We have a target start date.

We have finally decided on a target date to start the Great Trek. It is four weeks from today - i.e., February 11. That at least gives us a target. We will have to watch the weather.

For the last week we have been working on the "to do" list. The list gets whittled down and then we think of something else to add so it stays fairly long. Bob is busy working on his stuff. He still has to get the vehicles serviced and check the bicycles. He has finished making stuff (I think). He has finally agreed that he does not need to do anything fancy to cover the backs of the scooters. He agrees that using a garbage bag works just fine.

We have cleaned out the large bins that we are going to take and filled them with large stuff that we won't need often, like the tent and campfire stuff. The bins will go in the back of the pickup between the scooters and actually help keep the scooters steady while we drive. The bins are now actually ready to go.

I have started pulling out clothes so that I can see how much room everything takes. I have a "staging area" in one of the spare bedrooms. We have plastic drawers that we are going to use to keep the clothes that won't fit in in the trailer and also to keep extra stuff like books, etc. I put the bins on the floor and then eyeballed both piles to get an idea if there was enough room in the bins for the stuff. I am not good at this stuff but it did not look as if there was going to be enough space. So I asked Bob to look. He agreed - There was not enough room. So we went out and bought two more bins. If those are not enough then we are in trouble because there will not be enough room in Hank for more. Unfortunately as we plan and try to think of what might happen, the list of things that we are taking with us keeps growning. Is that a function of the packing process? I know that I will have to go through everything and whittle it down so that there is room. I have my piles of stuff - "Absolutely have to have" and "Would be really nice to have" and "Wow, if there is room."

While we were buying extra drawers I couldn't help walking around our local Storables store. They have such great stuff for keeping possessions organized. I did really good about not buying anything else until we got to the kitchen stuff. One problem that I had on the trip from Ohio back to Oregon was figuring out how to wash dishes inside the trailer. We usually use the trailer for camping so we wash all dishes under the dining tent on the picnic table. But when we try to wash dishes in the trailer, there is not enough room for them to drain (Lots of dampness and mess). At Storables I found a little dishdrain that will fit right into the plastic wash basin that I use when I am washing (the sink is for rinsing water). It is really cute and will be very handy. (I have to stop buying stuff.)

Stefee shared with us her digital picture storage device thingie (I don't know what its official name is). It is really small but will store more pictures than I can ever take. She recommended that we save the picutres on the device as well as on the laptop. She reminds me that she had her device stolen on one of her trips and she lost all of her pictures. So - good advice.

I have signed up for Skype. Stef also has a webcam so we tried it last Sunday. It worked GREAT. We could see Mike and hear him. It took Stef a little fiddling with my laptop to make it possible for Mike to hear us. But she was successful. Then later when Stef got home I tried skyping her and it was really easy. The picture was not as clear as I would have liked, but it was good enough to see and enjoy. We will have to figure out how often and how long we can talk. Verizon says that their monthly internet service has enough band width (?) so that we would not be charged extra as long as we stayed below about five hours of skyping (Is that really a verb?) Verizon also recommended that we try saving the discussions for times when we have free wi-fi. Good advice. (I love getting good advice.)

Dagmar, our neighbor, has agreed to come by regularly and drive my car. I am worried that if it sits for five months that all sorts of bad things will happen (dead battery or flat spots on tires). This is a win-win for both of us since Fred and Dagmar only have one car and were thinking about getting a second car. They wanted to wait until September so having my car available to them will make that possible. Dagmar came by yesterday and drove my car around. She was very nervous, but did a great job. I am comfortable that she will take good care of my car.

We had just about given up on having someone stay in the house. I was nervous about leaving the house empty for five months because of past history when our vacant rental house was badly vandalized. But we were having great difficulty finding someone. We had just about given up because I would rather have had no one than have someone that I did not trust. We thought that having someone come by regularly and check the house would be adequate. that would have the benefit of saving us money because we could cancel cable, garbage, and have really low gas and electric bills. But yesterday Stef called with the name of a newly laid off architect who is wanting to save money because he knows that the job market is so bad for architects. Stef does not know him, but he comes recommended by someone that Stef trusts. I talked to him briefly yesterday and he will come by next week so that we can meet him and decide if he is a good match and someone that we think we can trust. That would make me feel a little safer about leaving the house for so long - but it would cost us a little more money.

That's all for now. More later.