Starting a little later than planned...

We're starting to get excited and almost packed.  Our initial punch-list of items to-do before we left last week was well over 5 pages in my little note book -- so about 100 items in all and we're now down only to the few things that should be done at the last minute like cleaning out our fridge, and double checking that we have the passports and the Dog's veterinary records in the trailer.

The biggest part of the prep was actually getting the hardwood flooring project finished in the den and hallway.  We had to wait while our electrician recovered from breaking a couple of ribs!  I didn't want to replace the baseboards while we still had the original ungrounded outlets installed in the baseboards in a couple of places.  Rod finally got the work done on Saturday and then Lorraine and I finished the last few bits of flooring and installed the baseboards on Monday and Tuesday.  It was also a busy week with two trips to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. And then cleaning the house and packing.  It's been a busy week...

We had intended to be out of here on Friday -- and we could have made it. But Alex and Sarah are working tomorrow at Seedy Sunday in Rankin and this is important to them.  I'll say that we all need a little better planning and communication on when we're leaving on these kinds of trip and leave it at that.  Lorraine was keen to have a couple of extra days to prep as she really doesn't like to rush -- and frankly the weather in the Appalachians tomorrow looks a little dicey.

So, Monday the 4th is now d-day for us and I hope to be out a little before first-light so we have a shot at making it to Richmond in two longish driving days.  In the car Richmond would be a long but very practical one-day trip -- my maximum driving range is still about 10 hours of driving in a day with a couple of stops.  The trailer is both physically and mentally more demanding so we try to keep to about 450km or 5 hours of driving and certainly need to plan to stop at that range.  This is also the range of a full tank of gas while towing ( I can maybe make it 600km on a tank if I am careful) and pulling the trailer through most gas stations is tricky enough that I try to drop the trailer and park it for the night and then go get gas while unhooked. 

But the weather is still too cold to operate the fridge and run the anti-freeze out of the water lines all the way to Northern Virginia where it will still be on the edge when we arrive there -- hopefully on Tuesday night. 

The trailer is ready to go; no snow on the roof. The truck is gassed up and I'll hook it up to the trailer tomorrow afternoon so we can get out at dawn maybe make to Scranton or a little further south Monday -- where we'll either just sleep "rough" without water in the trailer at a Truck Stop or in a Walmart parking lot or possibly find a hotel.  The second night -- traffic and weather willing we'll stop just outside of Richmond where we'll spend a couple of days in what will certainly seem spring-like weather to us. There we should be able to get the fridge started, fix the vent-cover in the bathroom ceiling ( broken when it was stepped on in the shovelling process), blow-out the anti-freeze from the waterlines and start the water pump and the fridge.  I tried the fridge here by accident but it went straight into an error condition -- for some reason it didn't like operating at -19c....  Yeah -- that's about 10c colder than it keeps the freezer. 
We'll also take advantage of time in Richmond to meet some friends in the area -- we are really looking forward to that.

In the meantime we have Max and Bobby coming for a sleep-over tonight; we'll have pizza and stories and maybe watch a movie on netflix. Then tomorrow I've got homework to finish and both Lorraine and I will take turns watching the grandkids and putting the finishing touches into the trip.

Oh yeah -- I'm still working out how I'll get my income tax done while on the road as I haven't received my paperwork from HPE yet...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

John Carter's Diary, Summer of 1965 -- the first three days.

Image
About a month ago, on one of those -32c mornings that are exhilarating to those who love The Valley and perhaps too effing cold for those who don’t, I asked my 6 year old grandson Max if he thought that Spring would ever arrive.   His response was terribly cogent in today’s crisis and uttered in a sweetly derisive tone of voice that small children reserve for their obviously daft grandparents. “Of course, Spring always comes after Winter.”   The words “you idiot” were clearly implied but left unspoken. And, of course, as Max predicted Spring is following winter and has arrived. The snow in The Valley is running away surely. The 10 feet piles of snow along the roadsides have melted away and the flocks of redwing blackbirds and grackles have returned to Dead Horse Pond across the street. The ice-huts have been pulled in off the lake – more than a week early. Spring is springing – although we’re a long way from seeing any tulips at least the snow is off my two newly planted...
Read more
Image
We're just a little over half way through the physical diary at this point. I believe based on the note that precedes the entry for July 13th that he was mailing the diary home in sections.  So when he picked up letters in Madrid on that day he would have mailed what I'm guessing is the 2nd installment of the diary to Aity.  The storm today is pushing lots of mist and fog off the lake despite the frequent wind gusts. I'm guessing this might be the last day for ice or maybe tomorrow it seems to be at the breaking point.   Another dull day in isolation -- one of our days off from grandparenting -- makes a great opportunity to provide more of JC's diary. -------------- (insert after page 71) Tuesday, July 13/65   Today we left for Madrid. Rod isn't feeling well and has some stomach trouble. Got to Madrid and went to the Cdn. Embassy where I got four letters. I'm so happy that Lillian and Tom now have a boy and that everything is fine.    We found ...
Read more

JC Diary 1965: July 8-12, JC's curious obsession with bullfighting

For me, life continues pretty dull.  I'm fortunate not to to know anyone personally yet who has been confirmed with the Corona Virus.   Maybe, and I reiterate it's a bit of long shot, maybe Ted has had it -- cough and 2-3 days of fever and nothing else -- he isolated for a couple of weeks and is back at work.  The grandkids were here overnight and we had the Easter Bunny here at the house this morning a day early; Max and Bobby worked together really well; Max may complain about Bobby getting his way or being a "baby" but they really are good friends and this is so important in these days of isolation.   Spring has returned after a couple of lightly snowy days -- Sunny and Cool here with a little more warmth in the forecast. I'm betting the ice comes of the lake on Tuesday about 10 days ahead of normal.  We join JC and his friends basking in the Spanish late-spring Sun in Pamplona.  This is also the very famous Piedra Monastery that was cle...
Read more

Good Friday And JC's Coaster Collection from 1965

Image
Good Friday, 2020 Winter returned to The Valley this morning -- shocking my little dogs and causing my heart to drop a little.  I'd expected the skiff of snow we got yesterday, but hadn't anticipated the two inches that was in the yard this morning.  The poor Robin looked a little lost and the grackles and red-winged blackbirds just perched in the pin-cherries with their feathers fluffed out looking disgruntled.  Kitty took one look outside and decided she didn't need to pee after all; Baby loves the snow but still seemed surprised to see it return as well.  Appropriate for a Good Friday I suppose; normally the church lot and my side street to the lake would be full of cars this morning but all is quiet with the new fallen snow and pandemic restrictions. By noon it's all but gone and the heavy rain expected tomorrow and Sunday and Monday will knock the snow down in the bush in readiness for turkey hunting season which opens in two weeks -- same day as the trout s...
Read more

Some more American Cousins.

Image
The start of our second week on the road! Morning in Statesboro was lovely after a brief rain near dawn.  Another day off my quota of really nice days, I guess. We’re now well enough stocked to have breakfast in the trailer. We won’t even try to get the fridge working until we get to Naples. Just too much to do to wait again for repairmen who don’t phone and we’ve both done enough camping with coolers and ice that it won’t be a giant deal. I’ve long used the example of my Ogilvy ancestors as a glib way to turn any bad judgement on my part into a joke about DNA...  My ancestors were kicked out of Scotland by the English and then came to Georgia only to be kicked out by the Americans for siding with the English.  I’ve always wondered why?  My Dad and his wife Susan have worked very hard to establish his family tree;   more than half of mine as a result as they’ve been kind enough to do research on my Mom’s line a little as well. They find out quite a few int...
Read more