1. Getting ready to move -- there's the business to take care of: cancel this, address changes for that, hoping to remember everything, on and on. I called Phyllis at Rossi Insurance in Kellogg to make sure things are in order with the home insurance at Mom's house and about the timing of putting the insurance in my name and Phyllis was a delight. She expressed condolences for Mom's passing -- this, in addition to having sent us a card back in June after she learned Mom was in the nursing home and a card upon learning Mom had died. She answered all of my questions cheerfully, expertly. I don't enjoy talking on the phone, but this phone call almost convinced me that getting on the phone to take care of business really isn't that bad. And you know what? I had a good experience with Sandra, the Nationwide agent in Greenbelt, and with the woman in Annapolis who helped me understand that I could cancel my last estimated tax payment online.
2. Today I made my last visit to the Sunoco station in Greenbelt to have the Sube worked on. For the last three years and 39,000 miles the guys at this shop have kept the oil changed, the air conditioning working, the engine tuned up, and the fluid levels up to date. When they couldn't replace the clutch, they sent me to the shop next door. I thought about going over to the picnic table where the mechanics smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, and shoot the breeze before and after work to thank them for taking good care of the Sube. Instead, I'll write them some kind of thank you and, in the same way I am looking forward to getting started in Idaho with a new primary care doctor and a new nephrologist and getting listed at another transplant center, I also look forward to entrusting the Sube to another good shop.
3. The other day as I was sorting through notebooks, DVDs, cds, books, and camera lenses and packing up stuff to send to Kellogg, I suddenly felt nostalgic for Union Brewery beers. Patrick, the Deke, and I had a great visit to Union Brewery in Baltimore this past Christmas Eve and for no good reason I was suddenly visited by the memory of the taste of the hoppy perfection of Double Duckpin Double IPA. I sighed. Moving away, I figured I wouldn't taste Double Duckpin on tap again until returning to Maryland for a visit sometime down the road.
But, then, this evening, the Deke and I took a couple of seats at the Old Line bar and Shannon brought us a tap list and I gasped: "Deke! They've got Double Duckpin on tap today!"
We each ordered a glass and it actually tasted better than my romanticizing mind remembered. I drank my glass slowly, gratefully, mindfully, reverently. I ordered a second.
I will be forever grateful for our time living in Maryland for many reasons, but chief among them will be getting to enjoy, among other beers, my favorite of all 2IPAs: Flying Dog's The Truth, Victory's Dirt Wolf, DC Brau's On the Wings of Armageddon, SingleCut's Softly Spoken Magic Spells, and Union's Double Duckpin Double IPA, representing, in order, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., the Queens, and Baltimore.
I also want to mention Bell's Two Hearted Ale of Kalamazoo, MI. It's not officially a 2IPA, but it performs like one and is one of our country's very best beers -- I've experienced the heavens opening up and had visions of the divine and heard Levon Helm and a host of angels singing "Up on Cripple Creek" when drinking a pint of Two Hearted Ale. Scott Shirk was with me in April when this happened at the Parkside Lounge on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
I think the Deke and I might drive a box of various beers from out here to Idaho, but I would also be just fine with telling these faithful friends farewell, not hang on to them, and turn my attention to the great beers awaiting us in Kellogg, Wallace, CdA, Post Falls, Spokane, Moscow, Pullman, Missoula, Eugene, and beyond.
Right now, I'm already tasting one of those 3 buck Happy Hour pints of X-Minus One IPA at Radio Brewing in Kellogg.
*By the way, the Double Duckpin Double IPA inspired the Deke and me to make a very important decision: we are going to drive Maggie and Charly to Kellogg, not fly them to Spokane. It turns out both of us were having a lot of doubts, despite the assurances from the vet that the dogs would be okay, about flying our aged dogs out west and we decided that we want to have the dogs with us for the entire trip.
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