for the things that I left behind~

Good morning everyone out there and greetings from the "old neighborhood", the14th Street neighborhood of the south central Kansas city of Hutchinson.  It's not quite as early as I wish it was at the start of this good day.  I had set my alarm to go off at its usual 4 a.m. hour but the warmth and coziness of my old bed kept me captive there until nearly 5:30.  Even though I overslept, by my usual habit of being one of the "early" guys, the sky is still black here and save for me and old Oblio the roundhead most every other house on the block is still in the dark. 

I came here to visit for a few days and to take care of more things that I've left undone around the house.  The time has gone so quickly as I knew beforehand that it would and even though I had the best of plans, not everything got finished.  Although I should be hard at work right now and continue to pack things up, I just wanted to pause a moment to pay a visit to each of you out there and to let you know that I'm thinking of you.  What a journey this has been~

I left out from Olathe, Colorado just a soon as I could do so on this past Wednesday afternoon.  This would be a trip on my own as Mike wasn't able to take time off from work.  I knew I could make it coming back alone, shoot I did it 6 times on my own last year.  So with the car packed with my things ahead of time, by 4 p.m. I was headed towards the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the road back home to Kansas.  Skies were beautiful, filled with a few clouds and lots of sunshine.  For that I was so grateful.  You know, I say a lot of things that are not exactly complimentary about the mountains.  It's no secret that I don't care for them all that much and the claustrophobic feeling that they have at some times given me.  But there is something very different about the Black Canyon and I really can say that I love it.  Its beauty is quite striking and I'm forever amazed at that each time I have travelled through it to get home.   It's a view that I see as I leave our driveway each and every day.  In my heart, I call it the road back to Kansas.  So there you have it, I love the Black Canyon.

Along the way on Wednesday night I did pretty well.  Old Monarch Pass was standing tall and proud and I was thankful for a clear and dry road.  The sun and I were racing each other and my prayer was that God would just help me get to the top of it while there was still a little light left.  He did just that.  By the time I made it to the bottom, it was night time and I knew the curvy and winding road that would lie ahead.  Soon I found Canyon City and then on to Pueblo.  I'm actually getting kind of good in knowing how to find the Walsenburg turn off in order to continue on to Highway 50.  I can remember a few times when I missed that thing by about 500 feet and then had to make what "Chloe the navigator girl" on Garmin refers to as  a "legal U-turn". 

By 10:00 that night I was plain tired and worn out.  I knew that if I didn't find a place to stay by the time I got to La Junta that it would be quite a spell before I made it to Lamar.  After checking a few places, many of them wanting a price way heftier than I wanted to spend, I chose a decent one and settled in for the night.  My sleep was awoken about 3:00 on Thursday morning when I found I was sleeping in one cold room.  Turns out that a storm had come in not long after I had arrived and the power for the entire town of La Junta was out.  The storm was still coming but the roads were open.  I decided to make a run for it about 4:30 a.m. because I was afraid that it would be even later that day before it was over.  It took me 8 hours more and driving through some blizzard like conditions between La Junta and Lamar before I actually pulled into Hutchinson about 12:30 p.m.  God is good and my car was filled with the most beautiful guardian angels as they helped to steer me along the way.  I've worn out several of them over the years and I'm sure they must shake their head at me and the way that I sometimes have done things.  I made it!

This trip home to Kansas has been filled with so many memories.  I have caught up with some friends and that makes me happy.  Wish I could have seen more of them but perhaps yet another time we all will.  I have surely missed you all dear friends and family but please rest assured that I will always carry you in my heart and memory.  Did you just feel that?  It was a hug from me to you.  It was one of those kind of hugs when you embrace someone and refuse to let go.  That's my feeling for all of you here in Kansas and points far away.

I'm going through lots of things here in my house in Hutch and it's amazing to me, nah on second thought not really, of the kinds of things I've collected over the years.  Boxes are filled with them and to be honest, I am just not ready to give any of them up at this point in time. So off they will go to the mountains with me and I'll have to sooner or later deal with them.  What's that?  You are wondering what kinds of things?  Well, it'd be stuff like......

This is the t-shirt I was wearing the day of my accident in 2011.  They had to cut it off of my body as they were doing triage on my condition.  I'll never forget the first nurse that I saw in the garage area of the hospital and the short conversation we initially had.  It kind of went like this.....
Me-"I BROKE MY ARM!" 
The nurse-"Oh my!  I think you are right."  (Pretty sure that my left hand dangling off to the side of my arm was a pretty good indication that even though I'm not a doctor, I was right!)

The stones that I kept in my flower bed here that had the names and room numbers of many of the elderly friends I made as I cared for them in the Wheaton House on the campus of Mennonite Manor in South Hutchinson a few years back.  I loved them all so very much and will always be grateful that I could take care of them.  Except for one, all have gone back now to their Heavenly home and I'm sure that we will meet again someday.

 

A box full of old memories and newspaper clippings from my folks' time in Haven, Kansas.  Cream O'Gold Dairies was part of a company that my dad used to work for my parents opened Scott's Café and Service along the highway in Haven.  Mom was right when she called those times there "good" because they most certainly were.  If I were ever given the chance to relive a day in time, it would be without a doubt, right there in my hometown.

These things and thousand others are stored away in tubs here.  Some day I'll get rid of them but only when I am dang good and ready to do so.  We all have our collections I suppose.  I guess you could say that I collect memories.

Well, time to get going and get the day started.  I know how fast it will fly by me.  That's a "given for sure".  Take care my dear friends and family wherever you are this day.  For now I am in Kansas but by tomorrow at this time, I shall be getting ready to cross back over to the other side.  I'm glad I was here, if even for a very short time.  There's a guy I know back in Colorado that sounds as if he misses me.  I'm coming back home very soon Michael Renfro and I'll see you there. 

This blog post today has been brought to you by me and old Oblio the roundhead.  It's taken me more than an hour to do this, mostly because of the help that I really didn't need from a cat that wanted to sit on my lap and assist in the typing.  I made quicker blog posts two years back when I was typing with only one hand.  :)

The one and only reason I left my Kansas home to begin with~"the blessing".