September is a busy month for us. We just got back to Imperial Beach from our trip to Guam (business and pleasure), we’re getting things in order, to move the furthest from a military base (we’re not in a roommate age), ever, and then we’re taking our first motorcycle road trip with Uncle Ed as a way to acquire his Softail Cross Bones that he doesn’t want to ride anymore. We try the new Pizza Port location and watch the sunset.

Lakeside Imperial Beach

still moving in

We sign the lease for Lakeside, and I pay the deposit, change our address, set up electric, upload proof of insurance, schedule movers, and take a load of boxes to the storage unit (where most of our stuff is because we didn’t have room for it in our friend’s place — we appreciate the discount rent). I’m moving boxes to save money because we’ve never had to pay for movers, and I want to save them time and stairs that they will charge for. Then I can pack the car full to drop off after the walk-through tomorrow.

Lindo Lake

Caleb walks me to the beach for coffee before he leaves for work, since he has to stay late for Chief season as he takes two weeks off soon. Sometimes we live such a romantic life, and I’m here for it. I’ll go to my optometrist for an Optomap retinal exam (without dilating drops) that detects eye diseases and systemic conditions. I’m glad to know that my young eyes were just lacking exams altogether, as this technology was developed in the 90s. The doctor I see most is my dentist.

airplane views

I meet with our property manager, Shannon, on Wednesday. Caleb gets home an hour before the movers arrive, and they’re on the clock until 6pm, minus a long lunch break. Anyway, we helped move stuff too, or it would’ve taken two days, even though it feels like that’s what we paid for. We drive back to the old place for our food and kitchen appliances, unpack for two hours, and then enjoy a short bath. I’ll go back the next day to pick up my bicycle (that was in our friend’s garage) and then clean the floor as I would when moving out of anywhere else.

Oak Harbor

I don’t usually write about oil changes, but my notes for this… the oil light comes on, even though we’ve put more oil in (this turns out to be a recall issue that we get fixed). At the shop, one guy likes that I have Classical music on the radio, a tonic water bottle in the cup holder, and my bike in the back. The other guy opens my door for me, and loves that the cameras offer full surround footage. We still have so many boxes, but it’s nice to see our things after so many years.

Caleb on a motorcycle

I’ll go for a walk through the neighborhood, start a new donate pile (it seems to be a constant in our house), and Caleb finds room for his garage things in the dining room, living room, and spare bedroom. We’ve got to get it semi-liveable in here, as we will have our first guest when Uncle Ed stays with us before he rides back home to Washington.

burrito from El Cazador

Caleb lands in Denver as I’m eating breakfast on his way to Montana to deal with paperwork that he’s mailed twice in an attempt to get this done before our ride. I will walk around Lindo Lake and look at birds while he deals with the drama that is his dad. I fly out two days later to meet Caleb in Seattle. I get to walk through the metal detector because of the line, which is rare these days unless you’re a child or in a wheelchair. On the plane, I turn my long sleeves into a scarf, put my hair up, and take off my boots to help me cool down on this overly warm flight.

I’m sitting here, smiling, thinking about the sandwich that Caleb will get me when he lands first and how much I love him. I’m not sure what he has to choose from, though. This message, “Due to normal aircraft movement, channel is temporarily unavailable,” pops up on my screen. Luckily, it was just a temporary loss of GPS, as this usually occurs in flight simulators, so I’m sure the pilots were prepared. I wait on the tarmac while Caleb is at my gate with either sandwiches or a shitty turkey wrap (it’s happened before).

Washington

We wait an hour and a half for the shuttle that will take almost three hours to get us to Oak Harbor with a twenty-minute ferry ride. In the morning, I’ll have coffee with Ed and Lorraine. Caleb will join us for breakfast. We’re off to the bank for funds and then the motorcycle store for a fancy brain-protecting case for Caleb with a Bluetooth system, so we can talk or listen to music while we ride, which the guys can’t get to connect after an hour. I’ll buy Lorraine’s helmet, jacket, chaps, and gloves. We take a 40-mile ride with me on the back of Ed’s bike, and Caleb does great.

The guys continue to work on comms, and then we’ll go to dinner with Aunt Jamie and Kevin at El Cazador. Up early again, treated to a breakfast of eggs with onion and tomato, buttered toast, and coffee with chocolate creamer (and bacon for those interested), and on the bike to ride along the Skagit River and Sauk River with lunch at Burger Barn. When we get home, it’s time to wash butts and gear as we will ride to the Keystone Ferry Landing under the cover of tomorrow morning’s darkness.