Travel

Without stirring abroad,
One can know the whole world;
Without looking out of the window
One can see the way of heaven.
The further one goes
The less one knows.
-- Lao-Tzu

Sunday, May 2, 1999
One year ago: Award-Winning

Jack decided that he needed to go down to Olympia today and take his older daughter some of her stuff. It wasn't the greatest day for this, since it was raining and the mattress and bedboards did stick out of the end of his truck, but we covered them with plastic and secured them with bungee cords, and it did the trick.

As we were driving to a McDonalds breakfast before setting out on the highway, I mentioned that yesterday had been the year anniversary of the first time Jack wrote me. He was a bit mortified, which hadn't been my intention at all in bringing it up! Because of a hard-drive failure some months ago, he didn't have that mail anymore, so though he knew it was this time of year, he didn't remember the exact date.

I hadn't mentioned in this journal on the day I got his note, but I did talk about it when we first met face to face, in June of last year. I'm so glad he decided to take that risk and send me mail!

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A----, Jack's older daughter, said not one word of thanks for the transportation of her possessions (in this load, stuffed animals and toys), but if Jack had gotten rid of them instead, I'm sure she would have been very upset. The bunk bed that was hers will be used by her sisters now, at her mother's trailer.

He and I took a different route driving back to Seattle than we usually do, going though the small rural villages of Yelm and Roy. (A good lunch at Roy, in a general store converted to a restaurant and country music honky tonk.) It was interesting to see the dividing line as we approached Tacoma -- suddenly we were in strip mall central! With pawn shops, dollar stores and K-marts as far as the eye can see.

I'd suggested earlier that we could stop at Costco on the way back, and we did that even though Jack had a lot of stuff to do later in the day. He wanted to buy a bunch of plastic storage boxes with lids that fold over. He likes the ones he has, and he needs storage for his move. I was very amused when he fell in love with the same set of cast iron cookpots for camping (say that three times fast!) that Julie R and Mike did recently! He wanted to buy the set now, because things often show up at Costco then are never seen again. But buying now wasn't good for him, since the move and being between jobs might put him in a tight financial squeeze soon. So I hinted pretty broadly that he might get the set for his birthday.

As we were driving towards my place, there seemed to be some hangup at a traffic light. The car at the front of the line wasn't moving, through several light cycles. We were about five or six cars back. Finally Jack pulled around, into a lane that was closed to traffic because of construction, and drove up in front of him. He stopped and jumped out of the car, and walked back to the stopped car which was now behind us. He spoke, then shouted, "Are you OK?!" The driver was apparently passed out, with head back and mouth open, but the shouting woke him up, and he started to drive forward. This meant that Jack had to step pretty smartly to get back in his car so as not to be rammed! He didn't have a chance to get the license number of the car, darn it! So we didn't get to call it in to the police.

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When we were at lunch earlier, we pored over the travel section in the Sunday paper and talked about possible trips. Jack had several notions that sounded like good deals to him -- Maui, or what about Australia [!]. I'd be agreeable to any of these. He was kindly bringing up all these possibilities to try and suss out what I would like to do, but I'd be pleased to go on any of these trips, so I frustrated him slightly at first. There's a bunch of places I'd like to travel to, but I've not made it much of a priority. I just wasn't ever moved to go by myself! So he kept saying "oh, here's a great deal to x!" and I'd say "Sounds great!" then he'd say, "but this package to Y includes a car," and I'd say "That would be a fun place to go." All this agreement was very pleasant, but it didn't give Jack any information on my preferences, which is what he was really after. (What a sweetie!) So it looks like it may very well be Australia and the World Con! Quite an expedition, especially if we extend the trip to visit other parts of the continent as Jack wants to do.

Jack drives up to Bellingham early tomorrow morning, to start his new job. It hadn't occurred to me that he might be feeling some first-day butterflies! But I know he'll do just great. Who could dislike him? And even on occasions when he's told me later that he was nervous and embarrassed, like at a beginning dance lesson, he always looked like he was doing just fine. The adrenaline, I guess!