Weather or not...

We had planned to leave the Tropical Tip today, but Mother Nature had other ideas: the wind is gusting above 50, the wind is carrying dirt and sand... it is an ugly mess here. I tried to wash the car before putting a cover on it... my neighbor came by and asked if I was familiar with the story of Sisyphus. "Yes, pushing the stone up the hill through all eternity," I replied.

"You do know that's what you're trying to do here, right? There is so much dirt in the air, that you can't clean it fast enough to get that cover over it."

Of course, he was right. I finally had to settle with getting the car covered, period - the wind was blowing so hard, it took both of us and it was still a struggle. Heck with the dirt. We decided to scrap our plan to head out this afternoon, and will try again first thing in the morning. Heading north, we are trying to dodge thunderstorms in the Dallas area... timing is important, considering the awful weather much of the country has been hit with.

When I came back to the coach, Joan wouldn't let me sit down until I changed my clothes and washed any exposed bare skin... yes, I was that dirty.

After cleaning up again, we stopped to drop off books with our friends Skip and Nancy; they were on their 42' boat, taking down their eisenglass on the flybridge. They had tried to clean each piece, but ran into the same "gettin' dirty faster than you can clean it" situation. So, even though the wind and blowing dirt was unpleasant, the conversation was nice. Of course, we all talked about where we'd rather be.

Assuming the slides will close, considering all the dirt and grit, we will roll when Mother Nature cuts us even a bit of slack. I think we will pull the slides in before we turn in for the night... try to clean them off a bit before bringing them in. The forecast for tomorrow is less windy, in the 20s out of the SSE. It will be a crosswind for the first half hour, then should give us a little push when we turn north.

Close...

I checked all the lines and tanks - all seems to be sound and dry. I've sanitized the fresh water tank and all the lines, flushed with fresh, the water is good to go.

We have about 3,000 pounds of useful load, and it feels like I carried at least that much to the coach. Joan is the most incredible organizer... I am just the pack mule. The coach swallowed up everything we carried in, with Joan carefully putting things away as I brought them. If the house would sell, we could eliminate all this loading and unloading effort. We know how to travel light - the boat has less storage space than the HH. Joan said something that did influence what we took: this hurricane season is supposed to be significantly more active than last year - "Take anything you can't live without."

The house is nearly closed down. Nothing can be left outside (could become a missle during a hurricane); most of the hurricane shutters are closed. I need to use the jacuzzi tub another time or two before we head out. We'll be in the coach tonight; will do some last minute stuff tomorrow and probably roll on Sunday. It's nice to spend a night or two by the house to make sure we haven't forgotten anything.

Little Izzy has been staying close by her carrier - with all the activity, she knows we're about to head out again.

I was just informed that all the ice cream will not fit in the freezer in the coach... looks like I will have to sacrifice my boyish figure to make sure it doesn't go to waste (waist?).

The Love Shack is out of storage and ready to be loaded. A quick check out showed that it endured 3 months of storage reasonably well. One tape stripe in a prominent location is starting to shred... that looks bad, so I'll need to address that as soon as I can.

Photos from the Tetons show that they are still butt-deep in snow. Sure hope that melts off fast - at least before we're scheduled to be there next month.

Lots to get done before we head out.

Frontal passage and random thoughts...

The weather weasels said there would be a frontal passage today that would lower the humidity... they were right... sorta. When the never-ending wind changed from the SE at 25 to the NE at 15, the humidity dropped from around 300% to about 278%. Maybe it's the fact that I've been up north for most of the last month, but I sweated through two shirts today. The truck is ready to go get the 5th wheel out of storage, the cargo trailer is loaded and ready. This will be a fairly "quick turn." It is rare that I look forward to heading north, but we are both ready.

It is terribly dry here in the Tropical Tip. I washed the car yesterday, it is already filthy - lots of blowing dirt/sand in the air. Unlike much of the country that has been getting inundated, south Texas is in the middle of severe drought conditions... no precip in months.

I have had to bite my tongue as we have fueled up the past few days... it's hard to not use the term "dirty, thieving bastards." While at my Mother's apartment, I saw a nearby station go from $4.09 to $3.98 to $4.19 (for diesel) in a 24 hour period.

Some folks have heard me talk about very humble beginnings. I had to laugh when some people in my industry said I was able to retire early because of an "inheritance." Here's a look at the house I grew up in, and where my Mother lived until we moved her into an apartment 7 years ago...


Those three ladies in the photo are: our daughter when she was very young, my Mother, and the Blonde. That black strip across the middle of the house is where the front porch fell off. It wasn't on the wrong side of the tracks, it was about 100 yards from the tracks. I found this photo while going through Mom's stuff. Even though she had it fixed up over the years, it was a delight to get her out of there when she finally consented to the move.

