moving van | A Sagittarian Seeker

December 28, 2025- The loading started, this afternoon, with storage unit items up against the cab wall and house/garage items towards the gate. I will make an effort to reserve a storage unit, tomorrow morning, for Thursday evening or Friday drop-off, before I have to return the truck. Pictures and other wall ornaments came down; most were bubble-wrapped and boxed. Unexpired non-perishable food was also either boxed or bagged. These all go in the truck tomorrow morning. The house will really look empty, save for furniture, by tomorrow night.

It has been a successful, but exhausting day. That’s alright, my family is also engaged in exhausting work. We are going to build a strong Home Base, for our little one, and for each other.

The day started with my first effort to use my new debit card. FYI: If you have a digital debit account and have activated it, the physical card also has to be activated, separately. This I know now, for any future such transactions. It was a one-time annoyance to not be able to join my American Legion Post mates for one final breakfast. Theodore’s, near the market where I bought a couple of toiletries, was a perfect substitute, though I ate solo.

I did get one last Sunday paper and enjoyed working through about half of the LA Times Crossword. That paper will help wrap cups and what few other table items I will keep. The paper should end with Tuesday’s delivery. Then again, everything else about my Prescott residence ends Tuesday.

The Texas Era will take shape, and the second half of my Seventies will have one main focus: To be an anchor for this family of three.

December 27, 2025- It sits across the street, like a monument to the end of an era. There it will receive its load, over the next few days, as my Prescott home is dismantled. It will “watch” silently, as furniture collectors come and go; as a cleaning crew arrives to remove twelve years of my footprint.

This Penske and I made it to the former Home Base I around 8:30, this evening. There was no one around, and as I collected a small amount of mail & newspapers, the night remained silent. Only the heater interrupted the stillness, providing its comfort with an occasional clanging and blowing.

The day started out much differently. Almara Inn’s housekeepers, a spirited team of three women, were on the job and bantering, not long after I got myself together. One of them, seeing no vehicle in front of the room, thought I had left and was delighted by the prospect of finishing early. I didn’t dampen her spirits by much, though, as I was out by 9:30.

Breakfast at Del’s was a quiet delight. The house was full, and my meal, ample. Two families were among the crowd, quietly keeping conversation. Two little girls, one clutching a doll, made me think of our Hana. It doesn’t take much to bring her top of mind. That will probably be so, for the rest of my life.

The road west was fairly uneventful. I was reminded, at a fuel stop in Albuquerque, to avoid tight spaces with this rig. No harm done, though, and I was able to gas up there, and again in Holbrook. I stopped for lunch at Dancing Eagle, in Laguna, and opted for the casino snack bar, over the busier full service restaurant. The small crew at the snack bar was working just as hard, and prepared a decent chicken quesadilla.

The storm that had ravaged southern California, earlier this week, made its presence known as I went through Flagstaff. It was no where near as fierce as it had been, though, and by the time I reached the Sedona junction, there was no sign of precipitation. The sizeable group of travelers kept in order, and we all made it safely downhill.

Once off I-17, there was scant traffic, and on up to Prescott we went-the last time I will make that trip as a resident. Three more days, and this soon-to-be Texan will carry Arizona in heart, only returning as a visitor, now and then-just as I do to Massachusetts and Maine.