Update... Ice, snow, and packing

Good morning!!

We are almost ready to takeoff... boy, there is so much more involved than I anticipated! Packing, laundry (which never stops!), car repairs, and SNOW!!! The Colonel is still winterized, which means we can't fill our water tanks until we are in warmer weather and can flush all that gunk out. No water means nothing in the tap to drink or brush teeth with, and nothing to flush our little toilet with.

The process of selecting which items in your everyday life will fit into a 30 foot travel trailer, both in size and weight, and then deciding which of those items are actually essential to your daily living is an immense project. If you know me at all, you can imagine the boxes, bags, and labeled piles surrounding me in my kitchen. The kitchen is staging central. Over the last few days, things have begun to journey out into the Colonel. Including, a REAL mattress for the master! Guys, I am soooo happy about this. The mattress that comes with a camper is basically cardboard. This was my biggest wish before we left.

Hours have been spent organizing the inside of the camper... what do we need during our travel south before we can hookup to water, and where are we going to stow the things we will need once we have running water again? Where will all the dog crates, outdoor gates, leashes and food go? Where will Mike's tools and emergency repair supplies be stored? Well, most of those decisions have been made and most everything we need is packed and stowed away. And most importantly, Mike and I are both still alive to tell the story!

Groceries have been done for the initial trip - lots of granola bars and protein bars, crackers, peanut butter & jelly... easy stuff that doesn't require cooking (water is almost always needed to cook, I didn't consider this until I really thought about it). I have a small stock pile of prepped meals in the freezer which can be microwaved for dinners. We were blessed with lots of gift cards from friends, co-workers, and family, which we will take advantage of to fill our bellies with warm food while we are unable to use water.

At this point, I'd say we have a good 3 solid hours of final packing to do. We can't finish packing until it's really time... 4 dogs will be tough to manage in that space unless they can spend time outside, which is hard when it's so cold. However, mother nature has other plans for us. We are docked in the yard until this snow passes. Hopefully by Wednesday we will be hitting the open roads. The ice last week really complicated things. I imagine Callie and I will be pulling the wagon down the driveway Wednesday morning, salting the path for Mike to tow us out, since our driveway is an ice rink under today's gentle snowfall. That process could make for some fun pictures and videos!

As far as plans go, the delay in take off has cut the Florida Keys out of our plans for now. We Northerners are all so accustomed to needing to drive 30-60 minutes to get to where we want to go... a city, a beach, the mountains... nothing is far. But that map of the United States is deceiving, and most things and people are much farther from where they want to go than we are. The Keys are almost another full day's drive to reach. Yes, Mike has been telling me this the whole time, but I was not going to give up easy on this dream. Time has forced me to "postpone" the Keys (I will not give up!). Also, apparently, it is nearly impossible to get a spot anywhere in Florida near a coast until the snowbirds leave. Current plans have us driving south to a beautiful spot in North Carolina, then to another park in South Carolina, then on to visit a dear friend in Florida (gulf coast). That's as far as we've planned so far...

Stay Tuned!

Val