Where the heck...

Living out of boxes is just grand! Worse yet, is living out of boxes, most of which are in a 10x20 storage locker. A storage locker that is stuffed wall to wall, floor to ceiling! More times than I care to recount we have been saying "where the heck is my..." The answer is usually something along the lines of "It was in one of the square brown boxes" or something along that line. The missing box is usually in the BACK of the storage locker.

The thing is, we have temporarily downsized from our 3 bedroom house (with an additional office, full basement, and a single car garage) to a 2 bedroom apartment.  In addition we owned a business that occupied a little over 2000' square feet of retail space. After closing the shop and selling the house we have a lot of stuff to store, and not a lot of space to store it!

A good majority of the stuff is in the aforementioned 10x20 storage locker, or in a (not so stuffed) 5x10 storage locker. The rest is in our small apartment, much of it still in boxes.

The good news is that the business is indeed closed, the house is sold (the check is even in the bank) and we are now settling into life in Portland. We are enjoying our new life in Portland. We live right on the MAX light rail line and a bike path, either of which takes me straight to work at the Clackamas REI. Linda takes the MAX into downtown for work, stopping off at the gym (also on the MAX line) most mornings.

Our trusty Subaru, which has gotten a hefty workout the last couple of months as I closed the shop in Tacoma, worked at REI in Clackamas, and we packed up the house, now sits most of the time. We ride bikes, walk or use Portland's excellent public transportation system.

We can easily get pretty much anywhere we need to go via bus, rail, or bike. It is pretty rare that we drive the car these days.Except when we need to haul something to or from the storage locker that is.

And in a moment it was over.

And in a moment it was over, and we were left with what we might have been and what we had become. - Jon Stewart (musician)

Spoke & Sprocket is now history. There is still some paperwork to complete, and a couple of things to move out of the building tomorrow morning, but for all intents and purposes Spoke & Sprocket is no more.

No more bikes to sell, no more fittings, no more repairs. It is over. Spoke & Sprocket has been a major part of my life for 20 years, sometimes an all consuming part of my life. Times change, and Jim Finnell., Linda & I are moving on - life in Portland awaits Linda & I and Finnell is entering a very acrtive retirement. We are excited about our new lives, but it is sad leaving behind all that we built and all the great friends we have made throught the shop.

Many of our customers have come by the past month to wish us well and tell us how much we & the shop will be missed. thank you all so much for your kind words, you have no idea how much they mean to us. We will certainly miss the wonderful customers we have had at Spoke & Sprocket. I  am still amazed at how loyal, suportive, and helpful our customer base was (and is.) You all are great folks.

It has been a wonderful ride full of memories that I will always cherish - thank you all so very much for your loyalty and support!

All of us at Spoke & Sprocket thank you and wish you all the best in the future!