Thursday, February 15…Mr. Fix It (Jeffree)

   I was ready to go to bed before 8:30 p.m. but I knew the folly of doing that.  It would have felt so nice in the short term, but somewhere in the middle of the night I would have been wide awake with nothing to do.  So, I stuck it out until about 10 when I found myself nodding off while watching TV. Oh, just give it up, girl!   

   I was out like a light immediately and when I woke sometime later, I checked my eyes…no goo.  I checked my nose…yay! easy breathing. And my nose wasn’t all crusted over, either.  Perhaps, I thought, I’m over the hump. Went to the bathroom, got a drink, and lay back down expecting to return to slumberland. Nope!  As I lay there, I could feel something leaking from my eye, my head was filling up and the coughing started. Dang it!! Sleep was rather elusive after that point.

   When I was telling Kim about my night, he said that when he came to bed I was sleeping so quietly and was so still that he was concerned that I wasn’t breathing.  But then I moved slightly, and he knew all was well. It didn’t take me long to start with the cat naps once we got on the road. 

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   Pulled into the Picacho KOA at about 1:30 p.m.  Ryan was working the desk today, so we got to catch up with him briefly.  Then we headed back to ‘our’ little corner of the park to get set up.  Must mention that the temperature reached at least 71^o.

   Kim does the outside stuff…leveling, hooking up the electric and sewer hose, fiddling with the water heater, etc.  I do the inside stuff…sweep/vacuum, wipe down all surfaces, put the couches down, and in general store all the extra stuff that made the trip out here.   When I pulled down one of the couches, it was obvious that it was pulling away from the wall. Didn’t look any too healthy to be sitting on, that’s for sure.  Called Kim to come take a look; it was the perfect opportunity for him to bring up his

‘renovation’ idea: remove the couches and replace them with a folding table and some chairs.  We both found it awkward to slide in and out of the couches when the table was in place.  Had to do a sideways shuffle in a slightly bent over posture.  His idea would open up our space…no more shuffling around the table. He’s been wanting to do this for a couple of years; I was the reluctant one but now was the perfect time to do it.  I’m sure he could have come up with some idea of how to repair the couch; in the meantime, we couldn’t use it.  Removing the couches was faster and easier, but we also had to figure out to do with the items that were stored under the couches:  the clothes basket, the vacuum tote, the tie downs for the bikes, etc.  Eventually, we decided to just do it and since we were heading to Coolidge for groceries, we added a table and chairs to the list.  We'd worry about the other stuff later.

   Kim got to it when we got back…20 minutes later we were sitting at a bigger table than we had before with a lot more room to walk around.  When my mom comes at the end of March, we’ll put a queen-sized mattress on the floor and sleep on that instead of the couches.  Our new set-up has been in place for a couple of hours now and we’re both really liking it.  It suits us.

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   It surprises me how ‘at home’ this area feels to me.  When Jeff and I travelled with the boys, we didn’t return to the same place year after year.  No, we explored a different region of the country every year, staying no more than 2 nights in one place.  That suited us then. But now, I so enjoy the opportunity Kim and I have to return to Picacho every year and just hunker down for a spell. Something so homey about that. 

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   We’ve been back in the land of rail transport for a couple of days now.  Today we saw two passenger trains. The first one had passengers…I could see them.  Not sure about the second one, though. That was a first for us in all our travels out to Arizona.  Always cargo trains, never passenger trains.  They’ve probably been there, we just haven’t seen them.

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   The sky is clear, but Kim didn’t get an opportunity to set up his telescope before it got too dark, so he did the living area changeover instead.  He has some new equipment and I know he’s anxious to put it to use.  Tomorrow will be set-up day for the telescope.