January 1 - December 31, 2006
This period can best be described with one word - Lethargic. It seemed that the less that I did the less I wanted to do.
I did pick up a Scion xB on January 4th, the replacement for Cousin Mini that I ended up trading after unsuccessfully trying to sell. The xB is a model that has two first impressions by people; they either love it or hate it. It is either "cute" or "ugly" depending on that first impression. I gave up some 12 horsepower in the trade but with a reduced weight it should still be an acceptable tow vehicle for my Teardrop and I should have some mpg improvement.
This is Pegasus/SHOOBOX my new tow vehicle for Pandora/DASHOO.After getting my xB I installed a hitch and started thinking about a spring Road Trip. I had canceled my trip last Fall but had planned one for the Spring that would have included some time in Mexico; maybe Cooper Canyon and then further south to the Vera Cruz Coast where a fellow teardrop owner lives. I eliminated that part of the trip from my thinking when I broke a tooth just after Christmas and had to have a crown put on it. I then had to shorten the trip some more when I broke another tooth one week before I was to leave on March 30th. I had a temporary crown on during the trip and got the permanent crown when I returned. So the greater part of my Road Trip money went into my mouth rather than into more miles and visiting more places. However, with that said you can follow what I'm calling my Deming, NM Loop by clicking on it here or at Site Map-Road Trips.
Since my retirement last year I have been thinking about moving from Reno/Sparks. When I first moved here in 1992 it had a total metropolitan population of around 100,000 and has now grown to over 300,000. Way back then I could ride my bike from near downtown Reno through Sparks and be out in the county within 15 minutes. Today I wouldn't dare try - the traffic is so bad on some of the streets that I rode then that I won't even walk on them now. I needed the larger city back when because it offered employment to an accountant that a small town would not. Now, there is no reason for me to stay here other than medical and dental care. I have applied for an apartment in a government subsidized complex in Yerington but have heard nothing all year. The trip to Deming was a see the country trip but also a scouting trip for a place to move. Although Deming has been ruled out I may take another look at Silver City in the future.
After returning from the Deming, NM Loop Trip I settled into a rut of eat, read and sleep for 4 months. The only break in this routine was a visit by Mari (one of my students in 2000) from Japan. She was here 1 1/2 days and I gave her a tour of downtown Reno on the 1/2 day and then a 300+ mile day tour to Virginia City, Yerington, Carson City, S. Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City, Truckee & back to Reno. She was amazed by the desert landscape and Lake Tahoe snapping photo after photo with her cell phone. I realized soon after she left that what I had been doing was not much different than eat, work and sleep and needed to get out and do something. That something was a walking program to replace the bike riding that I did in the past but is just too dangerous in Reno/Sparks now. The walking has been good for me; I've lost a little weight and get out into the fresh air. The fresh air may be in the teens or low 20s early in the morning when I like to walk but it has been beneficial. To keep me motivated everyday I have set a goal to walk the Katy Trail in Missouri sometime next year. I'll be writing more about that when it happens.
I closed out the year by going to the biking Christmas Dinner that is hosted by John & Janis (fellow cross country riders in 1990) each December. It seems like I have only managed to attend about 1/2 of all of them that I have been invited to for one reason or another. This year the weather was cooperative with only rain on Saturday and worrisome on Sunday when I returned home but I had only very light snow showers. The weather has always been my greatest problem in trying to get to the dinner and back home.
Well that was the year, not much going on but my worse days of not working have been better than my best days of working! My advise - retire early!