Dispatches from New Mexico

Well, not quite to New Mexico yet, but we are checking things off the list, moving forward. The sign went up today, though the house will not be listed until tomorrow. There is a lock box on the door.

The cleaners came, the fence guy worked on one side of the yard, the other fence guy came to work on the other side. The furnace passed inspection, they took photos yesterday. We have taken signs of the dog out of the house, cleared almost everything off of counters, gotten rid of furniture, gone to the dump at least half a dozen times. I mowed three times this week.

Our neighborhood contains a limited number of floorplans, and there are two other houses for sale with the same floorplan as ours. Our agent says that ours is the best of the three, but who knows?

And now, we wait to see if someone wants to buy. The best plan we have now, until we think of a better one, is to get an Airbnb near here while we move out of the house, so that Jackie can work while I move furniture (with Jarrod?) into U-Pack boxes, then take a long weekend to move from the Airbnb here to another in New Mexico. Once we get settled there, we can relax a bit and look for a home.

Weather this week in Albuquerque is around 90 degrees every day, with lows in the mid-60s at night. Arlo and I may have to change our habits and walk earlier during the hot months, as the temperature rises quickly during the day. I took him for a walk yesterday, and I could tell he did not like the heat. It was in the mid-70s. We will both have to adjust.

 Today, we are near Gothenburg, Nebraska, a town of about 3,500 people. The town was named after Gothenburg, Sweden, and has a Swedish heritage.

For those of you who remember what the real attraction in Nebraska is, the nearest Runza to Gothenburg is...in Gothenburg! It's on 1st Street, on the south end of town, near the Platte River.

Still more than 150 miles to go before Colorado.

Johnson Lake, Nebraska

Not Johnson Lake

I searched Bing Images for a picture of Johnson Lake, Nebraska, and this picture came up in the third row from the top of the page. The picture is from a home for sale in Butler, Tennessee. Nice picture, but, huh. A real picture of Johnson Lake is posted below.

I decided a long time ago that Johnson Lake would serve as the halfway point of my walking trip. However, in truth it is not quite halfway; instead, it is 1.6 miles short. So I actually passed Johnson Lake a couple of days ago, and now I am five miles into the second half of my walk, 330 miles across Nebraska with 190 miles to go to the border.

 Just tonight Jackie and I were talking about the reality that we may not move to Albuquerque at all. We are moving somewhere, unless no one wants our house. However, we are not exactly tied to Albuquerque for now. Maybe we will change our minds once we see it.

The realtors came Friday. This coming Friday, someone may come to see the house, even though it is not listed and not completely ready to show. Monday, the cleaners are coming. Next Wednesday is the photographer. After the photos are taken, the house should go on the market within a few days.

After I tried Bing Images, I tried Google Images, and plenty of pictures of Johnson Lake showed up, with no pictures of houses in Tennessee.

Johnson Lake, with fireworks

The Move

The struggle itself is enough to fill a man's heart. Maybe.

The Move is everything right now.

The Move does not take all of my time, because bridge is still taking half a day several days a week, but bridge is not important. It's just that I have scheduled days with a number of partners, and I want to play with those partners while I can, and I have a new partner whom I really want to play with, and she is taking days in the schedule that used to be open. As a result, I am playing a lot of bridge.

When I am home, however, I work on The Move every day. Today, I replanted a plant, edged the yard, and weeded, and there is more to do, always more. I find myself exhausted at the end of each day. Yesterday, I fell fast asleep at my computer at 4:00 in the afternoon. When the last piece of furniture is placed in a new house in New Mexico, when the last box is hauled into the garage or a closet, it will feel very good.

 The realtors are coming on Friday, and we treat the realtors a bit like they were actually buying the house, cleaning up and decluttering before they come, inside and out, doing every little thing to make the house look desirable. Jackie's theory is that we need to make the place attractive to them, maybe so that they will feel good about selling it, maybe just to show them that we can make it look nice when we have to. Whatever the justification, most of the work we are doing now will need to be done before we show the house, and that is coming.

For the first time since Arlo and I started walking in 2021, I am skipping my morning walks. My steps counts are pathetic. I have ten miles to go before the next milestone and the halfway point of the walk, and it will probably take me four days to get that done. With some luck, I can get back to my regular life, at least most days, starting Saturday.

Fifteen Miles West of Nowhere

Fort Kearney

Well, I was wrong about reaching the halfway point of my trip last week; I was looking at the wrong segment. In fact, I will be halfway at the end of the current segment, which leads from Fort Kearney to Johnson Lake and follows parts of the Oregon Trail. We are 15 miles along this segment, walking past some of the best corn farms in the US, or so says the trail description.

Life right now is consumed with The Move, trying to prepare the house for showing. Some days The Move has gotten in the way of walking, though most days I am still putting in the miles. Today, I walked 11,000 steps.

There is always a little more to do to get ready for The Move, and I am at Jackie's mercy when it comes to timing. We cannot start the clock (the realtors need about two weeks to clean, stage, and take pictures) until Jackie thinks we are ready, and we are not ready yet. I need to pack some items on the bookshelves, clean the carpets in the second bedroom, do some work outside, take clothes to the cleaner.

We got the furnace maintenance done, I finished my puzzle, Lucas moved to an apartment. Jackie says she will call the realtors Monday. Things are proceeding.

All done.