Part of my prepping this summer was to gather all the previous (4!)
summers' photographs, which has led me to reflect on the successes and
failures and strategies for this summer. For example, the last 3 summers
had elements of moving involved, which meant there was lots of extra
stuff in the trailer and the car. This summer, none of that. There is no
element of "stuff" being "transported" but not for use during the trip.
I can't believe how spacious the trailer has become! And every prior
summer, I have had the cats with me, and each summer has been hotter and
hotter. Well, no more worrying about cooking cats; they are staying
home to be calm, happy, and air conditioned. I'll miss them and surely
get lonely for them, but they will like this more.
I've always "planned" these roadtrips in a very spontaneous way. I usually pick a direction, a few towns that seem like good ideas, and maybe a few specific destinations (you know, like Car Henge). But otherwise, I really try to minimally plan. Heck, I usually pack the night before.
The problem with this strategy, is lots can go wrong. For example, last year, I had set the date I would leave, regardless of the moving and sales status of my house. I made the realtor people prepare the paperwork early so I could sign it and be gone, even though Closing wasn't for a few more days.
The problem with this strategy this year, is in addition to the last minute packing and such, I also didn't set a hard-deadline-departure date. As a result, my soft deadline was repeatedly attacked, and "leaving Friday" turned into "leaving Monday" to "leaving Tuesday" and so on. Right now, I am planning on leaving tomorrow. See that? I probably jinxed it, right there.
For some comic relief, I want to share a typical chain-of-events that contributed to the delay.
Found injured bat in house >> called Animal Control to "take care of it" (we can go over my guilt about that later) >> Animal Control realizes my indoor cats were near a bat and aren't exactly up on their shots so he puts them under House Arrest for 10 days, and will be back to "dispose of them" if the bat tests positive for rabies >> bat tests negative >> I take cat least-likely to be current on vaccinations in for shots and teeth cleaning >> need to do a blood test and have him come back the next day for tooth surgery >> come back to find his blood sugar is 496 and he is likely diabetic and will need insulin 2 times a day to get it under control before his infected tooth can be removed. We will have to show a neighbor how to do it on the nights S comes home late, as they are supposed to be given at the same time every morning and night, exactly 12 hours apart. Someone is getting an extra neighbor present this year...
Another:
Needed to change car plates from MT to IN. Yeah, I should have done that a while ago, but they weren't expired so I wasn't worried. Titles had gone missing, so I was putting it off. Finally, went in with all my forms of identification to beg and see what could be done. Turned out I had the car title with my birth certificate, so that got taken care of, but new plate won't arrive before I go. S will bring me the new one when we meet up in a few weeks. Trailer one still missing, so I have to snail-mail a request for a new MT title before I can request my IN title. Yep. That's not really going to happen before I go.
Another:
I needed to repack the bearings (basically, the axle bearings on old trailers are hand-packed with grease every few years, and need to be cleaned and re-greased). One thing lead to another and one of the parts original to the trailer had been jerry-rigged by the previous owner. The mechanics working on it couldn't manage to jerry-rig it in the same way, so I 2-day air-shipped the part needed to get the job done. I used a CRAPPY VENDOR who took 2-day air to mean they could take FIVE days to get it to UPS, who did get it to me in 2. So I paid extra to get the part in a week instead of a month, apparently. On the bright side, I would not have taken the cat to the vet without this delay, and it may have saved his life. Serendipity. So I have the part now and will drive back to the mechanic so he can hoist up the axle to install this thing. If it doesn't fit, I will get the part from Peru, IN and just hope for the best, because I have GOT to get on the road!
(Another Bonus to having the extra days: I have been having annual plumbing problems when I "wake her up" from winter and this year was just as bad if not worse. I replaced the kitchen faucet and the valves and they are working better than they every have. I didn't know a faucet could go bad.)
Thursday, May 23, 2013
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