Yesterday and today were filled with last-minute preparations, including packing and donating more possessions. So many possessions!!
I had accumulated a lot of stuff when I lived in the 3000 square foot house (which included a giant basement) and a large estate sale helped pare down a great deal of our material possessions. When I moved into the 700 square foot River Shack, I still had a lot more than I needed. That place was packed full! Over my two years there, I continued to sell and donate items to get nimble enough to move into my friend's house in Wauconda, IL. There I would only have a bedroom and some space in the garage for my tools. Despite this, I still felt like I possessed a great deal of material things, and even though I continued to sell and donate, I still left a lot behind today.
Whisper and I didn't leave as early as I would have liked, but once I was gone -- I was gone! No going back to get something I forgot. It would have to be mailed or left behind forever, so it was important to be sure.
My first destination was to visit my newfound friend, Chance Garton, in Springfield, Missouri. Chance had interviewed me on his Podcast, InnerVerse, a few months prior, and we hit it off during our chat. Chance is an incredible wordsmith, and really seemed to enjoy my comic book series, RIGHTEOUS. He described it so well that I learned more about my own work of fiction thanks to his perspective of it!
It was to be an 8-hour drive from Wauconda, IL to Chance's house in Missouri, and because we left so late, we didn't make it.
Instead, we're spending our first night on the road at the St. Clair Rest Area near St. Clair, Missouri. We have about 2.5 hours to go to get to Chance's home.
Today didn't go flawlessly, unfortunately. I pulled over after getting sleepy behind the wheel to take a short break and snap out of it when I discovered an electrical problem with the van. Some of the lighting and half of the car audio setup wasn't working properly. Lucikly it didn't take long to discover that a fuse had become unseated. Despite getting this resolved quickly, I'm still concerned about an issue with the electrical system. For some reason, it doesn't appear that the batteries are getting charged from engine power.
So more troubleshooting to go.