There is a lot of news coverage about a wedding on Friday. One of the news services had an on-line poll: "Will you get up early to watch the wedding coverage?" Um, no. But, I hope to take a break on Friday to watch the Endeavor space shuttle launch for its final mission.

We are looking forward to a great summer season in the mountains. I should be getting plenty of boat time in, and Joan will be booking passengers (and doing lots of other manager stuff).

The plan...

The plan was: not be crazy about getting home. The tow dolly has a 6 day rental; we planned to be home well before that... driving 500 mile days, it's at least 3 full days. After the first day, with a night in a motel, we changed the plan. First off, I do not like motels - I like my own bed, chairs, and potty. You get spoiled traveling by boat or RV: you always have your stuff with you and you don't have to pack and unpack everyday. And if you have a furry family member, you don't have to pay extra or hunt around to find a place that will take you. And after her first night in a motel, little Izzy agrees with us - maybe she could see things at floor level that she was less than enthralled about?

We left Chanute in a thunderstorm... and it went downhill from there. We decided to push on and do 1,000 miles to get home. The first 500 miles was through some gawd-awful thunderstorms: hail and rain so heavy we were occasionally slowed to 20 mph. As we drove out of the massive area of thunderstorms, Mother Nature gave us a strong headwind. Driving up, Joan got 22 mpg with a relatively empty truck. Heading back, towing a car, our mileage dropped to around 18 mpg. Bucking the headwind, it dropped to 15 mpg. On the bright side, Joan commented about how much better the truck rode with the bed full and a towed load.

We took turns driving, and covered the 1,000+ miles in 17 hours... along the way, I tried to educate Joan on the advantages of a really BIG truck (as in: semi-tractor, something with a sleeper cab that would allow us some sleeping room, a fridge, microwave, and potty. I don't think I convinced her... she loves Big Red.

It's been a long time since I've done "1,000 in 1"... that's a motorcycle term, and we only did that once, and it was MANY years ago. Joan, of course, is much tougher than I am, since she drove over 1,500 miles in 25 hours to get to Sioux City 10 days ago to be by my side. So much for the "2/2/2 Rule."

It was 1:00 am when we rolled onto our island, and then had to drop the car off the tow dolly to get it in the driveway. We were especially quiet, trying to not disturb the neighbors.

Time is growing short before we will need to head out again. This morning, we unloaded the truck and car... not easy to find a place to put things in this little house, but the CEO (Chief Efficiency Organizer) will make it work until we are ready to load things into the 5th wheel in a couple days. I gotta tell ya, I am damn tired of moving, loading, unloading, and moving.

The past month has been a wild ride of highs and lows, and we are preparing for the next chapter.

Rolling...

We left Mom's apartment at 7:30 this morning - it was sparkly clean. We put the "Grandma car" on a tow dolly and headed south. A stop in Kansas City to leave off some stuff for my sister, then made it as far as Chanute, Kansas - home of NuWa Industries, the manufacturer of our 5th wheel. We have stayed here several times, but always while towing our 5th wheel, not having to be in a motel. Not quite the same.

Sidebar: I REALLY don't care for motels/hotels any more. But, we have a lot of miles to do and it is going to require a couple motel stays. Some of them don't want little Izzy, others charge extra for this sweet little cat who will have NO impact on their room. We found one in Chanute that only charges $10 extra for a cat. For that price, I told Izzy that it is OK if she craps on the floor, but she is way too classy for that. ;-)

We considered rolling on further, but we are both tired and felt an early night would be good right now. I was hoping that our favorite Mexican restaurant in Chanute would be open, but no. Fortunately, Joan planned ahead and brought food. The motel room has a fridge and microwave. I plan to go to bed real early tonight. About 1,000 miles to go yet to get home.

On the bright side, diesel here in Chanute is $4.19... 20¢ per gallon higher than any place we've come across since we left Iowa. Over $1 per gallon higher than we paid last fall when we came through here.

On the really bright side, we saw some sunshine today for a few hours - the first in over a week.

Not much traffic on the road today; I read that fuel prices would put a crimp in holiday travel. There are only a few cars in the motel parking lot. Hope that's not a sign of things to come for the summer season.

Wrapping up...

The furniture is gone, the closets are empty. The lovely apartment that was home for my Mother looks like any other empty dwelling. This morning, we will take our daughter to the airport... once again, she has been tremendous support. For many years in the studio, the three of us were a team; everyone pulls together... and together we got through this. There are always some tears when say our good-byes, and this one will certainly be tough.

When Joan and I get back to the apartment, we'll have another day of cleaning and then packing up our truck. Then, the long drive back to Texas, but we will be together.