1. Leaving Reno (Feb 2022)

Health Posts

This is the first post in the category where I keep everybody informed on what parts of my body aren’t working so great. A little self-indulgent perhaps, but hey, it’s my blog, my therapy if you will, and I want to talk about it!

There will be more posts, and they will be numbered.

Deciding to leave Reno

This first post is about leaving Reno. A pivotal decision in my life, and a bittersweet experience that evokes complicated feelings in me every time I think about it (like right now!).

Of all the big things I have done in my life, this is the only one where the regrets outweigh the happiness.

If I had simply NOT DONE ANYTHING!
If I just kept living in my very cool condo by the river and taking a road trip every now and then, who knows how it all would have turned out!
Would I have gotten a life-threatening heart infection a year later like I did in Chico??!?

I think NOT, but we’ll never know.
I do know that my life hasn’t fit togther in any good way since that decisioin, all the way to today.

Kinda sucked from the beginning

In February 2022 when I left Reno I was the generally healthy, semi-energetic person I have been my whole life! …. But six months later I was moping and dragging around and not even remotely energetic and being given all manner of exotic medical tests while the Chico medical people try to figure out WTF is wrong with me!

My previous health blog left off in the middle of 2020. The last posts are reporting on getting Achilles surgery during the COVID shutdown. A minor drama. Seems so quaint now!

For the earlier parts of my Health life, go here.

Finally packing up and leaving

In the early 2020’s I started thinking more and more seriously about moving back to California. This percolated in my brain for a while, and in the winter of 2022 I started the “moving back to California” plan.

I put my Reno condo on the market in April. In the big decision for who to list it I stiffed my friend Mi Thai. Maybe that’s where the bad karma for this whole shit-show started. I had a bad feeling that it wasn’t going to sell for what I wanted (I was right! ): and I had some notion that this other woman I barely know would get a it better price. She was actually just fine but that was not a cool move on my part.

Gwen, my favorite barrista (and possibly my favorite human in Reno) cried when I told her I was leaving. Just writing that or thinking about it makes me cry again right now!

Her and her friend came over to my condo to carry off whatever they want from my stuff. Mostly they took my extensive collection of punk CDs! I’m happy they are in a good place. 🙂 

In early May, Chad and Brett drove over the mountains in the Peace Out Junk truck take most of my stuff back to Petaluma.

Moving out of Reno

I wasn’t getting much action on the condo, so Jan 10, 2023 dramatically lowered the price. 2026 me says WFT was wrong with you, why didn’t you just keep the price steady and continue living there? But 2023 me felt differently.

That lower price was too good. Within 10 days, on Jan 19, 2023 an offer was accepted. SIGH…

My last night in my beloved Reno condo was February 28, 2023. Every time I read this I cry a little bit. I wish that I never left. But it seemed like a good idea at the time, sigh…

I dithered around with no fixed address for the next three-ish months, doing camper van things and visiting friends.

I got a post office box at the Staples in Petaluma so my mail would have somewhere to go. I recerved a cubicle at Lakeville Storage.

Home Hub was invaluable as the place I dumped whatever I didn’t want to carry in the van. I can’t remember why I didn’t just take my stuff to the Hub instead of Lakeville Storage, but I’m sure there was a good reason.

Being America’s guest for three months

Here’s how I passed the time between selling in Reno and buying in Chico. Notice that at the beginning it’s all about traveling and doing stuff, but by the end it’s mostly about how crappy I feel all the time. 🙁

1. early March – Motel 6 Petaluma
2. three weeks in Martha’s driveway in the rain under a tarp
3. April – back to Reno, Shaun’s house.
   • Mark Twain was correct, guests do start smelling after a few days.
   • Shaun was a wonderful host for about 5 days, then he was over it!
   • I hung on for a couple of more days, but even I can take a hint!
4. mid April – Chico to look at houses
   • Martha comes to visit (see (*) below), we visit the gorgeous carpet of spring flowers on Table Mountain!
5. late April – Petaluma – stayed at the Metro.
   • I felt really fancy staying there!
6. early May – up to Tualatin to swap my propane heater for a diesel heater
   • This time is was effecively a triangle trip:
     • Reno – Tualatin heading up
     • Hang out in Tualatin and get the work done
     • Tualatin – North Bay along the coast
7. One night sleeping on the street in Fairfax to see a band at Peri’s … ah van life!
8. May 23 – Back to Chico for the official house inspection
9. May 26 – Face went numb. WTF
10. Back to Martha’s
11. Back to Reno as part of the scenic way to return to Tualatin – oops, I DID go one more time 🙂
12. May 31 – Last visit to my Reno dentist.
13. Sleep on Ed’s sofa a coupla nights
14. Sleep in my van on the street outside my old condo for coupla nights.
    I LOVED doing this!
15. Take the Oregon Back Country route to Van Specialities so I can to visit Crane Hot Springs
    • Spend two nights at the hot springs. It was awesome.
    • Jun 12 – StereoKing
      • They did a hard reset on my stereo for some reason I don’t remember.
    • Jun 13 – Van Specialities
      • Reclaim the space of the propane heater and hot water system ($897.98)
    • Taking out the propane heater opens up a lot of space!
16. Jun 17 – Jackson Wellspring – could this be where I got a heart infection?.
17. Back to Martha’s on June 19
18. June 20 – horrible joint pain, very, very tired!!
19. June 21 – Awful joint pain(!)
20. June 22 – Still feel terrible, poop issues, buy Depends 🙁
21. June 26 – Buy Chico house!

We know something is happening here but we don’t know what it is

This seems to make it clear that the heart drama is inseparable from the moving to Chico drama.

From reading my notebooks, I felt “normal” when I lived in Reno.
No whining about “low energy”, just did my thing.

But it seems that some kind of wellness issues started the very week I signed the paper for the house in Chico.

Looking back, I don’t think I ever had a chance at a healthy and happy life in Chico, although I didn’t know it at the time!

The next post has more of the same sad notations from July and August in Chico. Sigh…