... there it goes... there it goes..." and Old Faithful then begins to rumble and bubble out in a wide spay just short of ten feet. I said "There it is!" and then soon after "There′s the fifty feet." All to quickly, the spout was totally out of my camera lens and I said, "A hundred feet." I try turning the camera side ways but to no avail, I can not get it all in the frame.

Then someone behind me says "See the rainbow, there is a rainbow on the left side" but I could not see it in my camera so I looked up and see it to the left of the geyser. I rotated my camera back, find the geyserbow and center the frame on both the geyser and the geyserbow. Then I holler "The rainbow, all right... yahooo! Got my rainbow!" It lasts for only a few moments longer and I said "That′s what I came for" and then the geyserbow disappears. Old Faithful now drops to about fifty feet and slowly the spout gets smaller until it is just spewing steam. The geyser spout lasted about five minutes and the steam continued for several minutes more.

Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes (plus or minus ten). When I visited in 1980, methinks that the interval between eruptions then was about sixty minutes. The amount of boiling water it expells is between 4 to 8 thousand gallons and the eruption rises to somewhere between 100 feet to 184 feet.

After Old Faithful has begun just puffing steam, I turn my camera off and look around. Most of the people who filled the benches are now moving back toward the Inn. I too get up and begin walking south to where my car is parked and then someone says "Look, Beehive is spouting!" I turn around and immediately turn my camera on again to film Beehive Geyser. I walk slowly back to where I filmed Old Faithful and record another four minutes of geyser action. Someone says that Beehive is a very irregular geyser and it is rare to see it erupt. Beehive is about two hundred yards across the upper geyser basin and is much louder than Old Faithful even at this distance. It has a narrow cone which acts like a nozzle and erupts upwards about 150 feet.

Afterward, I walk to Old Faithful Inn and walk around inside to take a few pictures. The sun is closing on the horizon, so I walk back to my car and drive back to the campground. On the way back I stop at the Midway Geyser Basin to take a few photos of the steam vents with the sun setting in the background.

I arrive at the campsite after dark, wash up in the bathroom sink and finally hit the sack. It is about 40°F.

Up to a freezing morning and right away make a cup of hot tea and some hot oatmeal. With breakfast done, now it is time to just explore. I head upstream on the park road along the Gibbon River and immediately come upon Emerald Springs, a beautiful natural hot tub. Next, there was an interesting formation of solidified volcanic ash called Tuff Cliff.

Shortly afterwards, when the roadway and river are close together due to a narrow canyon, the cars ahead of me come to a stop; a traffic jam. I wonder what it could be and soon found out, the momma bison and their caves do not want to use the turn outs to let us by but hog the whole roadway. Even so, I don′t believe it bothers anyone because we all get some great pictures of the bison and calves.

After the traffic jam breaks loose, I come upon Gibbon Falls and stop to take a photo. I continue north to the next Junction and decide to turn west to see Yellowstone Canyon. I try to drive to the upper canyon but the road is closed due to a broken water main undermining the road. However, the upper canyon is still accessible and I stop here to take some photos.

My first encounter with a coyote in Yellowstone occurred within site of the Canyon Service area, actually directly behind me. I had just turned off of the road from the canyon and as I am driving slow, the coyote crosses the road about fifty yards in front of my car. I began to look for my camera but by the time I get it turned on, the coyote had walked a hundred yards across a snow covered field. The lesson I learn is while here in Yellowstone, I must needs keep my camera hanging around my neck.

Later, I drive back across the middle road and then turn north headed for Mammoth Hot Springs. I find the hot springs almost completely dry compared to the last visit. Today, there is only a few active vents leaving the area looking like a gray desert. During my last visit, this entire area was extremely active with hot water flowing out everywhere. I take a few pictures and return to the Windjammer.

Also, since the brakes have begun to smell like somethings is burning, I decide to leave the park to find a place to do a brake inspection. I drive out of the north entrance of the park to the interstate and head to the nearest good size town.

I arrive in Bozeman, Montana at about 6 pm and begin checking out the town. I find a WiFi spot to search for auto repair shops, which there are two in town whose names I am familiar with and record their numbers to call them in the morning.

Then I begin cooking supper and while eating, read in the Bible and do my study for this week. By sunset, I am in my bag keeping warm.

I awake early and begin calling auto repair shops. The man at the first shop says we will not be able to look at it until the afternoon. Upon calling the next number the man says, "Yes, we can get to your car this morning" so I drive there and they put my car up on the racks. The report: It needs some extensive brake work. Both front calipers were sticking and burned the pads so the calipers and pads need to be replaced. Too, the rotors need to be turned. Finally, the rear shoes are nearly worn out and both wheel cylinders are leaking so I need rear shoes and cylinders too. Normally, I would do this type of repair, but I am on the road and don′t have all of my tools so I bite the bullet and pay to have the work done.

