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Published: March 7th 2017
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Dirty car waiting for new tires! Prepping for a three month road trip involves so much. You hope you remember everything you have to do, or at least that what you forget isn't going to hurt so much. We've been working on getting ready now for about a full week and here we are - down to the last day. Even the list I prepared days ago still has 40 items left on it.
Today I take the car down to get the mud tires swapped out for highway tires. Have a 10:00 appointment and I hope they can get to it quickly since I don't have time to spend down there waiting. And I still have to activate our free trial of Sirius XM satellite radio - hopefully that takes just a few minutes. We have music on our phones and iPads we can listen to, and Joan has a basket full of CDs, but XM radio would be nice.
Then there are the things you wanted to get done, but for one reason or another you can't. Yesterday, for example, we were going to wash the car and get the mud out of the wheel wells. Nice idea, but Taos got hit with a terrific wind storm - sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts up to the 80s. So power got knocked out in various places, one of them the car wash that I know how to use. So we will be hitting the road with a filthy car.
The trailer has some issues that are troublesome. Refrigerator tests out OK so we will be getting that going this morning and start filling it with perishables this afternoon. Also tested the furnace and, well, doesn't seem to me like it is blowing air with quite enough force. Now is that just because I'm not remembering it very well, or is it because there is a chipmunk nest somewhere in the vents that is preventing full airflow? If the former, well, who cares. If the latter, then we could be looking at a fire as all that stuff heats up the first night we use it until it reaches an ignition point. Now maybe we won't need any heat, given where we are going. But then again, do we want to count on that. I suspect we will be stopping at an RV place along the way.
Oh, and I couldn't get the water system running. Turns out that the caps that close the low-point drainage pipes for the water system are nowhere to be found. I know, for a fact, that after removing them last fall, I put them into a plastic baggy and left the baggy in the sink. But now I can't find them which means I can't fill up, and sanitize, the water system! Bought some standard plumbing caps at ACE hardware yesterday, but not sure they will fit. So there's another reason to get to the RV store. Meanwhile, of course, we have no running water - which we can endure for maybe a day or two, but has to get fixed. The problems of travel!
Everything else is moving along pretty well. We finished grocery shopping yesterday, buying perishables. And we have boxes of pantry items (canned goods, cereal, paper goods, etc) ready to go out. Today we fill up the trailer, being careful to put as much heavy stuff as possible behind the wheels to help with the weight distribution. Besides eating, there's clothing, books to read, device chargers - the list goes on. And there is lots to remember to pack. Its helpful that we've done this before, but it is still a lot of work.
And then there is our house itself. Since there is a remote possibility that our angel buyer might want to view the place while we are gone, we will need to clean it up - presentation is everything. But I also have to turn off everything electrical (except the fridge), and turn off the water system. And I should also chlorinate the cisterns to ward off growing stuff while we are gone. A lot of this is simple stuff, but still have to get it done.
So today will be a very busy day. And tomorrow - well, no journaling tomorrow. We will be hitting the road.
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