moving to mexico -- your stuff

I do not like driving on snow or ice.

It is not a fear.  I have only one fear, and that is not it. 

The dislike stems from letting my driving skills go rusty.  When I skied, I would regularly drive in the snow.  And I was rather good at it.  But those days are long gone.

Or so I thought.  Our roads in Bend look a bit like scenes from Dr. Zhivago.  Not the Moscow ballroom scenes.  More like the winter dacha where Yuri and Lara resume their affair in ice-drenched salons.

I have dusted off my cold weather driving skills, and I have been enjoying re-learning the feeling of driving on a surface where I have next to no control.  Just like life.

The time is drawing near when I will need to use those skills -- even if it is just as a backup driver.  We are planning to leave Bend early Tuesday morning.  Our route will subject us to about 200 miles of roads packed with snow and ice on the first leg of the trip.  Darrel will be the primary pilot.

Yesterday afternoon I went back to the emergency room.  I ran out of antibiotics.  The cellulitis in my right ankle seems to be under control.  But, to be certain, I saw medical advice. 

In turn, I received five more days of antibiotics.  And a clearance to travel -- as long as we stopped for frequent rest breaks.  (Doctors do not read my essays about the Cotton School of Driving.)

The primary purpose of the trip north was to retrieve the goods I had left behind in my mothers garage when I headed south in the shiftless Escape -- back in early 2009.  I have now sifted through those boxes.  My sister-in-law suggested re-packing everything in plastic containers to save space. 

I did just that.  Books.  Clothes.  Kitchen items.  Games.  Things I did not need as a renter, but that will be useful as a home owner.

There is one task I have not yet accomplished -- completing a menaje: a detailed listing of each item in each box.  Some people even include an estimated value.  All of that is to ease the calculation of any duty that may be owed for bringing my personal belongings into Mexico.

I have decided against the full list.  The plastic containers make it easy to see the contents.  The only question is whether I will need to pay any duty.  We will discover that when we cross the border at Lukeville -- later in the week.

It is turning out to be a good time in Bend.  I have picked up my ice-driving skills.  My health is back on an even keel.  Darrel and I are ready to face another 2500 miles of adventure.  And there may be a puppy at the end of all this.

What could be a better life?