The brake work is completed by early afternoon and I head right back towards Yellowstone stopping at a National Forest trailhead to park for the night.

When I arrived here last night after dark, there was one vehicle parked at the trailhead and when I awake at dawn, it is gone. I suspect someone else was overnighting in their car. I begin driving right away so as to warm up the car, and me and soon arrive in West Yellowstone, MT. The first place I stop is at the same restaurant I stopped at on Monday because I feel that the food is good here. Next, I head back into the Park along Madison River valley and stop at Madison River campground to reserve a space before heading further into the park.

Later, I return to the campsite to stay the night but feel that twenty-one dollars to park for the night is ridiculous, especially since it doesn′t have a shower.

Again, I am up very early because of the cold weather, start the engine and turn on the heater. It does not take long for it to warm up and begin exploring the park once again. Later, after it warms up outside, I stop to prepare my breakfast.

After eating, I then pack out of the campground and begin exploring. Not long before noon, I sight a coyote walking through the forest and begin to rapidly take photographs of him. I am glad that I did do the fast shots because in just a couple of minutes, he is completely out of my sight.

So I continue exploring and soon after that, I see a ground squirrel emerging from his rock hole and stop to photograph him. He stays close to his hole but seems to be enjoying being out in the sun. Later, I find out that this animal is a yellow-bellied marmot.

One of the last stops today is Old Faithful Geyser where I am able to find a parking space close to the Inn. I go inside to use the rest room and then come back out to the Windjammer to cook supper.

Somewhere between the first and second serving, I decide to stealth park here for the evening instead of going back to Madison River Campground. Both locations have twenty-four hour access to a rest room but I don′t have to pay twenty-one dollars here like I have to do at the campground just so I can park the Windjammer and sleep in it.

The early morning temperature is fairly consistent each morning, just above freezing. I go inside the Inn to find some coffee and warm up. Afterwards, I return to the Windjammer to do some more exploring.

Then in the afternoon, I drive south out of Yellowstone and drive along the John D. Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway and through Grand Teton National Park to Jackson Hole to get internet service. It is after dark when I finally find WiFi service and check my e-mail and upload files. Then I drive back to Grand Teton National Park and stop at the store near the campground to park for the night.

Up very early and start my stove for hot coffee first and then some oatmeal with raisins. Next, I explore the national park and take some photos, then in the late morning, head back to Yellowstone to explore the south part of the park.

Later, I return to Old Faithful Inn to find a parking space for the night. I have noticed spots in my left eye, spots that I have never seen before and surmise that it is because I am tired, so I go to bed early to get plenty of sleep tonight.

I awake this morning and see that the spots in my vision have not gone away. This is when I decide to end my Sabbatical and head for home. It is well before six when I start the van to warm it and myself up and then drive slowly out of the parking lot. I head north at first to Madison Junction and then west from there. I stop at the eagle′s nest to take more photos of the lone eagle before heading out to West Yellowstone.

When leaving Yellowstone Park, I think about how I am leaving the Silences behind once again. My route is north to interstate 90 and then west to Seattle.

During the drive today, I experience in my vision what I call the Black Moon rising. It starts late this morning and begins to rise from the bottom right diagonally across my left eye. I am able to use the muscles in my eye to keep it down for a while, but by late afternoon, I find doing so very tiring and it is easier to just close my left eye. It is dark long before I arrive in Seattle so stop at a very familiar rest stop before going over Snoqualmie Pass.

Up before dayspring and watch the sky begin to lighten. Just before sunrise, I begin driving and head to Seattle, then north on Interstate 5. There is little traffic and I arrive home in the early morning. Once home, I work a little on uploading some pictures but mostly just rest all the while cognizant of my eye problem.

Later, I call JP and Sherry and they invite me for supper. They are also concerned about my eye and suggest that I have it looked at. I tell them that I plan to call the eye clinic at the VA hospital in the morning.

I awake today after an exhaustive night. My eye is no better, so I call the eye clinic at the VA hospital and make an appointment and begin the drive through Seattle. By the time I get to the clinic, my vision is completely gone in my left eye.

After the examination, I am told that I have a detached retina, but the surgeon is here today and I can be scheduled for the surgery. Then I am asked "How long since you last ate?" I reply that I had a sandwich in the canteen at 11:00 am. The nurse, Sandra begins to count on her fingers and then says, "That will work."

