Dec 19 - where do these things come from ?

I just watched the last half of The Bourne Identity -- yes, I've read the book by Robert Ludlum. Yes, I've seen the movie before, but it's a good one. My kind of suspense.

I wanted to know who played Marie, so I went to imdb.com (Internet Movie Database) a wonderful source of information. I searched on Bourne Identity and sure enough I found my movie. It also came up two other movies:

-- The Re-Bourne Identity

Jason has been on the run for so long he isn't even sure what he's running from. Caught in a shadowy world of assassins, double agents, and lost loves, fate offers deliverance in the form of a drive-thru cheeseburger.

-- The Bourne Identity Crisis

An amnesiac forgets that he's gay and convinces himself that he's an assassin.

I'm somewhat flabbergasted. Someone actually makes these movies. Amazing. ps, I'm also flabbergasted that there is a correct spelling of flabbergasted vs an incorrect spelling. I typed it wrong the first time with one "b" and of course blogger corrected me.

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Ok, it's morning again. Warmer than yesterday, the internet temperature is showing 18F and when I let Abby out it was snowing lightly. Today's chores are really about re-packing the car. Sandy wrapped the Edmonton-bound Christmas presents yesterday. We went into town to post some mail and pickup the LCBO seasonal food magazine -- forget what it's called.

Jim Matthews dropped over before we went into town with the mail. We went to their place later with the newspaper, since it was already in when we went to the General Store. When Jim dropped over I was busy in the barn. I'd already installed the snow tires on the X5 and was in the process of installing the roof rack and later the ski box. I'll check the tire pressures today ... have to ensure that's on my list. Another thing that I should do, if I think of it, is double check the tightness of the bolts securing the rims, after having driven to and from Loring and to and from Britt for Mass today.

The work on the car took most of the morning. It was slow going due to the cold. I had a devil of a time getting the rims off the hubs, combination of dirt, frost and rust locking them in place. On the passenger side I'd kicked, kicked and more kicked until they finally loosened. On the drivers side I was having no luck with the front wheel and resorted to using the heat gun, rotating the rim and warming it and the hub behind -- and then it came off easily. Having learned that lesson I did the same with the drivers side rear.

The snow tires have a surprising amount of tread. If I do a lot of snow-covered road driving on this trip I expect that they'll last another season after this one. If it's mostly on pavement, they may be done. Come to think of it though, it's "only" 5,000 miles, so maybe they have at least another season anyway. They're stored inside the barn without exposure to UV so they don't break down without usage ... much.

At this point I'm not bringing the hitch rack although I've toyed with that idea. David has a couple of bins of stuff here that I could get out to him by putting those bins inside a big bin, you get the idea. I kind of like having the hitch rack. It provides an additional safety advantage of an extra set of lights.

I've also been looking at routes. The "northern route" that goes north through Hearst adds an extra 39 miles to the trip between here and Thunder Bay but avoids any potential lake effect snow around Lake Superior. It's a very straight road, less hilly, safer in many ways but it's pretty desolate. That will be a last minute decision as I look at the Doppler before leaving tomorrow.

I've posted our detailed travel schedule on the blog, showing every leg of our trip. Cell phones will be on but there will be areas where we don't have service during the day. I expect to be able to keep the blog updated most of the time, other than the small motel in Russell Manitoba, perhaps ... Sue Cockroft's place in Saskatoon ... time will tell.

I did get the fishing rigs out yesterday but had no action. I guess that the pike are not hungry yet or cruising this way. I left them in overnight, will go out shortly and check them, chip the newly-formed ice around the lines. It's still dark. There are not very many hours of daylight here, but even less in Thunder Bay and less still in Edmonton.

Jim and Bonnie intend to stop over late today on their way back from a church function in North Bay. I have no idea what time they'll be here. Any delays on their part and I suspect that it might not happen. My aim would be to have the car packed by the end of the day other than our personal bags, cooler, case of wine ... us ...

Onward !