living it up in the big pv

So, I buy a house, and the first thing I announce is that my traveling days are over.  I now have a manor that needs lording.

Well, I am here to tell you I am not in Barra de Navidad.  I am on a trip.  A short one.  To Puerto Vallarta.  But I am on the road again.

This trek has been on my calendar for a bit.  My friends Dennis and Marcia, both of them former work colleagues, told me they were stopping briefly in Puerto Vallarta on Monday.  I could not pass up the opportunity to see them.  After all, friends of Steve who stop in Mexico are indeed a rare commodity.

What I had not counted on was a tropical storm blessing us with enough rain to turn the lot across the street from my house into a lake.  Now, I grew up in Oregon.  Driving in the rain -- even a driving rain -- is second nature to me.

What is second nature to the coastal road between Barra and Puerto Vallarta is rain-initiated mud and rock slides.  The Mexican highway guys (as well as volunteer drivers) astound me.  All along the road were piles of dirt and the random boulder that looked as if they had recently been tidied to the side of the road.  The drive was no worse than usual.

What was worse than usual was showing my friends around Puerto Vallarta in the drizzle.  Even though they are Oregonians, rain is still rain.  Not to mention that Puerto Vallarta does not even rank in the top 500 Mexican towns for me in perfect sunny weather.

We quickly retired to a restaurant in old town -- nicely situated in the middle of the river -- and had the type of time only old friends can have: reminiscing over our work days, our former work colleagues, and the joys of our mutual retirements.  I may have even convinced them to return for a longer stay at the Barra house.

Rather than rush south, I decided to stay the night.  Not because I like Puerto Vallarta, but because I intend to do a bit of serious shopping at Costco, Best Buy, and Office Depot.  I have my eye on a certain Samsung television.  If it will fit in the Escape, it may be headed home with me.

Last night, on my way to see Interstellar in all of its 4K glory, I noticed a couple of furniture stores that may get a bit of my attention.

When I divested myself of almost all of my material goods when I sold the Salem house, I thought my acquisition days were over.  That may explain my preference for monastery grays in the new house.

Think of it as my personal methadone program.