I am scheduled for the last surgery at 6 pm today and then begin all the running around for the check in. At 6 pm, I am on a gurney in pre-op when the anesthesiologists comes in to talk to me. The next thing I know, I am waking up and the clock on the wall shows me it is 9 o′clock. Also, an aid named Rick is waiting with a wheel chair to take me to housing.

After seeing the doctor this morning, I am told that it will take at least two months for me eye to heal. When the doctor removes the bandage, my vision has returned and the black moon is gone, but my eyesight in my left eys is extremely blurred. Also, there are two large purple bubbles floating inside my eye. The doctor tells me that the air is put into the eye to help keep pressure on the buckle, which is an implant used to reattach the retina.

The doctor tells me to make an appointment to come back in one week and then dismisses me from the hospital. I leave the hospital, get into the jammer, drive home and go to bed.

For the next week, I do very little but sleep, about twenty hours a day and wait for the post-op appointment that is scheduled for June 02.

In the afternoon, I do go out to purchase some eye supplements and begin taking four times the suggested amount on the container.

This morning, I drive to Seattle for my appointment. The doctor tells me that my eye is doing very well and says, "Keep doing what ever you are doing and we will you in two weeks."

I continued my routine of long hours of sleep and eye supplements. At first I averaged about 15 hours of sleep at night, and after several days only manage about 12 hours before my back begins to ache. Also, I began to get a little exercise by mowing the lawn. I start with only about thirty minutes the first time and eventually worked up to an hour. After about six days, I finish cutting the grass and then needs to be mowed again. I am also able to work for short periods on this web site and I hope to complete most of the missing entries from Yellowstone soon.

Days are slowly passing and there is lots of time to work on my computer but it does so tire my eyes so II work for a while, sleep for a while and repeat.

My overall strength is returning an since the grass is not growing very fast with the hot dry temperatures, I have been going for short walks.

I drove myself here last night and overnighted in the parking lot. This morning, I go in to see the doctor and she says, "Your eye is 100% perfect", but then she corrected herself and says, "no, 98%." I smiled and tell her that I am taking huge doses of eye supplements.

She then tells me "That stuff doesn′t work, if there was anything that did work, I would have told you." I continue to smile because I know the truth, that despite her superior so called knowledge, botanical supplements most definitely work.

Right before the end of this meeting with the doctor, she tells me that it will take six months for it to heal. I question her about her previous statement telling me that it will take two months and she just repeats, "six months."

Thinking about the six months of healing, I begin to wonder is I will still be in the United States.

Just a note about the solstice. As shown above, the actual solstice occurs today at 5:45 this morning but in most books, the whole day is considered the solstice. Here in the Pacific North West, the dayspring begins at about four this morning and the daylight lasts until a little after ten in the evening even though the sun rises just after five and sets at a quarter past nine.

I use my bandana to cover my eyes and block the light when I am sleeping.

The eye is slowly improving and I continue to take what I know works well, the botanical supplements along with my regular vitamins.

Also, I have been working on my home when I feel up to it, planting blue flowers in the beds, finishing the patio pavers and regularly mowing the grass.

The last time I saw the eye doctor, she said that it will take six months for it to heal. It is amazing to me how we as humans have so little control over our lives. Here it is, over six months since my planned departure and I am still in Oak Harbor.

My next scheduled doctor's visit is on 18 August at which time I will be given a prescription for glasses. Then, I will have the glasses made locally so that I can renew my drivers license before driving south. So are my plans, but we have seen all too well how plans turn out!

The last time I saw the eye doctor, she said that it will take six months for it to heal. It is amazing to me how we as humans have so little control over our lives. Here it is, a half a year since wanting to depart from this rock, but I am still here in Oak Harbor. My next scheduled doctor′s visit is on August 18 at which time will receive a prescription for glasses, which I hope to have made locally so that I can renew my drivers license before driving south for my extended vacation.

So are my plans, but we have seen all too well how plans turn out!

Today, I drive to Bellingham to look for boots at the o-mart there and on the way across Deception Pass bridge, stop for photos of the fog on the bridge.

I find a pair of full grain leather boots I like with Goretex breathable waterproof lining, so I put them on and walk around the store for almost an hour. During my walk, I check out the latest lightweight gear but the only thing I buy are the boots.

Also, because these are full grain leather and these boots will take a long time to break them in, I will begin tomorrow by walking one mile at the school track which is just over a half mile from my home.

During this past week I have been going thru the final preparations for my departure. Today, my phone and internet service are turned off and I am not able to transfer my home number to keep using it, so I plan to always keep my current phone number listed on the contact page of this web site. Terminating these costly services is just one more of the long list of closures that must needs be done in order to reach the need level necessary for a wayƒarer.

