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K&M found a bigger rental house closer to their work, so we are moving in a couple weeks. It’ll be hectic, but by December we should be settled.

Sorry there haven’t been any new recordings lately. I’m still working on “Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill” but things have been busy so I haven’t had a chance to record a new chapter in a while.

Right now my anxiety is pretty bad (moving and a bunch of medical stuff) but generally it’s been better lately. My lovely new psychiatrist Kory increased my Lexapro to 10mg, and I’ve had entire days where I don’t feel anxious AT ALL. Kind of amazing, and made me realize that there must be people whose normal state is “not anxious”. A revelation. All my life I’ve thought that everyone else felt like me, in a constant state of greater or lesser anxiety (coupled with bouts of depression, of course), and I didn’t realize that there was a different way to feel.

Henry and I took a little road trip on Friday. We drove out East to Calaveras County, where I lived from 1975-1979 (age 5-10). I wanted to show him how beautiful it is out there, and also how odd my life was :)

We took the 80 through Sacramento to the 16 and then the 49. We stopped in Jackson first and had lunch at the Mother Lode Deli (great sandwiches!), then went to a museum and had a wonderful detailed demonstration of some working, 1/10 scale gold mining structures. And we stopped at the very important Jackson Library.

Then on to Mokelumne Hill (aka Moke Hill). I showed him the little shopping center where my parents ran a shop, and we went to the Moke Hill grade school, where I attended 4th grade, to see if they had a 1978-79 yearbook but the nice office lady couldn’t find anything earlier than 1998.

Then we drove around town a little bit and checked in to the Hotel Leger on Main Street. It’s a funny, creaky old place, but comfortable and quiet with the nicest staff you can imagine.

We rested in our room for a few hours, then had a fantastic dinner in the hotel’s dining room. Then a good sleep, then a fantastic breakfast, and then we drove down the narrow, twisty, terrifying one-lane mountain roads (Jesus Maria and Worden) to get as near my old house as we could. The house itself is behind a gate and down a long private dirt road and I didn’t want to get shot for trespassing, so that was as close as we went! Then we continued down Whiskey Slide Road to Mountain Ranch. The general store, Senders, is still there.

Then down Sheep Ranch Road, another scary one-lane mountain road, to get back to route 4, which took us to Big Trees State Park. We parked and took the gentle 1 1/2 mile North Grove Loop path and marveled at the beautiful trees. I was completely worn out about halfway through, but we went slowly and rested often and I made it back to the car.

Then we dove down the 4 back through Stockton and home. It was a great trip. Henry is the BEST traveling companion!

Here’s a small album of photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kayray/sets/72157660196484308
Henry took TONS while we were driving, but I don’t have those yet.