On The Road Again...Just Can't Wait to Get On the Road Again...

Time for another trip. This week finds us winding west. Wide open spaces !!! Vistas !

Sunsets. Mountains.

But first, to pack. And then there is the last minute check off list. Do you ever add stuff to the list afterwards and give it that satisfying check?

You'd think we'd save the list from trip to trip. But, no. Alas. I am a throw away person. If something is not used nor needed, it is thrown away. Even the invitation to this next event, that we received back in January, which was carefully taped to the shelf for months...even that invitation with the nifty, handy map somehow got thrown out. Last time I saw it, it was on the table by Bob's chair. I had shown it to him, and neglected to tape it back up so we don't lose it, mind you, but it got covered with some torn-in-half junk mail and voila'. Thankfully, we were able to find an old email, and google-earthed it. Best to let the driver of our family see the route ahead of time, in my opinion. Google earth estimates a two hour drive up unpaved roads to the campsite from the hotel??!! Yikes. What an adventure. Our minivan is not a four-wheeler. Whoa.

I can't wait to see great-nephews in person that we have only seen in pictures!

And it sounds like it is turning into a family reunion with most of Bob's siblings coming---if not all.

Bob's youngest sister (what, twenty minutes younger than her sisters) has been married almost thirty years. They are going to do a renewal of their vows. I keep calling it a re-en-actment. But, that makes my family laugh at me for some reason. We were not able to attend the original wedding thirty years ago because Bob was in the Army and we were stationed across the country at Fort Stewart at the time. But, I heard it was lovely. There was the famous family heirloom bridal veil. And it was held in a quaint little old church with no air-conditioning, near El Paso, at the end of June...114 degrees??!! But, it was dry heat. What fun ! And they went camping for their honeymoon. What brave souls.

The bags are packed. Yes, huge clear ziplock baggies. Our good Lands End luggage went with our sons as they left home. I like the ziplock bags because you can see at a glance where the socks and essentials are hidden. I packed Bob's with one pair of jeans, two t-shirt choices (patriotic and plain and spiritual messages) and two polo shirt choices, two pair underwear, two pair socks, and a pair of jogging shorts for lounging around/modesty. (One year I packed my then six-year-olds clothing in just stacks in the suitcase for that trip west with Dad and was amused to see my dear son still dressed in pjs at Mount Rushmore in their vacation pictures.)

Cooler is ready. I have been making ice cubes for weeks. Silly me---it dawned upon me that a gallon jug of ice might work just as well to keep the precious coffeemate liquid fresh. Bob prefers coffeemate french vanilla. I like the new tirimisu. Yum. Powdered instant coffee is great to have on hand to ramp up the iced coffees. Wasn't it McDonalds that started the iced coffee craze? It is so much better to get your jolt from iced coffee than from scalding, in my opinion.

Knitting. Check. Huge balls of cotton yarn at the ready. Knitting needles, scissors, crochet hook (for tucking in the strings) and an envelope to mail them to my dear friend in Ennis if I don't find any takers along the way. Walmart carries the yarn I use, but the newer ones do not, so just in case... But, I do like checking out Walmart in other cities, don't you?? Smaller, friendlier, yet the same stuff, which is somehow comforting as some socks need replaced pretty soon.

I'd like to see some stars. We live in a very busy, very bright area of Texas, and our huge oak trees block the sunsets, too. The stars we see are just the major ones, like Orion, and the Big Dipper. I hope we get to see the whole shebang one night or two.

Soon as Bob has given that Sunday School lesson tomorrow...

Soon as we go through that checklist...

Soon as we top off the kitty's food and water. (She spotted the bags and is on to us. At least the cat is healthier this trip. When we went to a wedding in Georgia last month, we came home to a full catfood dispenser, and puny cat on her death bed. She is down to just a few of her nine lives, but thankfully, still alive. Sallycat thinks my shoulders and lap are a good perch once a day. She does not always warn me that she is about to leap. I have the holes on my arms to prove it.)

We will be bringing the Scrabble game along. We hauled it all over the west last August picking up James in Washington state, and never played a game. But, the Georgia wedding trip found us buying a cheap set to satisfy a challenge among Bob's brothers. In one last game today, Bob was mighty quick to slap an "S" on the top of my huge word, "MOTHERING". But, I did lay it on the triple, and beat him again.

The back yard is mowed. Whoops---better hunt the sweaty mowing clothes down and give them a wash so that we don't come home to a house smelling like sweaty mowing clothing.

We took our first trip sans children at Spring Break to see the Grandbaby. Second trip this year was the wedding in Georgia with the blooming Mimosa trees. And swinging north to see James at Fort Knox. This will be our third road trip this year. We are getting good at (picky) finding hotels with double showers, first floor, king size bed, no smoking. We are not used to double showers at home, nor king sized bed. A bed as big as your bedroom---who thought of that! Who-hoo. Living high on the hog when we travel, we do. I still remember the ladybug convention atop that Volcano in New Mexico, Capulin, last summer. And the humming birds that liked my red shirt atop the mountain passes in Colorado. That was fun.

I remembered to notify the children this time. There was some complaint from the youngest that we did not tell him about the last trip. I text messaged him from that same spot he helped make so memorable with his brother so many years ago---that Exit P-P in Missouri, which little boys can take very literal and we have the picture to prove it.

Stop mail online. How easy is that!!! And try to achieve that we-are-still-home look with lights and radio, and shoes positioned just so. And hope that if/when our youngest does visit or check on the cat that he remembers to lock the front door?! Many a time we have come home from church and wondered what distracted one of our dear sons from pulling the front door shut on their way out. Was it a cup of hot coffee? Dropping their tie? Forgetting their Bible? How could you not lock the front door? Another mystery that will not be solved until heaven home when we ask to see the video. One video I can't wait for God to show me is which little toddler shoved the garden hose up into the dryer vent and which one turned on the water??!!! We could never get a conclusive confession.

Still need to get a new roof put on. And the weeds out front---will the city understand when I say I am going for that "natural" look. Xeriscope or something?

Sorry if you live south of us. It is just too darn hot to travel to your climes. And with flooding along the Mississippi, better avoid that area of the country for a while. The pictures are amazing. Poor pigs trapped on roofs of barns and houses. Water up to the roof tops. Block after block of submerged devestation. The blog stories of little towns that might be gone forever is heart wrenching. Sometimes little towns die because the railroad did not come through there, or because the jobs went elsewhere. But, it is sad when families, generations cannot go home because home has been swept away.

We'll be blogging about our adventures. Looking for blog fodder along the way, so stay tuned. And with our cell phones leashes handy, only a phone call away. We even have the nifty recharger thingy for in the car that plugs into the old timey cigarette lighter. It snaps my thumb every time I press the recoil, just like a tape measure. You'd think I'd learn...

We sent pictures of new chairs to firstborn, and he is convinced that we are about to install a jacuzzi and buy a bass boat with all our new found riches (i.e. birdies flown the nest). So, maybe along the way, we can stage a few shots of the old folks standing in a jacuzzi or by a bass boat. I have not posted pictures in a while, have I? Well, then, I'd better get busy looking for interesting pictures to blog here for our fans, hadn't I!!!