Lately

 Sunset near Bend, OR this past weekend was lovely. Turns out smoky skies are good for a few things after all.

We traveled that stretch of US97 three times between Thursday evening and Monday afternoon, hauling two loads of sunflower seeds from Quincy, WA to north of Sacramento, CA. Those seeds will be planted and become another crop of the sunflower seeds that we hauled from Sacramento to Fargo, ND so many times last winter.

I do love that stretch of 97 from Weed, CA to Toppinish, WA. It is a lovely drive, and it smells wonderful, like pine and earth.

This past weekend was the second weekend of running straight through. We had a small break in that we had from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning to get the 700 miles back to Washington driven. We just bounced back up there empty for a Monday morning reload.

We needed that little break. It has been a very busy and profitable 2 weeks, but we are accustomed to getting to be a bit lazy on the weekends to recuperate, and not getting that for 2 weeks in a row, especially after a week off the road, has hit us hard. Although, on the flip side of that, it has gotten us worked into a schedule and a well oiled driving machine. Go Go Go...cha ching, cha ching!  That, of course, will come in handy with this whole moving thing, which is going to pack a punch financially and physically. Do you have any idea what it takes to move a business? If you thought moving a house hold was hard work, think about doing that along with a business. Lets not even get started.

Anyway, we got our sunflower loads finished up, took a shorty over the mountain from Sacramento and into Sparks, NV, and then reloaded in Carson City, NV and shot up here to Idaho over night for a morning delivery.

Monday was a difficult day. We were tired already, because though we had that little tiny break Sunday, we had neither one of us slept well the past two sleeping opportunities. We had a very early morning delivery, a rush to get to Sacramento and be first in line to load (it can take a long time there if you are not at the head of the line), and then an unpleasant visit with the Sacramento weigh station on our way out. Another story for another time.

And in the midst of all that, we received word that Malcolm's grandfather had passed away just that morning. We had known that he was ill and that he'd been taken to the hospital. Malcolm' s cousin was keeping us abreast of all that was transpiring, so it wasn't exactly a shock, but it was rather sudden, and mercifully over with quickly, but regardless of how prepared you are, it is never an easy thing to lose someone you love.

Malcolm's grandfather was a sweet spirited, quiet man who served the Lord through ministry and loved his family very much. He and Malcolm's grandmother were missionaries in Africa for a while, and upon returning to the US, he served as pastor to a number of churches around the country. When I first met them, they were actually living in Chattanooga, and Malcolm and I enjoyed having them close by and getting to visit with them when we lived there.

There has been much on our minds lately. It is not about just working anymore, but we now both find our driving time occupied with thinking and calculating and figuring on the best method, schedule, and organization of getting us and our life from point A to point B. And when we switch drivers, we compare notes, and one of us pretends to sleep while the other mulls over what the possibilities are. And to not be able to put those ideas into action immediatly is also frustrating. We are both the type that like to act on a plan or idea, once it is born.
And then add to that all the other dynamics of all that has transpired over the past weeks.

I promised to share our adventures with you in our move and our new home. I still commit to do so, but please allow me to be stingy with details for a bit longer. I will do my best not to exclude you for too long. I promise it will be worth the wait. And if it's any consolation to you, believe me when I say it's rather frustrating to me to not be sharing things with you. But I just feel it's necessary for now.