Vanishing Point

If you've been following my story, you might recall that leaving today was my Plan B. My foot has been feeling noticeably better each and every day, but yesterday I still was not in good enough condition to finish loading the van. I could have asked my cousins to haul everything out there for me, but then I would have had a pile of boxes and bags sitting in the middle of the open space inside the van, and I definitely didn't want to leave with it in that condition. I also realized last night that I still had a few other loose ends that it would be really good to tie up before leaving. So I changed Plan B from leaving today, to spending today running errands, making phone calls, and loading the van in preparation for leaving tomorrow. After making all my phone calls and running my errands, I turned my attention to the van. At the highest temperature today it was about 30 degrees outside and cloudy, so everything in the van was at most 30 degrees. That did not sound at all ap

December 26 was Plan A, but that didn't work out. The evening of December 24, I tripped on an uneven sidewalk in the dark, and while doing an oh-so-graceful dance to keep myself from falling, I twisted my left foot, and not just a little bit. The pain was immediate. I could barely put any weight on that foot. The thing about injuring your foot on the evening of December 24 is that the only option for finding out whether anything is broken until December 26 is the emergency room. My foot did not even come close to meeting my criteria for an emergency room visit, so I got myself home and as immobile as I could with my foot elevated and wrapped with the cold packs from my freezer. I waited. I watched TV. I read. I had a whole day, for the first time in months, when I had to give myself permission to sit and do nothing. My cousins dropped off a delicious smoked turkey dinner for me. I waited some more. I watched lots of TV. I couldn't realistically imagine finishing packing

I'm starting this blog to keep friends and family informed of my travels. This is the outside of my van. And this is pretty close to what it started out looking like on the inside (except for the plastic drop cloth behind the passenger area, and some touch-up spray painting that I had already done). When I hit the road, I will show some "after" photos, possibly video, of the inside.  I'll post something again in a few days. Happy Holidays! Karen