As for my internet access, now I must needs go to someone′s home, or a local hot sport for access. Hopefully soon I will also be closing out my home ownership and all of the multitude of costs involved in owning a home, as well as all the time consuming chores such as grass mowing, weeding, painting, to name a few.

Each morning this week at about sunrise, including today I walk four miles at the track and have logged in twenty three miles thus far on my new boots, but I am far from completing the break in process. I will however take a break from the walking for the garage sale Friday and Saturday but plan to start back up on Sunday morning and with an increase of the distance to five miles. It has been very hot this week, getting up to the mid nineties each day. The only way I have been able to walk is by doing it early in the morning starting at five when the temperature is in the low fifties.

For several days, I have been taking much of my multitudinous collection of possessions and stacking them on shelves in the garage. Items of personal items and keepsakes are put into plastic bins which will be stored in a friends attic.

The end of the month is a payday for the military and one of the main gates at the base opens onto Goldie Street, which my mobile faces, and Goldie Street is thick with sailors coming and going all day. This Friday and Saturday, I am having the first of several weekend garage sales I plan to have during the upcoming week.

All this week prior to my sale, I have had a sign on the street stating "Garage Sale, 9am-3pm, Friday and Saturday!" and several who see the sign have stopped. I tell them that they could check it out but that I will not be open or have everything in the garage until Friday morning at 9 am when I will open.

My mobile is about fifty yards from the Goldie Street and during the week, I also print out several large signs to staple to my garage. Each sign uses one sheet of paper per letter and each letter fills the page. The very first sign I put up is GARAGE SALE, then soon after the hours 9-5 FRI-SAT. Next I put up TOOLS, and other signs indicating what I will be selling in the garage sale.

I have bethought my garage sale strategy and have come up with a plan which hopefully will empty my garage before the end of August. First, I have to accept that all these things I still possess are no longer of any need to me. Second, all of my possessions have provide me with good service for how long I have owned them. Finally, I do not need top dollar to sell them, just a reasonable price. My goal is to remove all of these possessions from my caretakership.

Upon accepting the above facts, I begin lowering all my item stickers to prices that are lower than reasonable. Also, any of the items that remain unsold after my first weekend sale, will be moved onto a table near the garage door with a sign stating All items on this table are Half Price!, which should help encourage the people coming to the sale to give me there money. New items brought down from the house for then next weekend sale will be marked with a full reasonable price.

I will use this Half Price table to get ride of things that do not sell the first weekend they are displayed for sale. Anything that has been on the Half Price table for two weeks and still not sold will be put on a Free Table out front.

Today has been a good day for a garage sale and sold a good many thinks. There was enough things sold that I need to rearrange my shelves and add more items to cover up the blank spaces. Also, I sold one of my big dollar items, which I am calling those things with a price tag of fifty dollars and above. Still, my table saw, which cost me over two hundred dollars is now out of my life. However, what has become very apparent to me is that people are reluctant to give up their money. In this down economy, the deal has got to look so good that they can justify spending their money.

The table saw brought me fifty dollars and now it is no longer in my life and I am one possession closer to my goal.

The sun set about an hour ago and I must go to bed now because sunrise is still quite early. I plan to arise tomorrow long before nine so that I can restock my garage from the many boxes still in my home.

I arise again just after sunrise and get busy restocking shelves. My hope is that more of the big dollar items will depart down the road. At nine this morning, I raise the garage door for another day of trying to get people to give me their money.

The sale is over for another day and it was so successful that I will open again tomorrow morning, Sunday, from 9 to 12. I sold my old Chevy van for $200, my chain saw for $45 and my Pokeman card collection for $75; all big dollar items plus a lot more of the small stuff. My new strategy works even though I know that I could have received more for these things but now they are gone, no longer under my caretakership and I am beginning to breathe a bit of relief from having less stuff.

Too, I will need to spend some time in the early morning adding more items and rearranging what things on still on the shelves.

Sunday has not been a good day for a garage sale so I mentally examine this past weekend for when the most people were in my garage and have decided that I will open from 9 am till 4 pm on only Friday and Saturday during the next several weekends until my home is empty and I am rid of all my stuff.

After the sale today, I close for the weekend, and begin moving all the small items still remaining in the garage into the half price area. During the coming mid week, I then bring more of the things from my home out to the garage for the sale next week end.

