Travels with The Rayman

We sold our lovely home in Morro Bay and this set off a chain of events. Morro Bay was in the 60-degree range with a slight breeze as we backed down the driveway. And away we went. Off to the Northwest.  What on earth were we thinking? 

This substack /blog is a result of our move. Hey hiccups indeed happened and they were served up with a bit of irony and hilarity in the process. After all, we are in our late seventies and shouldn’t we be staying put? In Morro Bay we had friends but no family. We were established. We were comfortable and happy. There is no finer place to live than the central coast of California. Why oh why did we leave?

My husband, Rayman, teases that I like to move every ten years. He isn’t wrong except that he insinuates I’m part gypsy. However, in my own defense, there has always been a reason and he and I have always decided together to pull up stakes. So there is that. Leaving that aside, the other caveat is that while moving is a bitch, it has always ended up providing new adventure that include hiccups. And so it goes.

So, off we drove that mild winter day in December. Went headed to the great Northwest; specifically, we headed to Portland, Oregon aka Portlandia. The name sticks. Portland is a great city with trouble just like every other great city. It isn’t perfect. It’s no Morro Bay. However, we had spent the past 5 summers in a second home up in Portland and we had grown accustomed to its charms. The kids live across the mighty Columbia in Vancouver, Washington. We were close. The move made sense to us.

The day after we arrived, a blizzard blew in. Oh, my. I had never been in a blizzard. The closest ever to a blizzard I had come involved going to mountain to ski. Here’s the deal. At the end of the ski adventure, a trip home was all it took to leave the snow. Did I mention that skiing terrified me? As I skied down the trails, I worked hard not to get to the bottom of the ski runs. This resulted in strong legs because traversing the hill a100 times to avoid going fast takes work. When the day of skiing ended, I was ready for a piece of meat washed down with a glass of burgundy before I catapulted myself into bed. It was exhausting. But I persevered until one day I fell down on a flat run and couldn’t get up. That did it for me. No more of that foolishness. That was all I knew of snow.

Locked down in Portland because of an ice storm that followed the blizzard was our how we spent our first week in Portland. And that is how I decided I should try this substack business. I had time on my hands and was eager to write. So, here’s the deal. I will publish this post on my blog and on substack just for the fun of it! Incidentally, the name of my substack is Hiccups Happen.

Our doggie, Beau was shocked and unaccustomed to this new environment too. We drove our two cars up and the only one Beau could fit in was the Honda SUV CRV XYZ. On the floor of the car because every square inch of both cars were loaded with our stuff. Poor guy. This picture was snapped when we stopped at a strip mall to have a conversation with our broker about investing in a few CDs so the proceeds from our house would gather some interest. That was fun. Beau seemed interested too.

It was fun caravanning. I listed to Bach and Mozart because Rayman doesn’t favor longhairs and this offered me a perfect opportunity to indulge. He was probably rocking out to the Eagles. While alone, we were still together. Nice. The Oregon coast is beautiful, was beautiful. Plenty to look at during the journey north.

About those hiccups. Rayman lost his electric toothbrush somewhere. Our safe that holds our precious things was accidentally packed in a POD and when we finally caught up with it as we unloaded POD #1, we discovered we didn’t have the key to open the safe. Brilliant. Where is key? Don’t know. You would think that wouldn’t happen to our safe. Think again. When you are up to your ass in alligators, you forget about draining the swamp as the old saying goes.

 We also cannot find our financial files or our passports. That will keep us in the country. Hoping to find the passports before the election in November. We may need to move to Mexico. Just sayin. That wall swings both ways, doesn’t it?

Currently, our living room is a disaster area. Traffic cones might improve the place. POD # 1 contents included lots of our stuff along with furniture the kids wanted. Their furniture is now in their house. Our stuff is in their garage. Our house in Portland doesn’t have a garage which is not unusual for Portlandia. Most of the older homes here have garages that you can’t use because the garages are small and the driveways don’t have straight lines that would allow a driver to park a car by driving straight in. Matched with the problem that cars are so darn big now compared to the model T that they won’t fit in the garage. So people park on the streets which are so narrow, only one car can advance at a time. 

Here we are and now it is time to start thinking about getting to know our new state of Oregon. This state boasts Crater Lake, many extinct volcanic mountains, deepest gorge in North America. It has fabulous rivers including the Columbia Gorge, the Willamette, the Deschutes, the Snake, the Rogue are the famous ones. There are many more. Waterfalls. They do not rival the Yosemite falls but there are many to see here. Sand dunes and a rocky shoreline beckon. We are contemplating some trips to discover these things. Because hiccups always happen when you venture out, there will be much to report. Oh, and powwows. Planning on a doing some powwows this summer. With lots of reservations up here, the opportunities abound for Native American experiences.

See you soon!!

It will be a hoot.