Critters and coffee

I'm glad I grew up with "not so neat" parents. Our small duplex with 5 kids and a dog was always a flurry of activities. It's a good thing we lived in southern calif. All our really messy projects of fort building and booby traps were outside. Our neighborhood in Ventura was surrounded by orchards and fields before the shopping center came in and took our imaginary lands away. 

I'm glad I grew up with "of course we can make it" parents. We didn't have a lot of money, but we had a lot of tools. Hand tools, power tools and welding torches. My brothers were always taking things apart and putting them together. I don't recall my sisters building much other than      Barbie empires, but they have that gene.

I always felt more comfortable in the power tools arena than the Barbie one.

I was thinking this morning, as I watched a roach crawl over my sacred coffee maker, and trying real hard to be totally grossed out, that all the good and bad of my life has brought me to this point of "going with the flow" of RAAM.

I will be traveling cross country with  a dozen people. Such varied personalities and stories. Super couple and super friends John and Jacquie. Tomorrow Jacquie starts her trek across the states on her bike. Crew chief Jim, my fellow coffee lover. Two Okies - Retired pilot Craig who has stories of world travel another retired guy (FAA) Scott. I hope their navigation skills transfer to roads, not just from the friendly skies. Young smiling Ben and I have been battling with thumb wars. He currently is in the lead. I will have to pull out my "old lady/you wouldn't beat your mother" card at some point. Dale in his shades, looks like he should be an agent in "Men in Black". Larry, another retired guy would rather ride a bike than do anything else in life. To balance all the testosterone we have the "tough as nails" biker chicks Joni and Beth. Joni has gone on a solo walking pilgrimage in Spain for a couple months. She is a nurse. Thank you Jesus! I want to say Beth is the most extroverted person I've ever met... But then there was my dad. He knew no stranger and would stop and talk to anyone. 

Today we get all the vehicles inspected.

If they did a background check in everyone they would find a motley crew of adventurous people with a common goal - Keep Jacquie going.

I'm ready for anything and I don't know what this next week will hold. It will be "not so neat" and "of course we can make"

I enjoyed my freshly ground cup of coffee (thanks Perq) roach and all