Now, as I inventory the remaining possessions, I find that there are still several big dollar items: the furniture (including a bed with night stand, a desk with chair, an oak office table and a sofa); an air compressor; a laser printer; a desktop computer; a small color TV; a dvd-vcr combo player; three fiberglass ladders; two wooden ladders, my Dodge mini van, a small vending route and of course, my mobile home.

Too, there are many boxes, full of possessions in the closets and corners of both bedrooms. I must needs continue to unpack and bring out all of these things.

Starting with the front bedroom, I begin to open box after box, pull out their content, put a price on each item and then them put them on a shelf in the garage.

I keep thinking to myself, where did all this stuff come from. However, I try not think about that too much, nor why I have kept each item for so long, nor how valuable each item seems to be, because what matters most to me now, is that I just want all of these things to go away, to leave my possessionship.

It is late afternoon and I am nearly finished preparing for this weekend. The garage shelves are overflowing with items and ready for the next weekend sale.

This has been another good weekend for a garage sale. The air compressor and the two of the ladders are now gone. Also, I talked to a person interested in the vending route and some one asked to look at my home. Wow, if only the home and route would actually sell. Then, I could be off of this rock and southbound.

I am amazed at how much of the half price stuff left the garage today. At five this afternoon, when I close the door, I begin to move everything remaining into the half price area to get ready for another mid week of bringing down more stuff.

I look forward to next weekend which will be Friday the fourteenth and Saturday the fifteenth, which is the midmonth payday for the military. With all the new items in the half price area, it should prove to be good for selling much of my stuff. Plus, next weekend I will increase what is on the free table outside of the garage.

For several days, I have been unpacking more of my stuff, pricing it and moving each item to the garage and putting it all on the shelves. By early afternoon today, the garage is loaded, ready for another weekend of my dispossession sale.

Also, I have been loading all of the packing materials into the trash cans and recycle bins, setting them out for pick up each Friday morning and then cleaning each room thoroughly as it becomes empty. By the late afternoon, both of the two bedrooms in my home are empty and are thoroughly cleaned.

The at five pm, I am ready for the weekend,so I go out to the local Mexican restaurant for supper, then return, get ready for the meeting and drive to the hall.

After another two days of garage sale, I bring in an almost empty free table and then close the doors at four o′clock.

Immediately, I begin moving everything left into the half price section and then go inside my home to clean myself up and take a shower.

Today, I awake early to drive to the Seattle VA hospital to have my eye checked one final time before my departure. The doctor says that the eye could not be better. ³ In fact she says that my vision had improved very well, better than she has seen anyone′s eye heal. During the visit, I was also given a prescription for new glasses and the optical shop in the VA hospital that fills my prescription say that it will take four to six weeks for them to arrive.

However, there is need for me to have glasses now to be able to pass the eye exam at the driver′s license office, so, on the way home, I stop at the Burlington optometry clinic and have new glasses made, which they accomplish in an hour.

Another early start to drive to Mount Vernon, a city on the mainland astride the interstate. There, I showed up at the driver′s license office to renew my license. The person who assisted me asked me if I would like to try to pass the eye test without my glasses and I tell her yes, I would. When I finished the test she said that I have passed without the brand new pair of glasses I held in my hand and that she would take the corrective lenses restriction off of my license.

My right eye passed the test all by itself because she tells me, all that is needed is one eye with 20/40 vision or better. However, she said that my left eye, the one still recovering from a detached retina surgery, did not do to bad either.

Now, because I passed my eye test without glasses, it would seems that all the extra effort to buy glasses was not necessary. However, as I have always done, I am following the admonition of my life lesson four, always be prepared for anything.

Well, I got my drivers license and it is the enhanced one which is suppose to allow crossing of the US borders, even what I need to cross into Mexico. I was told that the new license would arrive within two weeks which means I should get it no latter than the second day of September which is just in time for me to leave for Yosemite. Nevertheless, the starting date of my travel is still not etched in stone because I have yet to receive my drivers license in the mail.

So, I hope to leave in the first week of September, and I say this with a heart full of prayers because in these uncertain times we live in, one never knows what will happen tomorrow or even later today. This would means that I have two weeks or less to close up shop here. For that, I must needs be diligent because there is a lot for me to do before taking on those places southward.

Since the phone, internet and tv were disconnected, after supper, and after working on my journal writing entries for as long as I could stand, I go to bed early, with the sun still lighting up the sky and read in my Bible. Actually, it is nice not to have all the distractions so that I can concentrate on the more important things.

These early starts of my day are the result of not having much to do after eating supper and I awake at five thirty but even then, the sun has already risen.

