On the move

Yesterday we departed Ananda Village with our rental truck bound for Ananda Laurelwood located west of Portland, Oregon.  

We stopped just outside of North San Juan about 10 minutes from village where Sraddha asked me if I remembered the shelf brackets, er,,,huh?,,,,er,,,no...She turns around in the subaru, drives back to our garage, loads them up along with shelves in the subaru and catches up to me in Oroville.  Sigh.  the brain just fades sometimes.

I fueled up in Las Molinas because of uncertainty of getting to Medford without refueling.  Glad I did.  Used 40 gallons (whole tank) to drive to Medford.  We lunched late afternoon in Medford then tried to find a hotel.  All sold out.  What?  at 4 PM in the afternoon?  Only smoking units left.  Yikes, what to do.  S getting pretty good on iphone so she started to research options in Grants Pass north about 30 miles.  IT is now 100 degrees outside. Ugh!

She found a nice motel on the Rogue River.  A bit pricey but better than the regular Holiday Inn Express type. 

 I reserved it and she took off to check in whilst I refueled the truck. Memo to Kent"  Next time you pull into a real truck stop for diesel, just go to the front of the station where the automobiles go.  It has diesel too, and you don't have to be with all those HUGE long haul trucks and make 3 trips into the store to complete your transaction.

Arrived at motel by 6:45 and went swimming in outdoor pool. Probably only pool date all summer. Very relaxing.  Muscles sore and cramping from the packing and loading process of past 2 weeks.  

Now on the downhill side of move.  Sraddha still sleeping.

We will make it.

22 ft long bed.  Could we get everything in?

Is it all in there?  not!

We had been on a forced march for past two weeks, sorting, packing, loading, sorting, taking 17 big black bags of trash to the dump, 8 bags of recyling, giving away things, selling things, and we still had enough "stuff" as George Carlin calls it, to almost fill this truck.  Oh, my...
The first third was our long term storage of household goods, some furniture and clothing which we will put in a storage locker near Forest Grove.  Ugh.  Renting space to put stuff we won't use for years.  "Is it worth it?" we ask ourselves.  We will see.

Some of the stuff is our personal tools and office items we will use at Laurelwood.  Probably, no, hopefully, 55% is to be donated to the community for various uses, like emergency food storage, some furniture, garden tools, altar and decorating materials of Sraddha's.

We had lived together at Ananda Village for 15 years, 12 in the current home which had both a big attic, garage, tool shed and garden shed.  So many plaees to store stuff.

Now on the downhill side of this move, we still will need to cull out a few more items to get the long term storage to fit.  That begins today when we arrive in Laurelwood.

Moving to Oregon? Really?

Hello?  What did I say?

YES, we are moving to Oregon.  After 15 years at Ananda Village near Nevada City, California, we are moving to Ananda Laurelwood which is about 40 minutes west of Portland.  It's actually about 10 minutes south of Forest Grove.

Ananda Laurelwood (link is http://www.anandalaurelwood.org) is a place to grow, to expand, to serve, to build a new community based upon the teachings of Yogananda which I have been practicing for past 25 years.  it is located about 40 minutes west of Portland and about 10 minutes south of Forest Grove in a valley just east of the beginning coastal range.

For now, we plan to live full time in our motorhome, spending next 2 months in Laurelwood then heading south for the winter centering in Tucson area, then returning in spring.  More on that later.

We drove up the RV and settled it in about 3 weeks ago.  Spent 2 weeks there then are currently back in Ananda Village preparing for final move.  Packing, sorting, giving away, selling, sorting, packing.  We hope to load the rental truck next week, drive north and unload into long term storage, the household goods and furniture we intend to keep and also unload at community a whole bunch of stuff being donated to community like food storage, tools, garden items, books, etc.

The week we departed was cool and rainy here in California and also on drive north.  Arrived in cloudy weather for a couple days then it dried out and warmed up.  Welcome to summer in Oregon. We will finish packing and loading in 100 degree weather here and can't wait to return to the cooler climes.  more to come

Loaded home office and tools to head north

She likes our new home in Laurelwood

View westward in Laurelwood

That's our little home in distance.

It really cleared up the next day but I didn't take any pix in the sunshine.

Last Rights for the OWNRy

To all

It's been a fun 10 years on the OWNRy.  We held a series of "last Op sessions" in May and June followed by 5 of my buddies helping to tear out the layout.  It is finished (see last photo in teardown set link attached).  As you may have heard, I am moving up to the greater Portland area and will be involved in rail fanning and model railroading up there on OPL - "other people's Layouts".  About 98% of the OWNRy is being sold, liquidated, given away, trashed, etc.  Yes, I will keep a few things.  Many of you will enjoy parts of the OWNRy for years to come and I hope to enjoy them with you. Keep me on your crew call lists and you never know when I might show up.

  I salute my friends who helped in the teardown.  it made it easier. 


Now on to the next journey.  

Here are some pix of the last Op sessions and of the teardown (warning-  teardown may bring tears).

Last OP sessions photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ownry/sets/72157634617408443/

OWNRy Teardown photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ownry/sets/72157634617408451/