Moon over Piney Point Lighthouse – June 12, 2011
My trusty old Mazda pickup truck has been with me since I last left Monterey, California in 1998. These days it mostly sits in the driveway, making a occasional trip to the dump during our community’s annual spring cleanup. Yet I do pull it back into action when moving stuff about the country to and from my temporary homes. It has never let me down!
On the previous weekend I loaded up the low hanging fruit – a danish chair, and the cheap Ikea furniture items I buy as throw-away furniture. In this case I opted to keep all of it as I might need some furnishings in Florida or even California. I just can’t say where I will be spending more time.
This last weekend I had actual packing to do – dishes, clothes, and all the loose stuff one accumulates over the period of a year. It nicely fit in the bed of the truck. As thunderstorms were in the forecast, I covered the bed with a plastic tarp. The trip went perfect and I only hit one major downpour, which made the extra effort of putting on the tarp worth it.
I arrived home at about 5:00 pm and it was sunny and hot as hell. My first impulse was to relax a bit to recover from packing, loading the truck, and the four hour drive. As I sat down I heard an ever so faint rumble. Sure enough, monster storm clouds could be seen rolling in, oddly from the northwest.
Well so much for a rest. I pulled my Mazda around to the back of the house and unloaded everything to the screen porch. That operation went far smoother than loading it all up earlier that morning.
By the time I moved the last box in, the sky darkened as if it were night. The wind began howling and I swear the temperature dropped 25 degrees within a few moments.
As the downpour hit, I lit my Weber Kettle (with a plan to grill some brats), uncorked a Pinot Grigio, and sat outside on the porch enjoying the near blinding flashes of lightning and crackle & boom of thunder as only a summer storm can deliver.
The cool stiff breeze was much appreciated, given minutes ago it was a hot, humid 90!
Within an hour I had devoured a double brat and walked out to the pier to enjoy the last of the storm as it headed out over the Potomac River. It was still cool and very breezy. At around sunset I took my ritualistic walk down Lighthouse Road to the Piney Point lighthouse.
So ends Phase II of the move. Next week I load up my bed and Sony Bravia and repeat the trip for the final time. But that’s just the start. Saturday I switch back to the bimmer and head south to Sanvannah. I booked a room in the The Bohemian Hotel right on the Riverfront, which should make for a fun evening revisiting yet another home of mine. Then on Sunday morning I’ll get an early start down I-95 to Tampa Bay. I can’t wait to take in dip in the Gulf at Clearwater Beach.
