Leaving Oregon!

After 22 years in Eugene, getting to know and love the people, finding just the right roads to pursue my cycling dreams, the Gran Fondos, the 12/24 hour races, the brief, wonderful experience of feeling a near mastery dealing with those with profound mental illness; a great experience in this house with a truly great woman; the best years of my life; none the less, it is time to move down the road.

Many have asked why. Here are some of the reasons:

1. We have a 16 month old grandson in Mesa. We have bonded with him, and he with us. We just want to watch him grow.

2. If you watched, or better yet, helped move what went into this truck; or watched what we gave away, you would know that one should never stay in one place too long. The stuff just stacks up.

3. Maybe the most important reason, our family in Mesa is willing to be there for us as we age. This touches me deeply.

4. Moving is incredibly stressful, which makes you wonder why the hell we are doing it. It is also hard. Now imagine this. Our driveway is about 12% grade. We tried to back the 26 foot U-Haul up the drive. It bottomed out before we made it up two feet. Now rather than carry everything down the drive, we thought just drive it up forward. Wrong! Worse! We bottomed out so bad we could go neither forward or back. Would it surprise you that we had to call a tow truck to get it out? And guess who drove it into this predicament. We became more and more aware as this process moved along, that we would not be able to do it waiting another year or two.

5. As I hinted at, stuff piles up, and when an older person dies, they often leave a house of horror for their children to clean up. Now most of us willingly do it, but not without incredible stress. We are consciously taking one step closer to the final door that we will eventually walk through, and we hope without the mess that our children would be burdened with. Don't wait too long.

6. I can't say that I am moving there for the cycling, though nine months in Arizona are beautiful. There is the heat. I did chat with a cyclist on the road, he assured me that he does not make compromises for the heat. But it will also be new roads. I found some great roads in Oregon.

7. This is an adventure. I am tired of recycling the "known." What I know is but a dot on the horizon of the unknown. Aim high. And yes, there are so many of you that I truly love. I will miss you.