Soft landing

We’re working slowly towards reentry over here.

The last month has been a continuing whirlwind of visits–to family and friends, from Colorado to Minnesota.

The Colorado Contingent

We lucked out in Denver; Michu’s brother was visiting for his son’s lacrosse tournament, so we got to spend time with them and learn about the crazy-town sport of lacrosse. Did you know it’s totally legit to pummel your opponent with your lacrosse stick? We also had friends in town for an art fair, plus family, plus friends who are like family.

In between visits, we found time to do a little hiking and camping at the Crags, outside of Colorado Springs.

Burn restrictions were such that we weren’t even allowed to light a camp stove “outside.” We rigged up a stove in the van, kept the doors and windows open, and hoped to avoid both a ticket and asphyxiation. This was the official point where we decided we were sick of living in a van.

Fortunately, Minnesota was the end of the line for van life. Although we’re still using it as a gear containment unit, we’ve been sleeping indoors for almost a month on beds and couches and aerobeds of family. We’ve been doing all the summer things: lake visits, grilling out, corn hole tournaments. Everything seems a little off, though; we’re anxious to be settled, and ready to have our own home base.

There’s much that we can’t do yet, however. We won’t have an official address until mid-August, which may well disqualify us from voting in the upcoming primaries here in Madison; Michu’s job, while enthusiastically hiring him back (yea!), won’t be able to work through all the necessary paperwork for a bit; we can’t finalize the kids’ school stuff until mid-August. It actually looks like our move-in date, school registration, and final boat sale paperwork will all happen on the same day, so hopefully Michu can schedule a day-long orientation or something on top of it.

Meanwhile, we’re dipping out toes back into Madison. A few nuts-and-bolts things to check off–another vehicle, music lessons for the kids–but mostly hanging out with old friends. We’ve done a couple of excellent drop-by surprise visits that included actual double-takes–very rewarding. It’ll be a while before we’re up to speed, but that’s probably just as well; we move pretty slowly these days, and there’s only so much we can get done when the lure of beers on the porch beckons.