Today I continue with a free table on the driveway outside the garage, this being just one more of this ongoing effort to get other people to carry off my things. I feel that I am getting so very close; close to both my departure date and close to being rid of all that would keep me from departing. This coming week I will be moving a few items to a friend′s home, which include that which I am required by law to keep such as seven years of tax records and my current business receipts.

Also, I will move the vending inventory that I still possess, but hope to sell the small vending route soon and will then get rid of the inventory. However, if the route does not sell, then I will continue to keep the vending machines full and operating to earn a few quarters for when I return to the island for future visits.

Later next week, I will move my remaining boxes to the storage location and once that is done, I will begin packing my van for the trip, hoping to leave possibly as early as the the first day of September which is ten days from now.

Well, today′s sale is over and so much for having all the free stuff go away away. What does not go away, I will have to put into the garbage. A few of the people who stopped today asked why I am giving so much of my stuff away. I shrugged and say to them, "I don′t want it anymore." They thanked me and carried the newfound treasures to their cars.

Now almost all of my things are in the caretakership of someone else and I have hundreds of dollars in the place of all the stuff "I don′t want anymore." For example, my kitchen now consists of a spoon, a bowl, two glasses, a drip coffee funnel, and a corkscrew. While cooking supper tonight, I needed a knife and had to use my backpacking one. So it seems that in some areas, I am down to just my travel gear. Ce la vie!

Well, it is nine o′clock or as I commonly refer to it, dark thirty, my supper is ready, therefore, I will close this journal until another time to eat and then go to bed.

Up early at about five to be able to watch the sun glow begin and even go outside to see if the dayspring has begun because it is hard to tell in a city. Then, I boil the eggs that I have and then made a cup of coffee. Later this morning, I will go to the rental property to finish cleaning up after the fence construction project.

At the property, I am able to get all the solid wood debris picked up and the pile of wood chips that were left when the contractor trimmed the trees last fall. I planned to bear the cost of paying someone to remove the chips myselƒ when Mark offered to use his trailer and then help shovel and haul them. It is really nice to be in a brotherhood where there are those who volunteer to help one another.

Being in the rainbow and having friends like Mark is truly the best part of my life. Unable to finish, we schedule time on Wednesday to return and complete it.

Have you ever wondered why the hot uncomfortable days in August are called the Dog Days. I always thought it was because the dogs just lie around during the hottest part of the summer. No, I was wrong, because I looked it up in the online dictionary and it said that they are so called because during this period, Sirius, the dog star rises and set with the sun. I have always been one to wonder about where expressions came from and when I do find out, I am often surprised.

Also, I have found that language is such a funny thing. Yes, English is such a funny language that you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway. Or, you chop a tree down just to cut it up for firewood. Also in English, their is at least four ways to spell words that sound like do. (1) to do something, (2) something that is due to you; (3) the dew on the ground; and (4) what the dog does in the yard, doo doo. What about words that have two definitions and sometime the two definitions are the opposite. The word cleave can mean (1) what the butcher does to meat, take apart and (2) what a husband does to his wife, keep together. No wander it is so hard to learn English.

Late Evening: Well, one more chore is out of the way now. Now, I must spend a couple of days cleaning up my home. Also, I got a call yesterday from a man that would like to look at my home. After a miss-connection this morning, he called and said he would like to come tomorrow morning.

Well, Brad showed up and liked the house and said that he would like to show it to his brother. He left and about an hour later, the two of them came back to look at it. He said that he would let me know by the weekend. We will see what happens! In the mean time, I bagged all my trash for the pick up tomorrow.

Also, I have put all the rest of my stuff in the garage for one final sale this weekend with a huge selection on the FREE table. Any thing left on Saturday evening will be put in the garbage containers and set out for pick up next week.

So far, this has been a very slow day as far as numbers of people coming to my garage sale. However, I was able to get someone to haul off my huge office desk and I don′t have to haul it to the dump. I continue inside organizing the stuff I am keeping. I am using large plastic bins.

After dark, I go to the post office and when I open the box there is only one letter and it is from the Department of Licensing. Yes, my driver′s license arrived. Now, all if have left is to pack my van and head south.

Today continues to be slow with only a few people stopping. However, the in the late morning, it picks up and a lot of stuff gets loaded into the car trunks and pickup beds and then hauled down the road out of here.

At noon, Gramma Lu comes by with Daisy to look at my table. She loved it and had her brother hauled it away. Then she thanked me and we began to talk a bit. I found out that I had talked to her about some legal matters last week on the phone when her sister was here. She also said that she got my free flatware, glasses, and a lot of other things her sister picked up for her. Gramma Lu says that she is studying the Bible with Daisy who needs lots of stuff because her husband had recently left her. She even buys my bed. Now, all that remains is the rattan sofa.

