Leaves are clattering more under my feet now as I walk through the sumptuous yards of Fieldstone. The days have been stunning; bright blue skies and more comfortable temperatures and dry. I have spent many days surveying this lovely area and because we ran out of maps, Marc has even been forced to join me for the last two days. It’s like a walk through Pleasantville and is a night and day contrast to the area we were in last week, with the has-been houses, marginalized has-been population, and a long commute at 40 miles each way through traffic.
But our time here is wrapping up. We will be assigned our final maps today which will cover an area in Newport News, but supposedly closer than the Hampton rush assignment. Maps all have drop-dead deadlines and when one approaches it is common to assign all hands in order to get it surveyed and dealt with. Most of the ones we have finished aren’t technically due until November or December so are well ahead of schedule for the company. A week from Friday will be our last working day for this gas company and from all indications we get to hand back the dreaded PDA’s as we’ll not need them where we’re going next.
Which is? We’re not 100% certain as yet; Mississippi and Louisiana were both mentioned for winter, but are not quite ready as yet, so we may get sent to the middle of Illinois to walk a high pressure transmission line. We have never done a transmission line but it is quite different in that we essentially just hike it daily, through farms, now-razed corn fields, alongside roadways and any place its course takes us. We would employ a leap-frog method, each walking a solitary mile using one car. There aren’t many parts of the Midwest that I like and Illinois is not one of them. What a letdown it will be after glorious Virginia—sassy and vibrant and oh so welcoming. I almost can’t bear to leave. I’m not ready; that will be me you hear screaming all the way across her border. And I’ll miss the fall; something I was really looking forward to. Illinois doesn’t have fall.
We have one free weekend left to think of how we can best spend it to our advantage. Our last weekend will be spent getting ready for our move since some shopping will be required. More as we know it….
