The new plan.

After a few weeks of waiting, followed by phone calls to the Department of Revenue, followed by a long hot day at the DMV, I seem to be again on the path to going. I'm re-taking my driver's test tomorrow (after having re-taken the written exam—I scored 100%, thankyouverymuch) and, upon passing it, I'll again be able to drive, which means I'm able to drive right the hell out of Colorado and do this thing. Finally.

The past few weeks have been interminable, and I haven't done a whole lot of anything while waiting. I did start the first Saros novel, which promises to actually be pretty good, but I've still got many loose ends to tie up before leaving, as a lot of those loose ends require me driving around. I've basically been treading water, and I'm looking forward to getting on the road.

I've never been to Winnie in the spring—much like I've never been there in the winter—and the interesting twist of my trip getting delayed is that going up a month later, while less poetic, probably means I'll be more alone up there; while true spring doesn't come until the end of April, the lake starts to melt before then, and ice-houses are required to be removed in the middle of March, so I'm told. This means that there's nobody fishing from the end of ice-fishing until the opening of walleye season in May, and that there's subsequently no tourist traffic. It's something I hadn't considered, and will likely make for an even more complete isolation.

I'm also looking forward to seeing spring arrive there. Colorado doesn't have spring—or at least a spring like Minnesota does—and it will be cool to see such a dramatic transition. It also means less clean snow for water, although the slightly warmer temperatures are probably a good thing.

In any case, the new plan is to leave Colorado on March 5 or 6, which will put me at the cabin on the 6th, 7th or 8th, depending on road conditions. Here's hoping there are no further snags.

Oh, waiting.

So, the trip has been postponed. This is because of widespread tardation, budget cuts, irresponsibility and bad luck.

Namely, I let my driver's license lapse. And Colorado, being a state wherein most people don't like paying taxes, instituted a policy in which those who let their driver's licenses lapse and wish to drive again must do so by mail instead of in person. This new process, which a very nice sign at the DMV informed me took effect on January 20, 2009, takes 20 business days. My time spent on the phone with the very accommodating DMV employee informed me that even driving to the Colorado Department of Revenue headquarters and handing my form, which requires a rubber-stamping, by hand to the person who would rubber stamp it, would not expedite the process. "We can't allow your application to get ahead of the others," she explained. "Of course," I said. "That only makes sense."

So blarg and blech, I'm stuck in Colorado for another indeterminate amount of time, and I'm unhappy about it. Spring on Winnie holds a lot less poetry than deep winter, after all. But part of this whole experiment is taking things as they come, so I'm calmly waiting and no longer angrily drinking, and looking forward to my departure, whenever that may be. As somebody told me last Friday, at my big 30th birthday bash, "Dude, there's plenty of winter in Minnesota." True.