December 4, 2025
Previously on The Wandering New Mexican:
During the last days of our stay in Cannon Beach, Brandy got the call that their head accountant was leaving in short order and Brandy and her colleagues would have to fly to San Diego to be trained on what he did and take over some of those responsibilities. This trip was scheduled for December 1-3. With tickets in hand for a Blue October concert in Peoria on the 4th, there were some logistics that needed to be worked out.
I had dropped Brandy in Des Moines on our way back home from the Pacific Northwest on November 30, and Ash and I continued on home that evening.
I worked from home for half of that week and with timing issues and flight schedules, Brandy could not fly out of San Diego until the 4th, it made more sense for her to fly right to Peoria, have me to head up to the already booked AirBnB a day early so I could work on the 4th, pick her up from the airport then we could head to the venue for the show.
So I did just that. After work on the 3rd, I packed up Ash and myself and headed east through the rural back roads of eastern Iowa and into Illinois.
Similar to the drive I’d made on the morning of November 17th, from Cannon Beach to Seattle, I had no business driving. I was super foggy and tired and had a hard time with the 3 hour drive.
I did make it though, getting to our AirBnB at around 6:00. I got Ash settled, then made a 45 minute drive in to Bloomington to meet up with a couple of former co-workers that I worked with in my short time at UnityPoint Health.
I returned back to the AirBnB, which was a kitschy, funky retro-modern MCM style place. A true vibe stay if ever there was one. With my proper mask attached to my BiPAP, I got a good night’s sleep.
The next day, I went through my day’s work, watching Brandy struggle with her constant delays in getting to Peoria. There was a delay in getting her to Denver, so she missed her connecting flight, so they rebooked her for a different flight, going through O’Hare before finally landing at PIA.
What went from her landing at around 3:00 turned into her not getting to Peoria until 7:00, which is what time the doors to the venue opened. She was so frustrated with how things went that day that I took a tumbler filled with an adult beverage and a THC gummy to help sooth her nerves before the concert.
It was a short drive to the venue from the airport, only about 20 minutes or so but she took the gummy and downed most of her drink before we got there. We ventured in and I could see the relaxation start washing over her and by the time Blue October hit the stage, she was in full vibe mode.
The set they played was identical to the one I had seen a scant month earlier, so nothing new to report there.
Two days after the show, we left our AirBnB and made our way home, getting back just after noon, and thus, Brandy was back home for the first time since November 13. As a side note, between November 1 and December 6, she spent a grand total of four days at home (the brief half-week between when she returned from Northern California and when we left for Cannon Beach) and the realization that during the entire year of 2025, she never spent 30 consecutive days at home.
Make sure you check out this latest batch of pictures from the concert and the AirBnB on my Photo Diary.
And That’s A Wrap!
And with that, we wrap up another outstanding year! My next post will be my 2025 Year In Review, that will shortly be followed by a post on our first outing of 2026 which, as of the writing of this post on December 29, 2025, is already planned. Immediately following that will be the annual life reflection post I do for the anniversary of the creation of this blog and, spoiler, my life just keeps getting better and better.
Stay tuned for the ride!
-Phil