The trip had brought about some amazing changes in my health. I was able to walk farther with less assistance and had less pain, in general. My lungs felt stronger than they had in a long time and I was sleeping better than I had in decades! I was ready to tackle the tasks at hand.
In three and a half weeks, our house was emptied of most of the things we had accumulated over 30 years together. We lived in this particular house for almost 18 years; a small converted summer cottage in Budd Lake. Boy! Did we ever have a lot of stuff jammed into that place! Our shakedown trip showed us that there was really very little else we needed on top of what we initially brought with us. However, there were some things we still wanted. Even more, there was a bit of stuff that had a lot of sentimental value. Thanks to my daughter, Teresa Christensen and Jeff's sister, Colleen O'Hara for helping us preserve those memories. There were a lot of pictures that just digitizing wasn't enough. Who would have thought we could fill up a 20 cubic foot dumpster?
Jeff and George Schaberg (Grounded Consulting, LLC) did most of the hard and heavy work. I am really good at being bossy and following behind them doing the clean up thing. Unfortunately, the clean up thing and the heaving of stuff into the dumpster, made me sick. I also ran out of the herb that I take for pain management and had to try a substitute. The substitute actually seemed to make me sick, also. So, for the last 10 days or so that we were home, I was pretty sick, off and on.
I spent at least one day each week at the bike shop. I love almost everything about my job; the owner (Brendan Poh), the employees (most of them are family to me) and the shop itself. You won't find a finer shop or a more dedicated group of folks anywhere. People think that running a bike shop would be a pretty, laid-back job to have. Not if you want to do everything you can to inspire and support cyclists! The amount of work it takes is incredible and the months of April and May are the most extreme. I have worked in a number of industries from mom-and-pop grocery stores to being a mid-level AT&T manager. In many ways, this was the most challenging. Unfortunately, I am like an addict about the shop. I love it so much but I cannot endure the challenges like I could when I was younger. The stress is too much for me. What once gave me so much joy and pleasure, now causes me pain. That's really depressing for me.
While we were in NJ, one of our good friends, Rich Hobbie (Hobbie Heat & Power), let us set up camp in his parking lot. His mother has an RV similar to ours so he has a full set of hook-ups for when she comes to visit. You will not find a kinder host than the Hobbies! Not only did they keep us supplied in fresh eggs from their chickens, Rich fabricated a bumper for us in his shop. The front end of the RV is all fiberglass, so if we were to hit a deer or other critter, it would really mess up our front end. Not with this bumper! Rich is also a mountain biker and he added an arm so that Jeff can have a repair stand for his bike wherever we go. If any of you NJ folks have heating needs, Rich is the guy to see!
All of our big stuff was either sold, taken to auction, or given to friends. Probably the hardest thing was to see Jeff's truck go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was old and rusting but we both loved it so much. The 5-inch left that I pretty much demanded he put in 15 years ago now kept me from riding in it much. I had a power recliner that seemed to have healing powers. It's good I wasn't there the day that left or I might have thrown myself on it sobbing. The house was put on the market with American Country Real Estate (once again, thank you, George Schaberg). Jeff and I had one last pizza and beer (with our wedding champagne glasses) and said good-bye to that part of our lives. It's kind of funny, we have been together for over 30 years, but only got married when we bought the house.
Settling up our life in NJ was so hard, even though our new life is so wonderful. We are leaving behind a lot of wonderful friends; I know I could never list them all, but in particular the Kruse family, Brendan Poh and Cathy Brennan, Kim Hawkswell, Kevin Eng, Rich and Cheryl Hobbie, Jon and Megan Sellers, Nick Paglia,
Eric DeSanto, Adam Wolf and all of the Bulldog Mountain Bike team. We love them all and will miss them all. Even though you stay friends, it's never quite the same
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| One last cup of coffee with the best of friends, the Kruses. |
Time for the new life to start in earnest!!!
