Aug 28 - there and back again

Sounds like a Hobbit's tale, right ?  No, in this case it was simply a trip to Toronto, actually Mississauga and Oakville, for two dentist appointments.

The first was to the Periodontist for cleaning.  That was uneventful.  It looks like the lady in Florida is doing a good job for less than half the price. 

The second was to the dentist to have two more crowns started.  I already have more crowns that Queen Elizabeth and I'm accumulating more.  Basically all my teeth have hairline fractures and need crowns, well almost all.  The roots are all healthy -- I've never had root canal work -- but the teeth were never very strong; lacked good enamel.  Some of that is probably rooted, no pun intended, in a lack of fluoride when I was young.  At six years old I had my first dentist appointment and had my first two adult molars removed.  It's gone downhill ever since. 

Dr. Weir said yesterday that "I'm lucky" because I'm not like the gentleman in the room next to me who needs $60,000 worth of work because all of his teeth are worn right down and he needs implants.  Weir actually showed me the impression made of his lower jaw.  Yup, no much left.  It's a lot cheaper, and easier, to crown BEFORE a tooth has a "catastrophic" fracture down to the root and therefore not need an implant.  Yeah, so lucky :).  Oh well, getting old means replacing stuff.  Hips will be next, I fear. 

The drive down was great; 3.5 hours to Mississauga on easy cruise.  The way back took at least 1 hour longer due to traffic.  Traffic was heavy everywhere; seems most people wanted to get a jump on the long weekend.

My leg is feeling better but it's probably plateaued. Some pull when I stretch out the calf; we'll see what it's like on the bike today.  One week from now I'll already be 3.5 hours into a 1000km ride in VA, the Appalachian Adventure.

I've got an early morning appointment with Weir on the 3rd so I'll be leaving here at 4am that morning.  From there I'll head to Reading, which gets me close to the Leesburg VA start.  Sandy heads down after me, bringing Abby.  I'll pick up Abby on my way back; Sandy will be back a few days later.  Right after Sandy arrives, I head to Nashville for the1500k.  She's still figuring out if she will go.  Back from Nashville, we have Thanksgiving here and shortly afterwards head south.  We're going to take Emma into New York for her birthday present.  The Barrie girls (Kylie, Lauren, Megan) have all enjoyed our proximity with ballet and theatre, now it's Emma's turn.  Right after NYC, we head to Florida, getting there about the 21st just before Jason arrives, if we plan this right !  If we mess up, he can open the hurricane shutters.

I've now put over 10,000 miles on the X5 since leaving Florida.  I'm going to put another 5,000-6,000 miles on before leaving for Florida, so figure 8,000 before getting back.  I bought the car with about 45,000 miles on it and will likely hit 72,000+ before the year is out.  I may very well need another set of tires before coming up at Christmas ... I'm considering buying the snow tires and leaving them in Florida, thus coming up with snows at Christmas.  Also, I had thought that the reserve tanks of DEF would be enough to get me back to Florida (range roughly 15,000 miles) but it seems not, so I picked up another gallon at Canadian Tire yesterday.  I don't want to see the "1000 miles before car won't start" message.  Driving around town isn't a big deal but part-way through a 1500 mile trip, it is.  DEF is available everywhere these days but it's a pain to add to the tank in this car.

What else ... hmmm ... nothing at the moment.  I talked to David yesterday and he said that he'd either be here today or tomorrow.  Sandy went down to Parry Sound yesterday to grocery shop and has stocked up accordingly.

Onward ?