[The road stretches out through the center of this wide shot; at the distant horizon, a hint of snow-covered mountains blends into the low clouds. The road is tree-lined on the left side; snowy fields on the right lead up to a snow-roofed barn.]
I haven’t been talking about it much, mostly because STRESS & I dunwanna, but we’re coming up on the end of our time in our winter haven. It’s time to move. Also the van registration was due, for which I needed the title, which was in Alamosa, so I decided to work on two problems at once by loading up the van & driving south.
Of course I brought Loiosh; I was planning to be gone overnight. I don’t spend nights apart from the boy unless I really, REALLY have to.
He was … less than entirely thrilled.
[Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness and a blue bow tie, stands on a pillow in the van’s passenger seat, staring pointedly at the camera. His ears are unimpressed.]
The drive down was lovely — clear dry roads, but plenty of fresh snow covering everything from the night before. I stopped a few times, once to gas up & let Loiosh have a bit of a wander, once just to get a picture or two.
[A mostly-brown field with occasional patches of snow is bisected by a line of snow fencing. Above it rise mountains: lower ones with tree-covered flanks, and a few higher peaks, still snow-covered.]
Also a pic of the crap in the van, because, well.
[The back of the van, a big passenger van with the seats pulled out, is filled with boxes and crates to just below the windows.]
I didn’t bring too much, just what we already had packed up; I was gonna have to unload on my own & didn’t want to completely wear myself out. & since the stuff occupied the entire floor, I had to unload that day, or I wouldn’t have had a place to sleep.
Fortunately that went quickly, even with the high winds, & with Loiosh making things difficult — I’d thought the wind would keep him in the van, but he slipped out & trotted the entire way down the line of storage units before I even realized he was missing. I found him trotting BACK down the other side of the row, chivvied him back towards the van, then just barely caught him before he slipped UNDER the end unit to get out of the wind. *whew*
[The doors of a very nice storage unit. Instead of the usual flimsy building with a flimsy garage door, it’s a container of the type that travels on container ships, with two extremely sturdy doors that close with extremely sturdy door hardware. Most of the base meets the ground but two small sections near the center have gaps about three inches high and five wide.]
See those lil gaps? The entire side of the containers is that high off the ground. Loiosh would TOTALLY have fit. He almost DID. *shudders*
ANYWAY I got everything unloaded & shoved inside in a not-too terrible manner, then did NOT take a picture of the inside of the storage unit. Mostly because, well, there’s a lot of stuff in it & it’s. Kind of a mess. WELP.
That handled, I headed to the traditional Mall Wart parking lot, planning, once I was there, to set my itinerary for the next day. I had a number of stops to make, the first of which was either the local UPS or FedEx store, thence to rent a personal mailbox for the purpose of having a street address to register the van.
… there isn’t a UPS store in Alamosa. Or a FedEx store. The closest of either is in Pagosa Springs, an hour north, not at ALL convenient for picking up large boxes filled with soapmaking supplies.
So I had a bit of a panic, flailed around a bunch, ran into Mall Wart to pee, whined on the group Discord, then made an entirely NEW plan, which was to drive to Fountain, pass out for the night, & then do all the same stuff I’d planned to do in Alamosa, except that I’d use a friend’s address to register the van & deal with getting a personal mailbox LATER.
*extremely dramatic sigh*
*cat picture*
[A close view of Loiosh’s face. His tie is slightly askew. He’s staring up and to the right of the camera — right at me, as it turns out.]
Loiosh was. Not very patient with my lil meltdown. Nor with the additional THREE AND A HALF HOURS OF DRIVING he had to endure before we got where we were going, instead of just staying in the Mall Wart parking lot. Nevermind he SLEPT THROUGH IT ALL. Plus it got us out of the wind. Plus it was warmer in Fountain, although he spent the entire night under the covers with me ANYWAYS.
… given the eighth inch skim of ice on the top of his water bowl come morning, good idea.
We parked in the traditional Love’s parking lot, almost close enough to Fountain Creek to listen to the water all night, but not QUITE. We did walk down there the next morning, though, & I spent about five minutes just sitting on a rock, listening to the creek.
[Fountain Creek is broad, slow, and brown under a blue sky. It wends away towards a bridge near the horizon; the edge is dotted with boulders.]
The break was a good choice, since the rest of the day was one bit of beaurocracy after another. It all went smoothly, but it’s still wearing. Eventually I emerged from the greater Colorado Springs metropolitan area with new license plates, fresh wiper blades, & a full tank of gas, but no cigarettes at all, thence to drive the two hours home & finally, finally flop.
… the next day I even notified the friend in question that I had, at least in the legal sense, moved in with her again.