After noon today, I have decided to put out my sign stating that Everything Remaining is Free to see how much more will leave my possession and head down the road. If there is anything left after three this afternoon, I will put it in the garbage. I want nothing remaining to keep me from the way. (Isaiah 35:8)

Later, Joann comes by to get my convection oven and said she will pay me by making deposits into my bank account. Then, I leave to go to the department store to buy a couple of extra plastic bins. When I returned, the sofa is gone.

It turns out that Gramma Lu had gone home to get her husbands truck to deliver first the bed and then the sofa. Also, I found out that she had been working all morning trying to find people who needed my furniture.

After a long day, what a total success, even all of my furniture sells or is hauled away and by four this afternoon, I begin loading at what remains into the garbage. I must needs thank Gramma Lu ever so much for all of her help in finding people to come and look at what I have, even using her pickup to help these ones move their new possessions away from my home. What a great Gramma I have!

Finally, I finish loading everything remaining into the garbage can. Then, I take down the garage sale signs and locked the garage doors. I am done with the garage sale and I go back into the house and returned to packing my storage bins. What I am packing are all the personal item that I can not part with, at least not at this time and I will be bringing them to the friends house at about six this evening. It is after five pm when I finished packing these bins, load them into the back of my van and finally began driving to John and Julene′s home. About half way there I get a phone call from John who asked me if I would like to come to eat with them tonight. He says that there was one catch, I have to pick up the pizza.

I tell John, "No problem, I will be there in a half hour." I turned around and drive to the grocery to get a bottle of Pinot Noir and then to pick up the pizza. We had a nice evening of sharing, I even get to meet Molly, their new cat.

I awake at seven this morning and begin working on loading my van with every thing that I am taking with me. However, all day long there are people dropping by. First, at nine this morning, Al, the furnace repair guy arrives. Al is in his seventies and still does furnace repair and maintenance for his clients. I would say that all of the tenant here in this in the mobile home park uses him to service their furnaces.

Al is old school, which equates to quality and craftsmanship, not high tech and overpriced. He was able to find out the problem with my propane fire place in less than half and hour. The problem with the fire place is just an electrical plug that had inadvertently been pulled off of the connection. When he connected the plug, the heater instantly begins to work. He tells me that all I owe him is twenty dollars for the visit. I gave him twenty-five and several things I still have left from my garage sale. Each of the things that I gave him brought a smile to his face.

The garbage will be picked up tomorrow morning and afterwards I will fill it one more time with what remains of the stuff around my home. So close! When I was out running errands today, I also went to the electric company and closed out my account. Too, I hope to fill my propane bottle tomorrow so that there will be enough to last the winter since I have not found a buyer. (I am hoping for a really mild winter.)

In the garage, there is still enough stuff left to fill both the garbage and recycle bins once again. I await for my wash to finish before getting dressed, after which I retrieve the bins from the street and start the process of filling both of them one more time.

The entire morning is consumed with filling the trash bins, the hardest part being in determining which things go where, into the trash or into the van. Here is where I have been trying to keep my possessions, those that I will carry with me to an absolute minimum. Still, my mind is in tumult in trying to decide the difference between those items that are of the need and those of the want.

Of the larger items that I have chosen to include are my computer, backpack, blankets, clothes, storage bins, two large bins containing items to be used for gifts, a box to leave with Susan, four spare tires and my laser printer which I have put on the front passenger seat. Too, there are countless other small items stuffed in every nook and cranny that I could find in the van.

While busy in this tasks, methinks about the last few months, especially in the last couple of weeks during which I have visited my friend Loni. I have always considered Loni as one of my very closest friends, closer than even my fleshly sister Susan. In the past, there has been numerous occasions when she, her sister Jeanie, Jeanie′s son, David and I have come together on a weekend evening for a meal, drinks and game after game of cards. Mostly we would play Hearts but we also play other games and we all had so much fun during those evenings.

When Jeanie died two years ago, this special foursome was broken and for some reason or another, and we have not come together for cards since. However, Loni and I have continue our friendship and I have been helping her with the legal papers since her mother died six years ago. Too, all the paperwork that Loni has been going through has given me an appreciation for what my sister Susan has been dealing with as the executor of our mother′s estate who died last November.

While stoping to eat something, I call Loni and we talk for short time. She bids me farewell and tells me that I must return to visit her soon, to which I agree to do.

