Dec 15 - 7752 miles, here we come

I was just reviewing the trip details ...

-- New Smyrna Beach Florida to Loring Ontario
-- Loring to Thunder Bay Ontario
-- Thunder Bay to Russell Manitoba
-- Russell to Edmonton Alberta
-- Edmonton to Jasper Alberta
-- Jasper to Banff Alberta
-- Banff to Revelstoke British Columbia
-- Revelstoke to Saskatoon Saskatchewan
-- Saskatoon to Brandon Manitoba
-- Brandon to Thunder Bay Ontario
-- Thunder Bay to Loring Ontario
-- Loring Ontario to New Smyrna Beach Florida

Of course that's spread out over more than a month ... no problem !

It's 10am and still foggy. Sandy's gone to Ormond Beach. She'll be back sometime after noon. I just did some present wrapping so we're pretty well set for arrival at Stef's.

I organized a few things back into the garage that have stayed outside -- ladder and rakes. Before we leave I'll also move the wheelbarrow inside. Lisa is primed to look after the house after we leave, which mostly consists of picking up the mail and doing a general look-around. Sandy wants her to water some plants too. I have my last-minute checklist of course and I have to backup files on the computer to take with us.

... more later ...

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I went over to New Smyrna Glass to settle up with them and the towel bar had come in so we made arrangements for Kirk to come over later in the day and do that installation. Our two replacement windows are on order -- he'll do that installation once we're back in January. I paid him for everything to put that all to bed.

Before that, I'd contacted Vic, who came over to collect his money but we had a misunderstanding on the amount owing that was straightened up once Sandy was home and dug up the detailed drawing and quote. He still owes us the replacement drawers for the kitchen, which are on order.

After New Smyrna Glass I went over to the marina to put the cover on the boat and pull the batteries. Removing the batteries proved fairly easy, although they are in a tight spot. Putting the cover on was also easy ... by now it will be up in its rack awaiting our return.

I'd hoped to put the cover on with the boat dry but found that it was on a work rack having been freshly rinsed. Darn ... the guy must have thought that he was doing me a favor. Also the plug was in -- that would have been a problem without the batteries in the boat to run the bilge pump. I talked to the guy inside afterwards to say that I was finished with the boat and commented on the plug -- what had happened is that, force of habit, the fellow operating the forklift (not Al) had put the boat in the water ... that's why the plug was in and that's why it had been rinsed ... ah ha.

Sandy stopped at the BMW dealer to get that engine cover replaced. I'd called him earlier and warned him that she didn't have much time and that if it couldn't be done in 15-20 minutes she would have to leave. Well, they took the car in right away and then 10 minutes later reported that they were missing a "mount" ... I can't believe it ... these people are so incompetent. I wonder if they actually did everything for which I paid at the recent service ... save the windshield washer antifreeze, of course, that was clearly on the invoice but the reservoir was not full. I already know about that one ... gives me great confidence in their work. Perhaps the best thing is to send the car back to Germany for service ?

After I got home, I headed back out again to the bank and Home Depot. I needed some 5/16 nuts for the battery connectors so that I could daisy chain them for the Battery Minder. I'd have managed without, but was headed that way to the bank and the Harley dealer for gifts for Arlene's kids. I called Arlene while I was there and confirmed sizes ... stuffed my purchases in my jacket front ... and headed home. Yes, I was on the Harley. Once home, I wrapped said purchases, boxed them and went back to the same area to put them in UPS.

Back home again, Sandy had realized that we were missing one gift. I got on the "live chat" with them to ask why, since I'd ordered this two weeks ago, it hadn't shipped. Darn, darn, darn. Long story short, I canceled that order and re-ordered from somewhere else -- there will be one gift that is a "picture" for later delivery. Life goes on, but I hate giving a kid a picture.

Still racing around, I put the hitch rack on the X5 and secured the plastic shelves on same for the trip. I then packed the car with the bulk of what we're taking except for our personal bags. We are pretty well ready to roll. Sandy, in the meantime, had been cleaning and organizing. Changed and showered, we headed out to have dinner with Patti and Norm.

We met them on Flagler and decided to give Clancy's Cantina a try. This is the restaurant owned by our next-door neighbor. Inside, the waitress showed us to a table but it was so noisy in there that we were about to leave ... when along came Matt. He recognized us, organized a quieter table for us -- we were ok waiting for 10 minutes at the bar ... and then had a great meal. The place was booming ... Matt was beaming ... clearly business is great so far in the new location. We're hoping that things work out well for him.

Back home, I got out the air compressor and pumped up the tires on the M5 -- storage pressure -- and X5 -- rear wheel loaded highway driving pressure. I'd already put Sta-bil gas stabilizer in the M5 and the Harley earlier in the day. With batteries hooked up to the Battery Minders, wheelbarrow in the garage, misc packing finished ... we went to bed around 10:30. Late for me, I was up at 4am ... couldn't sleep any more, had a restless night ... but today's driving should be fairly relaxing. Although it will be below freezing by the time we get to Beckley late this afternoon, there won't be any snow. Tomorrow we'll likely see snow showers as we drive between Erie PA and Buffalo NY, and it will be cold all day.

The computer is backed up ... I have yet to make my sandwich for today's travel (we try to make sandwiches for the first day, expecting to eat at a Subway or something the second day).

Do we really want to do this ?

Most of the readership knows that this is all my doing. I'm the crazy one here ... Sandy is "along for the ride" -- well, she's not exactly passive but you know what I mean.


Oh well, we're committed (or I should be) ... onwards !