The Pressure's On!

10/09/2008 (Gary)

"The bell would ring loudly over the end of the short but busy bar and the bartender would shout at the top of his lungs; "The Pressure's ON!!!".


That would mean the best and the worst to us in the confines of the old smoke-filled NCO Club deep in the heart of eastern Turkey. As part of the experience of being 8,000 mile away from home, the parties at the NCO club would be a great escape, a roudy and irreverent time of drinking, card playing, and bonding with your peers as we wiled away the nights on a small air base from which there was no 'shore leave'.


Every so often the barkeep, a senior NCO with a watchful eye toward his clientele, would put "the pressure" on everyone in the bar. This would usually happen a couple of hours into the evening's festivities when the bar was crowded and rowdy.


Now .. when the 'pressure' was put on, it meant free drinks for everyone in the bar; for as long as it took for someone, somewhere in the bar to have to call 'uncle' and go to the bathroom which was conveniently monitored by the barkeep himself. Then everyone went back to paying for their drinks (and forming a line to the restroom door) So ... who wanted to give up and end the spree of free drinks? No one, of course .. hence the 'pressure' was really on :)


As often as not, the event did not last very long (timing is everything) and it was all in good fun. The next day there would be some good hearted ribbing, and the whole thing would surely start again the next weekend if not sooner.



I feel somewhat that way now :) ... we are heading down to the wire on preparations to leave Longmont and the world we have known for the past 24 years. There is a pressure on both of us to continue packing up, storing and organizing. We are still finding things that puzzle us; momentos, valuables, trinkets and knick-knacks that we just haven't figured out what to do with. We really have four options when we come across anything left to pack. We can pitch it, or donate it (either to family or a friend or to a charitable organization), we can leave it behind in the house, or we can find a way to pack it along.

We still have a couple of items on Craig's List, and will have to impose on our friends to handle any callers, but mostly we're just trying to get organized and make tough dowsizing decisions.

If you've never really done this before, I must tell you that it is harder than you think.



We are pulling away in less than three days. We have this evening and tomorrow evening some of Saturday and then we're heading east for a couple of days and turning right for three or four more. I'm not nearly as prepared as I want to be, but I have to recognize that it's all part of the plan, the adventure and ultimately the fun. I think part of me is scared to actually start this trip because if how much change it represents. Our new home has a license plate on it, and we are pulling pretty much our whole (condensed) world behind us.
I think the correlation between the "pressure" of years ago and now is pretty slim actually, but I do not want to be the one to call 'uncle' and just leave a big mess behind for someone else to have to handle. At work, at the places we frequent, or at home. We are trying to clean up all the loose ends and there are many.
We are both working very hard to make a clean break. I'm hoping it'll be handled and we will not be taking a lot of tailings with us on the trip, but we will need to roll regardless of where we are when the 12th comes along.

Please pray for us that there is a safe trip in our future.



We have the route loosely planned, we have enough money to feed Fordzila along the way, and we are in the process of stuffing the fifth-wheel with clothes and foodstuffs to make it an easy trip for us. The schedule, while not excrutiating, is tight and we will need tomake a certain number of miles per day to make our goals. We did build in some margin should we have a flat tire or other delay, but we did build and intend to stick to a schedule as best we can.

OK, I need to pack... :) (and close out end-of-year ratings for my employees, and sell stuff, and clean the garage .. and .. umm .. well, you get it :)