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After
spending the last two months in Hillsboro, Oregon, getting ready for my trip, I finally
moved out of my apartment. During the past
couple of months, I've been pretty overwhelmed -- and surprised -- by how much I've had to
prepare for this trip, including things such as:
-
Fixing
my truck ($1,200 for a transmission overhaul in April and $1,400 for a new
differential last week). The guys at the shop smile a lot now whenever then
see me pull in.
-
Putting
my entire collection of music CDs onto MP3 discs.
-
Buying
a laptop computer and making CD backups
to take along.
-
Getting
my finances set up so I can pay my bills as I travel.
-
Scanning
my favorite 4,000 slides to take with me on my laptop.
-
Buying
a Canon D-30 digital camera and learning how to use it. It's really an
amazing camera.
-
Rolling
over my 401(k), getting health insurance, and taking care of other necessities.
-
Scanning
old family photos and documents to take with me.
and...
My
original plan was to leave in early April on a 4-month drive around the U.S.
before going to Australia in September, but the two months of prep work in
Hillsboro means I'll be leaving in June instead of April, and that's shortened my
U.S. trip. Now it looks like I'll have only about 2 months to drive around
the U.S., but that should still be enough time.
Before
I packed up my apartment in late May, I played one last round of volleyball at
Portland Community College. I've played volleyball at PCC almost every
Friday night during the past 10 years (though not getting much better in the
process), but it's a blast and the folks there are a lot of fun to
play with.
Above
left: Friday night volleyball at Portland Community College.
Playing volleyball is one of the things I'll miss the most during my trip.
Anyone out there ready for a pickup game?
Above
center: No, that's not me at the net. You think I can jump that
high?
Above
right: The PCC volleyball gang at Applebee's after the game. That's
me on the right (the one who looks exhausted).
During
the last week of May, I started packing all of the stuff in my apartment ... and
125 boxes later, I finished. After packing everything, I loaded the boxes
and furniture into a U-Haul, drove 6 hours to Bellingham, dropped everything off
at my Dad's house and drove back to Hillsboro... a 22-hour day. I was so
tired that, at 1 a.m., I
had to slap myself to keep myself awake while driving back to Portland. The
last week in my Hillsboro apartment was pretty hectic... and not very
nutritious, either. Since I was trying to eat up all my food in my
apartment, my dinners that week were a little odd, consisting of large quantities
of pickles, refried beans, olives, cranberry sauce, and six-year old Kellogg's
Corn Flakes in various combinations. I'm now at my Dad's house in
Bellingham where the meals are much better, and I plan to leave for my U.S. roadtrip in a few days.
Above
left: Packing things up in my apartment in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Above
center: The move took a full
week... and 125 boxes.
Above
right: My refrigerator with five years of decorations.
Above
left: Moving out of my apartment in Hillsboro one morning. And
that evening... Above
center: ... dropping my stuff off at my
Dad's house in Bellingham, Washington, before driving the 6 hours back to
Portland. It was a long day. Above
right: Dinner with good friends during my last night in Portland. There are three engineers in
this family: Left-to-right, Lisa (traffic), Mark (train), and Carl
(telecom). Great sukiyaki, Lisa!
Next
News
June
11, 2001 (San Jose, California)
Previous
News
May
19, 2001 (Hillsboro, Oregon)
April
30, 2001 (Hillsboro, Oregon)
April
19, 2001 (Bellingham, Washington)
April
5, 2001 (Bellingham, Washington)
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June 2, 2001 |
