Mission Accomplished...now let's go home

Our month here in Tucson has been very productive.

We like to see things to completion so it felt so good to get the TOP office moved, desks reassembled and even the pictures rehung. Our friend Jess, president of TOP, has developed such a trust level in us that he just let us "do our thing" even down to the placement of all his pictures on the walls. It was actually fun.

Let me back up a little though to the most fun day...moving day. We started out on a day predicted to go into triple digit temperatures. We were just going to make one quick trip with one load from the old office to the new one.

On the way we stopped out of curiosity to see how much a U-Haul truck would cost for the day. The sign in the window of the truck said $19.95...WOW, what a deal!

Actually we learned a valuable lesson about marketing techniques...Yes, the truck is "Just 19.95" but then you add in 58 cents a mile, pay for fuel $31, insurance $14, and the extra accessories. They have a hand truck in the back of the truck...it is ny tied to a bracket and if you break the ny tie showing you used it they charge you an extra $7. Get down to moving and decide you needed blankets to pad things...no problem, they have a bag of blankets hanging on the wall...ny tie on the zipper. If you break the seal showing you used them they charge you accordingly. As I said great marketing.

Well even at the end cost of $113 it was still a deal and we got the whole office moved in one trip. Jess had been worried about any of us carrying any of the heavy stuff as we are all nearly eligible for senior citizen discounts. Well outside the old office there were two negro men and one woman...obviously down and out on their luck and looking for money for food. We paid them $20 and they carried everything out and into the truck. Great deal.

At the other end when we got to the new office the handyman (a middle aged mexican man) came out with his hand truck and helped us with most of the off loading. No aches or pains for us...we were lucky to draft lots of help.

The best part of the day was hearing that Jess did not get our phone message about moving the office and he stopped by the office to get a load in his pickup. He said he almost had a coronary when he opened the office door and everything was gone. All we had left was a phone sitting on the floor. He was definitely surprised but pleasantly surprised and pleased.

Tonight Jess gave us a thank you letter and I will share a few lines of it with you...

"The time and effort you devoted to TOP, throughout this month was a priceless donation, unquantifiable in dollars. We are most grateful for the unconditional time, effort, and the personal expenses associated with your volunteer stay in Tucson. TOP was able to make some leaps during your visit, directly as a result of your involvement."

Tomorrow morning is time for our departure. We will finally find out if our motor home wheels are still round after sitting here for a full month. This is the longest we have "planted" ourselves in one spot to date. It has worked well but mainly because we had so many things going on to keep us occupied.

Weatherwise we are leaving just in time as they predict that the temps will be up 107 or so by the end of the week. All I can think of right now is walking in the cool rain at home.

We originally were going to venture on to Arkansas and Branson before we go home. Based on weather patterns, storms and our energy level, we have decided instead to just head home.

As Dorothy said in the wizard of oz..."There's no place like home"...that we will find out real soon.

Linda