Oh, how a part of me wishes I could snap my fingers and have it be one week from today! That’s when we should arrive in Oregon. Better yet, I think I might snap us up a couple of years from now.

I am so, so overwhelmed right now with all that’s going on, even though it’s not in a bad way like with the 7-year nightmare of an ordeal with the freeloaders. It just seems like there’s no happy medium with us and that we’ve either got to be bored silly or constantly on the go. It’s like something up there wants to always keep things moving for me. Especially since I moved to Arizona. I remember when we finally got all moved in here, I was almost bummed to have gone from always being on the go, to being bored with not much to do. Remember, I wasn’t writing stories like I am these days. So I really had nothing much to do other than clean the house, wash the clothes, take care of the animals and decorate. There wasn’t much else happening on top of journaling, reading and watching TV.

And then I got arrested and had plenty to do for the next 2½ years, and this pattern worries me. Meaning, when we finally do get the house built, then what? Do I have to go back to jail less than a year after moving into it? Or will I acquire some medical problem that’ll cause me to have to play appointment like crazy? Then again, I suppose there’s no point in worrying about what God’s next move will be to keep me from getting too bored for too long since it’s not going to be happening for a while yet.

We’re just glad that while we’re making this move, he doesn’t have to work nights like he did the last time around. Whenever he does work again, he promised he’d say “no” to free overtime. Helping friends is one thing, but we will not work for free and be used!

Anyway, yesterday’s swap meet was barely worth going to. I figured we’d be compensated for how well we did the last time. Besides, the heat was a factor in keeping people away, too. It was miserably hot. We managed to set up with the sun at our backs and with the RV providing shade, so it was actually quite lovely till around 9:30. By 11:00, though, it was a sauna. I wished I’d brought the mister! When traveling on the dirt roads, we had to go super slow or else the whole RV would vibrate like hell.

There weren’t any obnoxious kids, but the tomato-selling Mexies next to us got annoying at times with the damn bass they used to draw attention to themselves with. They tried to anyway, but it was slow for everyone. All the vendors complained about that. Still, why you would blast music like that there is beyond me. You’re supposed to be selling merchandise, not bopping around to music.

While I was there I gave a guy our number that a woman selling next to us brought me to talk to. The guy was a seller as well, and supposedly he’s going to call about checking out our furniture, but it hasn’t happened yet. No one’s responded to the ads either, which means we’re either going to sell it at the moving sale we’re planning on for Tuesday and Wednesday, give it to a consignment shop, let Goodwill haul it away, or leave it here for Huey to decide what to do with. Tom’s a little worried about that one. As usual, he’s worrying too much and trying too hard to do things perfectly, and as I told him, he’s too paranoid. Leaving stuff here isn’t going to make Huey jump in his truck, chase us down and shoot us. There’s nothing even the crazy laws of Arizona can do to us if we left shit here. He spends too much time worrying about how others may react and too much energy sweating little things, though he agreed we’d leave stuff in the sheds that we may not be able to get rid of. I don’t care. I mean, I’m not worried about it. I’m sure Goodwill will haul it as a last resort as much as I’d prefer to get some money for it, but if we did leave it here, I’m not worried about it. There are no bridges to burn with Huey and he does not have a hold on us!

So anyway, we ended up making about $50 selling an old wall clock, coffeemaker, Handistitch, small sewing machine, singing gorilla, what was left of the fake apple blossom tree I stripped, a wooden chest, flags/pole, 3 videos, 6 cut glasses, 3 decorative plates, a 3D poster, the CD/tape/radio Steve gave me in ’89, and a toy ball with a little ball inside you try to bounce into these things that extend from it.

Like I said, it was pretty dead. When we were there in January, there were about 4 long rows of vendors, but this time there was a little over one row. Couldn’t have been more than 10 vendors in all. All Mexicans selling crap. There were hardly any whites but that’s just Arizona for you, which has basically become an extension of Mexico. How I wished it was January! And when we hit the road I’ll wish it was April.

The only real eyesore there was the pig that cruised in and out of the place in his squad car. It waved to us, too. Don’t know if it was the story-telling bullshitter from when we first got here or not, but I only saw him twice for a few minutes each, so I could probably pass him on the street and not know it was him. Tom said he was probably driving through to make sure no one was running a business as you’re supposed to be selling used things there only if you have no business license. Then he thought he might’ve been looking for someone with the way he went barreling out of there, but pigs go barreling out of everywhere, so who knows? As long as they don’t tangle with me! Because if they do, they’re going to learn that they’re just not as powerful as they’d like to think they are and that they’re not God who can go pushing people around at will.

