Travels With Snowbirds 2018. Wilmington NC to Santee State Park SC. December 28, 2017

---

---

The one about forgetfulness

Hi. I’m back. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

Welcome old friends and readers, and welcome new friends and readers. Please follow along and see what my Snowbird Trip 2018 brings.

My first real Florida reservation starts Saturday. I was closely watching the weather for the past week. Knowing I had not winterized my RV, Moya, I knew I had to get out of town before the temperature dipped below freezing for longer than 5 sustained hours.

After opening Christmas presents with the family, I went home and undecorated my house, and before 9:00 the next morning, all decorations, inside and out, were boxed up and stowed away. That night, son Tim helped me get Moya out of storage and into my driveway. I don’t know which is worse, loading her up when it is 95 degrees or 30 degrees. Both suck.

My friend, John, is down for the holiday, and he helped me carry some of the very heaviest baskets; the help was greatly appreciated.

Wednesday we took a short break and went to see “The Greatest Showman.” I did not know it was a musical. Go figure. I should have realized, knowing Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, and Zendaya starred, but I didn’t. The music was great. The singing awesome. The production numbers were wonderful. The story did cause me to go read about PT Barnum and Jenny Lind. The scenery reminded me of Moulin Rouge. The song and dance numbers started very quietly and all finished full blowout. I liked it. Can you tell? I went home and tried to listen to the soundtrack via my new Alexa, but it was not available with my prime membership. I need a for pay service…..

By late Wednesday night I was ready to go, but would only be driving 200 miles on Thursday, so I took my time leaving. I rechecked all the closets, turned off the hot water heater and refrigerator and watered the plants. During one of my trips to Moya, Winston escaped and ran into her and sat gloating on the dashboard. I sat in the driveway at departure mentally taking inventory, and I was sure I had I it all. WRONG!

I always forget something, but remember it at 10 minutes out and turn around and go get it. Not this day. 45 minutes out I realized I forgot my very slick Dyson stick vacuum. I certainly can get by with my broom and dust pan, but not on the rugs. I was mad at myself. It gets worse.

At the first stop, I needed to take Winston out for a bio break. No leash. Since he escaped and ran into the TV, I never put his harness and leash on him. Sad thing is, it’s in the same cabinet the Dyson Stick is. I really blew that one. I do have an old harness and an old leash in a storage compartment, so all was not lost.

I called John, had him get the key from my neighbor, he got the harness which has the license, rabies tag, and my phone number. Winston has been known to escape while camping, and I knew I needed his tags. John USPSd them to me for Saturday delivery. Too bad the Dyson Stick wouldn’t fit into an Express Mail envelope.

Traffic on I95 near Florence SC was awful. Two accidents. Traffic slowdown caused me over an hour of delay. Not a problem, I am listening to a really good book. I got to Santee State Park, a favorite place over the years. 40 degrees and very windy. Winston got a fast walk, I ate an early dinner, and hunkered in with space heater blasting.

After eating, I fired up my laptop so I could set up my travel expense spreadsheet and this travel blog so that they would both be available off line and sync when I went online. That’s easiest to do from my laptop. No power cord. I packed the laptop, mouse, external hard drive, wrist support and mouse pad, but not the freakin power cord.

Now, for those of you who are saying, “Don’t you have a list?” Yes, I do, but who would put computer cord on a list? Not me. Who would put dog leash on the list. Not me. Vacuum maybe.

So, I can’t promise I will write every day, but I will write often, and especially when something good happens. I am away for 2 full months, am going to Disney World, will be seeing Dancing with the Stars, and many other as yet unplanned things. Hope you will come along.

Kat out.

---

Comments

[Yolande]

The Greatest ShowmAN
Hey Kat! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It's always fun reading your blog. Thanks for the great critique of the Greatest Showman. This is the movie Lauren and I will go see for our traditional 1st of the year at the movies. How funny, last year's movie was also a musical: La La Land. Have a fun, safe trip and I'm sure I will be reading you again. xo

[NanaKat]

Greatest Showman
Yes, That’s it!, the movie is very much like LaLaLand!! Mix Moulin Rouge with LaLa and you have it! Spectacular opening!