Things I’m looking forward to in a house in a small town in the Northwest.
- Rooms. This will be the first time in 10 years I’ll be able to walk through a doorway and not end up outside (or in a bathroom).
- Room. Being able to move through my living space without bumping into things, knocking objects over, or having to leapfrog assorted dogs.
- Tap water that doesn’t destroy everything it touches.
- Filling a glass of water right from the spigot and being able to drink it (instead of hauling 55-gallon barrels of drinkable water from town and 5-gallon jugs from the power shed).
- Green.
- A notable dearth of rattlesnakes.
- Power that comes at the flip of a switch without any personal prayer or engineering involved. (Yes, I know; it’s major coolness living off-grid, and we preparedness types are supposed to be able to generate our own power by rubbing two sticks together or something and it’s fashionable for us to scorn “the grid.” But solar power is really not ready for prime time.)
- Not being 12 miles from town. (Yes, it’s also been cool telling “civilized” people that I have to drive through five desert washes just to get to the grocery store, and when it rains I can’t leave the property because the flash floods might carry my SUV away. But enough’s enough. Those floods have been impressive, though.)
- Having a real library within a mile of me again. Whoohoo!!!
- Green.
- Trees taller than my kneecaps.
- Being near the ocean even if I don’t go there all that often, and even if it’s always 50 degrees and foggy when I do.
- Having a generator be a backup device and not a regular part of living.
- Fecundity. Wild mushrooms in the fall. Fiddlehead ferns. Streams teaming with fish. Blackberries, huckleberries, and salmonberries growing everywhere. All kinds of stuff growing everywhere.
- A toilet. That flushes.
- A bathtub. Withactual hot water.
- Being able to run a hair dryer, a microwave, or a fan without a) paroxysms of guilt or b) hitting the low-battery cut-off point.
- Green.
- Green.
- Green.
Final packing day tomorrow. Trailer loading on Thursday. Hit the road on Friday.
I’m taking backroads most of the way and making a leisurely trip of it. I expect I’ll be able to blog a bit at truck stops or motels-with-wifi.
Welcome to the Northwest. Although the coast is foggy, that means cold water, which translates into abundant fresh seafood. You will have redwoods just south of you in Jedediah Smith Park (In the NW, if it is Smith, it is Jedediah.)
I came to this part of the world because of xerophobia and never had reason to regret it. When it rains, it isn’t too hard, but it lasts. Green.
Since you like literature, when you get the chance, make a day-trip up to Portland for Powell’s Books or cut over to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival
I can relate, as one who found herself from green Colorado into the brown Nevada desert…..not only is the color green better on the eyes, the moisture along with it is too…..
All that you have survived & adapted to (recently) is only a few more pieces of knowledge you have gained (and conquered the challenges), safely tucked away in your brain for one of those rainy days (a bad pun)….
Good luck with the move, be safe, and enjoy the journey…..
Enjoy your trip. We’ll see you at the new house.
Claire is totally making some of this up. Why, I know trees here that almost reach up to your neck. If you kind of squat a little.
And there’s something green here. It’s not even all that far away. And that snake incident? Blown completely out of proportion. Really!
Safe trip, Claire. I’ll miss you.
Have a safe and enjoyable trip! I know you’ll be much missed in the desert and much welcomed in the PNW.
I hope you do understand though, that having rooms with room will make you vulnerable to clutter and packrat-ism. Aside from that, the new location sounds totally utopian.
Hey Claire,
I hope that you have an uneventful trip and that the weather, traffic and authorities cooperate. As for the blog… don’t worry if you can post then please do but remember it will be here when your trek is done.
Hey, now…as a close human relative of the “irregular” dog that got snakebitten last year in that blogpost of Joel’s, let me just say, I don’t blame you a-tall for gettin’ gone from killer snake country!
Fair winds and safe journeys to you, Claire! I’m glad it’s all working out so well for you at last. :^)
Claire,
Here’s wishing for a safe and uneventful trip, closing, and move-in. Congratulations!
I was impressed to read
“Power that comes at the flip of a switch without any personal prayer or engineering involved. (Yes, I know; it’s major coolness living off-grid, and we preparedness types are supposed to be able to generate our own power by rubbing two sticks together or something and it’s fashionable for us to scorn “the grid.” But solar power is really not ready for prime time.)”
That kind of information deserves wider audiences! Coming from someone who has walked the talk and truly believes in self-sufficiency, it is an impressive bit of learning.
There’s a bumper sticker on my office wall:
Forget trees, Hug a power engineer.
Be well,
-S
Is your new home in Oregon or Washington?
I live in Oregon.
If you are heading through SLC and need assistance contact me (I assume you can access my email address).