Saturday, February 15th, 2025
A lot happens in February. Firstly, on the 9th of this month, I completed a flight of approximately 40.2 billion miles. That is the number of miles the earth has circled the sun during my 69 years. One more year and I will cross the threshold of 70, truly old age. I saw a quote online the other day that relates:
“Realizing that you were part of the last generation that knew what life was like before social media.”
There are birthdays to remember. My father’s birthday was a little later in the month. But, my aunt’s birthday is the same day as mine. It is easy for me to remember her age. She was 12 years old when I was born. I weighed 12 pounds at birth. Monday is Presidents Day, on which we celebrate birthdays of Presidents Washington and Lincoln. Any ski areas in the U.S. will experience their peak days this weekend, if they have snow.
Valentines Day just passed. I reminisced during my mother’s recent phone call about how we used to buy those packs of cards and envelopes in order to give every classmate in our grade school class a Valentine. Do they still sell those? I was just wondering. I don’t need to buy them, as I have nobody I need to give one theses days. I see the candies and chocolates stacked at the grocery store. I skip that part of the aisle. I don’t stand in the greeting card aisle either, which is a great thing. I don’t have to agonize over whether I should get a romantic card or a humorous card. It seemed that every year, whichever I purchased, would be the wrong one, and thus thoughtless.
February is a cold and gray month in the places I grew up and lived for most of my life. Here in the desert southwest, that is a distant memory. It is a very consistent 65-75 degrees almost every day. It is sunny almost every day also. You never wake up here to the sound of scraping snowplows and noisy salt trucks.
For me, this is the month of planning. I begin to finalize my plans for the spring and summer. My trailer has not moved since the last week of October. I need to move it before the tires permanently adhere to the gravel and sand. I am limited by the weather as I move to the east and north. If too early, I could find myself in a cold snap with possible frozen water pipes. If I wait to long, I could spend some afternoons in 90+ heat. I have to pick places to camp along a route taking me to Boulder, Colorado. I have annual medical appointments there in May. For each campsite, I need to have 1 or 2 backups, just in case they are occupied by all the other snowbirds heading north. I need to also be cognizant of nearby towns. Do they have a Post Office where I can intercept forwarded mail. Is there a UPS Store where I can rendezvous with any shipments from Amazon.
I have started the list of tasks to accomplish before moving. Dust is everywhere. I need to clean it out of the truck and the trailer. The truck and trailer tires need to be aired up. The hitch bolts need tightening. Screens and windows need cleaning. Small repairs need to be completed. I have to re-inventory the contents of every storage location. Even when you live in a small trailer, it is easy to forget where you place things. Where are spare retaining pins? Where is the Gorilla Glue, AAA size batteries, small Phillips screwdriver? Bear spray, first aid kit? Microwave splatter covers? And after the inventory, I have to go to the town library to print out the inventory, plan, list of reserved campsites, proof of insurance, and vehicle and trailer registrations.
There is a lot to do and think about in February. It is a short month. And then it will be March, a fitting name, as I will be starting my march to the north.
I’ll be ready.
Starting All Over 