I've moved on. Back in 2011 I came to the end of my residence in the VA Homeless Shelter at the Salvation Army facility in Dallas, TX. My original plan was to get an apartment somewhere in the north end of Dallas, but my son said, "Hey, come on up here an live with me." His intention was for him to be my caretaker/caregiver in the sunset years of my life. Unfortunately, I get all my health care from the VA. Where he lives it's nearly 40 miles to the nearest VA clinic and nearly 60 miles to the nearest VA medical center. It got to the point where doing either drive was something I no longer wanted to do. So I went searching for a new home somewhere near a VA clinic and/or VA medical center. I found an apartment north of Dallas that is 4 miles to the VA clinic and within walking distance to a light-rail station that will take me to the Dallas medical center.

I left Washington last Saturday morning and made Boise, ID, by nightfall. The next day's destination was Moab, UT, then to Tucumcari, NM, and finally to where I'm living now. It was an interesting drive. The first day I was suicidal as shit eyeing every oncoming semi or bridge abutment as an easy out, but I recognized the issue and made frequent stops to refocus. After that first day, everything went fairly decently. Most of the route was on roads I drove when I was driving long-haul truck. The only roads I hadn't been on before was US-64 east out of Shiprock to Bloomfield, NM, and US-550 south from Bloomfield to Bernalillo, NM. I even stopped at the Ute Mountain Travel Center south of Cortez, CO, and bought a colorful vase for my new apartment.

My apartment is a one bedroom in a building with its own parking garage. The apartment has a shower, so I don't have to climb over the side of a bathtub with my arthritic knees and ankles. Plus, the peripheral neuropathy doesn't help at all. After signing the lease and paying the first month's rent yesterday, I got my keys this morning and took all nine boxes out of the car and moved into the apartment. Then it was down to Spectrum for my internet modem and wifi router, finding a cattle ranch in the middle of town, first stop at Walmart for dishes, glasses, kitchen utensils, and bed linens in that order. The cattle ranch was the surprise,

Tomorrow my furniture will be delivered. According to the delivery instructions, I'm stop 5. The salesman told me the delivery truck will give me 30 minutes notice. So it looks like I'll be hanging around the new place all day waiting for my furniture. I'll stop at Home Depot for some lamps and a couple stools for the kitchen counter. Saturday will be a trip to IKEA for a POANG chair and ottoman and three BILLY bookcases. Hopefully, they'll hold all my books. Then it's back to Walmart for a vacuum cleaner, silverware, and pots and pans.

Once I'm settled, it'll be back to writing. I've written a novel about a boy who has childhood-onset schizophrenia. I'm working on a synopsis and then it's off to Jericho Writers for an analysis. Once I get it back and make the suggested changes, I'll start looking for an agent. If that doesn't work out, I'll be looking at Amazon. The only unknown is the cover. I need a picture (drawing) of a flying Dodo. I know, it was a flightless bird, but I need one flying because it directly relates to the plot.