A stretch of river LXI: Goodbye to a river

The good news: The Mrs. and I will be moving to a new, bigger place soon.

The bad news: It'll still be in Wichita, but it won't be on the Little Arkansas, or on any other body of water of note. I keep trying it out in my mind, but "A stretch of drainage ditch" just doesn't have quite the same ring to it. And I thought about carrying on the Stretch of River posts in a virtual sense--I mean, who'd know that we were no longer walking that bend of the river? Well: I would. That would bother me. So, this will be the last Stretch of River post for the foreseeable future.

The last few morning and evening walks have been bittersweet for Scruffy and me, as we've done our best to imitate John Graves: look around, take note of the flora and fauna, think back over some of the stories we've told about this place and those we never got around to. It's difficult to sit here and try to imagine what it will be like not to have this one-mile, twice-daily stroll as part of our day.

But change is good. The new neighborhood seems nice. We'll make it work, Scruffy and me.

We'll let you know how it goes.

Beginning tomorrow, I'll be away from "here" for about a week; then comes moving to the new place. I'll see you on the other side of all that.