The Last JoyRide

Part 12

Wednesday 9:22 AM

I put my worry, anxiety and tension as best I could to the back of my mind. It was best considering the time I had left to just cleanup the rest of my belongings and pack them in the camper and Cruiser. It didn't take too long. A few more phone calls to the local utilities, credit card payments on the phone and even the utilities were taken care of. I had stopped receiving mail probably a week earlier, my friend having agreed to receive anything I got until I got settled somewhere. That was the least of my worries. I had no bills for the first time in my adult life and I wasn't expecting a presidential nomination or any outstanding job offers.

I opted not to wash the outside of the trailer and instead focused on cleaning the inside and boy it needed it. There was years of dust in places there shouldn't have ever been. It took going over everything with a couple of old toothbrushes before I was happy with the result. I flushed out the plumbing, tested the propane lines to the stove and the shower, changed the dry rotted tires and replaced several fuses and bulbs inside and out. The swing-out awning took some oiling and with a little coaxing it too proved to be in good working order. That I did roll out and clean with the hose and brush, letting it dry in the sun as I wiped the inside down for a second time using bleach wipes and clean paper towels.

After a while everything looked better and smelled better. I looked around. I didn't really have much anymore. Clothes, tools, some books, a few knick-knack mementos, guns, money and cruiser parts. I had nearly everything packed in totes and stacked in the garage. While the trailer was airing out I packed everything else as well and moved the totes into the back of the cruiser first, then put what was remaining in the floor of the camper. I locked the guns under the bed with 2 totes of ammunition.

I looked around the packed little camper. It was going to be home. It was a little sad. I had worked so hard on the house and now it was gone, that and practically everything I had ever owned. Life, in terms of objects had been reduced to a number of black and yellow plastic totes. Sure, it was what I wanted, what I planned even, but having it staring me right in the face was a little daunting. I had never been a nomad. Up until that very moment it had simply been a dream, maybe even a fantasy. It seemed a way to exist, no rather to live without operating in the confines of what society had become for those of us who no longer fit or comfortably conform.

The last thing I did was change the oil in the cruiser, then showered and put on clean clothes. I stuffed my dirty clothes into a trash bag. Until that point I had put zero thought into washing clothes. After checking through the empty house one last time I picked up Henry and slung him over my shoulder then I locked up. I separated the house keys from my car keys to make them easier to pass to the new owners upon their closing. That was it. I took my last look through the rear-view mirror as I pulled out of the driveway.

Wednesday 1:47 PM

I drove back to the shop that afternoon pulling the trailer and all my prized possessions in it, including a grumpy red tomcat. He was going to be a challenge. I pulled the trailer around to the back of the building and parked across two faded yellow lined spaces parallel to the building blocking one of the three ancient tilt out glass windows. The little trailer towed well. The Cruiser didn't even feel any different with it back there. The trailer brakes were going to need some adjusting, maybe even some work but even that was no big deal. It was going to be a breeze to drive out west.

I walked in the shop with Henry slung over my shoulder. He hung there lazily purring. I was hungry and tired but ready to go with Joy to claim her repossession. I hoped she too would be hungry as her eating habits were no better than mine.