Preparing

We started to prepare for the trip back to Indiana this morning.  The itch is starting to itch more and I am ready to head back.  I tore down the tower computer, which failed to boot lately, and have it sitting in the front room ready for packing.  The Tower goes into, as the very last item, the truck cab since it can still get cold enough to give the HD problems.

(Just took out time to dry the dishes from breakfast)

Pulling the Civic around on the car dolly (or flat 4) is a pain.  Neither way allows you to back up.  Thus, planning ahead for not getting boxed in is a real issue.  Additionally, with the car dolly you cannot turn too sharp because the dolly fenders come very close to the doors of the car.  I could visualize that turning very sharp could dent the doors.  In order to fully pack up here in St. Petersburg we must first pull all the vehicles out of the driveway, back in the Honda Civic, position the dolly for a straight runup of the Civic, back in the truck and connect the dolly and finally pull the Ciciv onto the dolly.  Then we are ready to go.  All this effort takes about a half hour – but what the heck – we are retired so time is not an issue 🙂  We then fully pack the car, truck and camper.

I have a very new-found respect for my Mom & Dad, in the fact, that they spent months and months in their 11′ camper. The departed Indiana and went all the way to Alaska and back. Wow, I am impressed.  Our camper is just too small being only 8′ long.  It is good for overnight and long weekends but not much more.  I also have new-found respect for motorhomes in the 24′ to 29′ class. Perhaps this is the way to go?  Still a boat in the 42′ class has appeal too.

We have pretty much finished the work around Martha’s house and I have organized my tools in the living room so that they can be packed in the truck in the next day or so.  I usually put these in the cab of the truck, behind the driver’s seat since they weigh a lot and I do not want more weight in the camper.  We do have a strategy: (1) Tools, Tower, dog stuff and snacks are in the cab, (2) very light bulky items go in Civic trunk, (3) other bigger items and even bulkier items go into the Civic passenger compartment and (4) eating and sleeping items  go into the camper.  The loading booklet that comes with the car dolly says not to load the towed vehicle with excess weight.

OK, enough boring things for now.