this train is escalating.....might have a blog hiatus until it arrives at destination

......moving day has been confirmed.......three times now.  We're very happy that the new government job came with government movers. It's a help to have an official moving company come in, wrap and pack everything, move it, store it for us until we a new residence, then deliver it to the new residence. But it comes with all (more?) of the usual government red tape, authorizations in writing from the accepting site, intermediaries who "counsel" you through the process, upload EVERY receipt for the next month into a portal, keep a spreadsheet of daily food and travel allowances, etc. So we had asked for a June 29 preferred move day and said June 30 would work too (before we have to be out of the current residence.)  We waited 3 weeks before making our flight reservations to Maine, watching the price go up and up, but too worried that if we decided to fly June 30 they'd say you have to be here June 30.  We finally took a chance and made our Maine reservations July 2-9.  Then the movers asked if we could move June 27!!!!  I said I'd still have house guests sleeping until noon that day, but we could make it work. We planned to drive straight to Walla Walla and drop a car, as we're flying out of Portland, OR. Then we get a confirmation email, that move date is June 30.  Okay. Now we don't have time to drive to Walla Walla first, so we plan to drive two cars to Portland and leave them in airport parking while we're in Maine. Then 2 days ago, we get a message  "we had a cancellation, can you move June 28?"  We said sure. Another confirmation. Now we're back to plan A with the bonus that Kelcy and Ryley and Megan can play all day Wednesday before they fly home, and we can leisurely pack up the 2 hours before movers arrive Thursday. Whew!

Yes, Kelcy and Ryley and Megan are here for a week so we can show and tell Southern Oregon. We've done the Redwood Forest, the California coast and several wineries, breakfast shops and restaurants. Today we're going to the local street fair, lavender festival, our favorite vineyard and then cook together on our deck. So far they've been impressed by how varied the geography is-- layers of rolling hills with jagged 8000+foot peaks in the background, tall pointy Douglas fir forests to the thick, red woods, dry  90 degree desert floor with Mediterranean like fauna.