27 June 2021 – Day 30

I have been back in the USA four weeks, today. And it has been a busy, tiring, emotional, relaxing, and very worth while month. I think I have been able to isolate one, possibly THE one, reason I don’t post more often. I feel like I need to write a complete history with all context bringing me to this point before I can say what I want to say. Those of you who have spent any time conversing with me will recognize this (unfortunate?) tendency. Seems overwhelming.

This last month has been largely about adjusting to my change in conditions with the overriding goal of getting all of my non-Namibian household goods out of my boat/home for the past 30 years and sold or otherwise disposed of. Yesterday was the target day – and it’s done! There was a Marine Flea Market at Napa Valley Marina in California (my boat’s dry land home for the past six+ years). My daughter, Lara, her mom, Dana, my friend Tim and Lara’s friend Quinn, all showed up at ungodly early hours and helped with the selling and displaying. It was a LOT of stuff! Naturally, taking a picture didn’t even occur to me until I was collapsing onto the bed after we all had a nice, late, lunch as a thank you to them, and I got back to my BnB “home” in Vallejo.

With the exception of one car full of minor stuff I’ll drop off at Dana’s house tomorrow, I now own almost nothing still in the USA other than my boat – and that will be taken care of in July. Lara and Dana, and Tim, took a LOT of stuff home most of which will be sold at a flea market in Sausalito by Lara and Dana but they wanted it that way because they can possibly make some money out of it. And I hope they do. It is no longer my issue.

Also on my agenda for June was taking care of my health. I’ve been the Veteran’s Administration hospital about eight times, mostly for routine checks but I also had cataract surgery on my right eye about 10 days ago. Things are going well, and I’ll have the left eye done in about 3 weeks. The VA is being absolutely fantastic! They want to get me all fixed up before I leave the USA again, wherever I go. So they are pushing the surgery scheduling to make sure I’m in good shape before leaving the area.

Speaking of schedules, as of now it looks like I’ll still take the California Zephyr (train) to Chicago the first week of August, then run around visiting friends in Wichita and Milwaukee for about 10 days. Then a high school friend with whom I have been in sporadic contact for the past 54 years will meet me in Chicago and we’re taking the Empire Builder (train) from Chicago to Seattle. I’ll bang around Seattle for a while, then go back to the San Francisco area to have my left eye surgery checked and take care of some other stuff, then depart SF again around 27 August to go back to the Northwest and either cross Canada W-E (train) if Canada will allow visitors by then (unlikely from my current viewpoint) or I may take a ferry to Alaska for a few weeks. I’m not sure what will come after that.

Friends in Namibia are being seriously, and directly, impacted by the COVID spike there. It’s really sad. I’m glad I’m not there at the moment, but wish I could be closer for my friends who are suffering. It is seriously not good in Namibia right now.

Trying to make sense of the world, and of humanity, is so challenging. Oddly I feel I’m reaching a place of peace with it all in spite of the disruptions, struggles, and tragedy. It all seems to be coalescing into some changes in how I’m approaching life that feel deeply like they are going to end up in a very positive space.

Rather than try to explain what I mean by that now – and be on the keyboard for hours – I’m going to post this, and (now that my household goods and major doctor’s appointments are dealt with) try to post more often.

For those of you who wants photos, here are a few. Fair warning, however, I have always tended to value personal experience more than photographs, so I’ll do what I can and try to be better and more visually interesting as time goes on!

Until next time!

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Andy