We’re still on for a Friday takeoff. We’re not going to ask Huey to stay longer so we can have more selling time because it’d cost us more to cool this warehouse of a house than any sale money we could rack up, and we don’t want to stiff the electric company. Stiffing phone companies is one thing, but electric companies have too many connections.

Today and tomorrow will be spent sorting out shit in the sheds as well as inside. Tomorrow he’s also going to see his mom for what could very well be the last time, along with Dave and Miss Perfect, who he said just had to take his picture when they picked up the RV. At least she was polite enough to ask this time! Not surprisingly, Tom let her. He’s not completely oblivious to his appearance and he always tries to look his best, but guys aren’t usually as self-conscious as women are. If anything, they think they’re hotter than hot itself.

I’m not going to accompany him to his ma’s, since these are people I’m not overly close to, and because I’m going to be on the road so damn much real soon. Too long for someone who hates to travel! I love flying, but not traveling by road. I’ll live, though, as it’ll also be fun and so much more comfortable in the RV than in a regular car or truck. Even the passenger seat of this thing is more comfortable because it’s roomier and has a seatbelt that only goes over your lap. I just wonder if I’ll feel like I’m in a jail cell all over again living in it for about a year, and like there’s no getting away from Tom till we pitch a tent.

I really hope Mom will give us a little something. We need all the help we can get! How I wish we could have our inheritance now, even if it’ll only be 20 grand because she has so many damn kids as 20 grand would more than certainly be better than nothing. The only reason I wonder is not only because they don’t like me and have helped us a few times since we’ve been here but because, as we both know, his mother is selfish. Meaning, she may be pissed that Tom, who’s clearly her favorite son, is moving far away, and even if it’s subconsciously done, she may spite us by not even giving us money for our 10th anniversary on the 15th, then his 47th birthday on the 28th.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll be having the moving sale. Due to the heat, who knows if we can get anyone out here other than the nosy neighbors who always come over when they see something going on? Because it’ll be weekdays, we’ll have it in the late afternoon to early evening in front of the house where we can have some shade. Tom’s going to put up a flier at the PO.

Yesterday I was so pissed to get my last book returned to me because the lazy idiots at the jail couldn’t peel off the address labels I sealed the envelope shut with. If that isn’t a classic example of pigs out to control and piss off others, I don’t know what is. I mean, that is total, total power play! All the fuckers had to do was peel the labels off and give Mary the damn story. Meanwhile, I’m stuck having to resend it. As I told her, though, she either gets it or she doesn’t. If she doesn’t, it’ll just have to wait till she’s released. I can’t keep throwing postage away like that right now when we need every spare penny we can get, and I’m not in the mood for mail games with the assholes there, either.

Along with my story, I’m sending Bob a quick note, too. Both will go out Monday and will probably be the last thing I ever mail anyone from Arizona. They should get it the day before we leave. In my note to Bob, I said that I hoped he was still alive and that he got the letter and that I just wanted to give him the new address. I didn’t get into detail about anything else just in case he doesn’t get the letter but said I’d explain it all to him if I heard from him.

The word “Klamath,” so we learned by online research, is actually the name of one of the Indian tribes in that area. They have a casino there that is actually owned by 3 different tribes.

I hope I’m less thirsty there. I know water’s good for you, but when you drink glass after glass, having to constantly up and pee gets old.

We decided that for $27 a month, it’d be worth it to rent a storage vault for valuables and non-necessities like we did when we moved here, only this one will be smaller. It’ll be 10’ deep, 5’ wide and 8’ tall. It’s enough for us, though. I was the one who decided we should do this, and Tom agreed because I don’t like the idea of having to drive in and out so much with our valuables just because we don’t want to leave them on the land until we build more secure places for it. It’s probably going to take close to a year to get the garage/bath up, so why hog up truck space with it for that long?

I never got my points for ordering from Yves through Lucky Points a while back. See, I say these points programs are all scams. Just total bullshit.

Anyway, I really hope we can get a little something for this furniture. We really need the money.

The backs of my thighs have been way stiff yesterday and today because of the rearranging I did a couple of days ago. I didn’t think I worked that hard, but apparently, I did more bending and squatting than I thought I did for the 4 hours I worked. I repacked a lot of boxes to better group decorative and non-necessary items for storage.

For a while, we thought we might dump the idea of a dumpster, but then we decided that paying the $110 for a store-size one would be worth it. It’d just make things a lot easier with all the crap we’ve got.

We never did bother getting the open-fire burn permits. Not just because we have more important things to spend our time and money on, but because our agreement with Huey was to leave the land/house in the condition it’s in. Well, the brush piles were present when he scouted out the land, so leaving them alone would be leaving it in the condition it’s in. Plus, they’re going to be plowing away so much other brush as it is that this will be nothing for them.