The entire afternoon is used in cleaning my home and when that is done, I walk out of a totally empty home, lock up every thing and drive away. Methinks my van is way too full because I just want to get on with my travel, so instead of making the choice now between keeping or tossing more items, it has become easier for me to just put the stuff in the van and leave that decision until another time.

Nevertheless, even thought I have way too much stuff in my van, now I am out of my home, it is finally empty and I am totally ready for someone else to take caretakership of it from me. On the inside of the window which faces the street, I have printed a For Sale sign with my name and phone number listed in large letters.

Finally, I drive to the home of JP and Sherry to ask them keep my printer for me during my travel. While I am there, Sherry asks me to stay over for the night in order to help her tomorrow to learn how to use the tax preparation software so that she will be able to finish calculating their income taxes. I agree to help.

Up by seven and get right into the tax software. Last night, I had set up the initial steps of transferring in last years information and this morning, the next step is to enter information from their misc 1099′s. I show Sherry the procedure for doing this and then tell her "I know you can do this, I will be working on my van, call me if you get stuck." and then I go out to work on my gear.

During the next hour she calls me numerous times and each time, I open the help section to show her the answer she needs. Early in this struggle to fill in the tax forms, she seems frustrated and asks me to stay for another night in order to help her but I tell her that I would rather not because I want to begin my drive to Yosemite where I will be meeting with six others to backpack for a week. During the second hour, I show her how to use the program′s help button for any specific line on the form. She catches on to this right away and then in the third hour she calls me in only once. Then she gets busy with the software program while I get busy with completing many of the tasks I need to do.

While working on my van, methinks for almost twenty years now I have lived in this very same seaport upon this island rock; years longer than I have ever spent at any other place in a single stint, even longer than I lived where I was reared on the Texas Gulf Coast; I left there to go on my very first wayƒaring journey when I was eighteen, but that′s a story for another time and place.

With these thought of departing this port, an overwhelming sadness comes unto my heart. How can I depart from these of whom I care, who walk on this same path towards the rainbow. No, I can not easily withdraw from my beloved without the burden of a heavy heart. Gladly would I take them all aboard with me as I embark upon my voyage, but alas, it is not likely to be. (Acts 18:20-21)

Nevertheless, on this day, I leave Oak Harbor without fanfare, without a single arm waving me goodbye from ashore. It turns out that I did get several handshakes and even some hugs in the days before my departure. In truth, I am glad to leave in this manner, that is without fanfare, because I don′t bode well in these moments.

Yet depart I must, for it has been a departure long in coming; I leave this island with such mixed feelings because so much of my life, a full third of it, has been here upon this rock island. Still, I look forward to the blessings from God that await me upon the journey to points southward.

Methinks that life lesson two and life lesson four has caused within myselƒ a mental struggle. Seemingly these two life lessons contradict one another as the former requires getting rid of the excessive possessions of wantonness while at the same time, the later requires making sure that you have each and every one of those possessions of necessity. The goal that I must needs achieve, methinks is to find the perfect balance between the want and the need, but the myselƒ continues to tell my taskmaster that this is one of those tasks easier said than done.

The journey that shall soon begins is to commence during this fall, persist through the winter and continue into spring. Thus lesson four requires me to carry clothing and gear for each of the seasons but lesson two makes me question how much is of the necessity. The decision between which applies must be made soon, as time to depart draws nigh and all that which need not go with, should be relinquished to the garbage, or into a bin kept in the family attic which at later time shall come to open that bin in which to proclaim the final determination as to the content to be either of wantonness or necessity.

At one in the afternoon, Sherry says to me, "You can go ahead and leave, I think I can finish it." I tell her that if she has any questions, I am only a phone call away. We say our goodbye′s and I drive to the o-mart in Bellingham, Washington to purchase nylon clothing. Leaving the outfitters at five this evening, I begin my southbound trip towards Mount Rainier and at the moment I begin driving on the interstate highway, there is a certain beatitude that envelopes me, an intense feelings that, even to this day I am without words to describe. Nevertheless, I have known and experienced this profound feeling numerous times over the course of my life, even as far back as the earliest of my wayƒaring Journey in the 1960′s.

On my approach to the national park and Paradise Inn on Mount Rainier, I notice the near full moon hanging just above the summit of Mount Rainier with the mountain cloaked with clouds or fog, but who knows for sure in this area.

I arrived at nine pm and set up my sleeping birth, a new one for me, but one I hope to be able keep using for many moons to come. However, because this is a new sleeping birth, I find myself still awake at midnight when it begins to rain.

While the raindrops beat hollow on the metal roof above me, it suddenly comes to me that I have finally acquired the much sought after Jouissance even thought there is not one single Star shining down from the night sky above.