It was decided that Mom?s memorial would be Sunday, October 30th. Our time on Camano was planned to end on October 31st. Nancy and my sister, Ricki, did one heck of a job pulling everything together in less than a week. My brother, Randy, and his wife, Linda, were at a convention in Orlando, Florida and caught in the path of the latest hurricane, Wilma.
Randy and Linda missed the path of the hurricane but were unable to change their travel plans because lots of people wanted to get out Florida. They generously contributed their house, across the street from my Mom's house. They made it back to Seattle late on Saturday and to the Memorial by Sunday.
The trouble with a memorial service is that you have no idea how many people are coming. It is possible to get some idea of the number of relatives, but in my mother's case, a lot of local people could be expected. As you might imagine, there was considerable consternation and worry on this issue, but it all worked out well.
Nancy and I had to shut down our visit to Camano Island - stop the paper, discontinue the garbage, halt the cable TV and transfer the power company billing - while getting ready for the Memorial. And, do a thorough cleaning and have the carpets professionally cleaned, too. Pack, too.
We left for the Desert on Saturday afternoon. Since we had made this trip several times in the last couple of weeks, it was becoming a commute. The difference this time was the rain. The west side of the mountains were wet. The east side was dry and Sunday was clear and bright. Once at the desert, we set up for the Memorial and had everything ready for Sunday.
The Memorial Party turned out really well. Many of the guests brought gifts of food, so the amount of food increased proportional to the number of guests. The Memorial turn into a real "wake" - a celebration of my mother's life. We left the desert on Sunday afternoon to return to the west side in high spirits.
Our contract for the Camano house required that we had to have the carpets commercially cleaned before we left. Thursday we had a local company do the carpets. As the carpet guy was leaving he suggested that it would take several hours for the carpet to dry. By the time we were ready to leave for Desert Aire on Saturday, the carpet wasn't dry. So we left a couple of fans on. By the time we got back on Sunday night the house smelled like a sewer. We had to meet with the property manager before we left, to get our deposit back - a panic call to the carpet people got them to the house Monday morning only minutes before the property manager, but they were able to get some control over the smells. The carpet problem wasn't solved before we left. The carpet people and the manager agreed that the problem could be easily solved and that they would take over the responsibility. We left Camano a little before noon. We've since gotten our full security deposit back.
The trip to California took three days. The first two days were a bear. We had planned to go only as far as Longview, WA on the first day and stay with Nancy's friend, Joy. The distance was only about 220 miles but they were hard miles. Once we left the Island we had almost 150 miles of city freeway driving and it rained. The cities of Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia form one continuous "strip city" with massive amounts of traffic at all times of the day. The highway is up to 10 to 12 lanes wide at times with exit and entrances on both the slow lanes and the fast lanes. The rain and spray from the cars and trucks make it real interesting.
Tuesday we left Joy's and passed through Portland, OR. It was raining so hard that it turned out to be somewhat of a blessing. The heavy rain slowed the traffic down to a crawl and made the passage slower but safer. Tuesday we crossed Oregon and made it across the border to the first city in California, Yreka. As bad as the weather was, it was a lucky thing that we came when we did because the rain we encountered was the start of a couple of weeks' storm cycle that brought more rain, fog, wind, snow on the mountain passes, and flooding.
Wednesday morning the rain had stopped (for us) and the rest of the trip home was a "piece of cake". Dry the whole way. We were home by 2:30.
Of course, we were anxious to find out how the renters had left the house. The house was fine. There were changes; mostly dishes and stuff were in different places than where we had left them. The house showed some "wear and tear", but well within acceptable limits. We are left with all the unpacking of the stuff we had brought back from Camano and in the storage unit in the garage. It will take a couple of weeks to get everything back in shape - almost like moving.
Looking forward, the plans for our time in England are starting to take shape. There is a lot of work to be done between now and the first of April, but we are getting to the point where we can start planning for our planning.