Getting There...

We are slowly getting ready to leave. I followed Kevin's suggestion and found a propane delivery truck to come fill the tank that emptied when someone left the motorhome furnace on. It was an expensive fill at $50, but then this was the first time I have had it filled from bone dry. I fired up all the propane devices (stove, water heater, fridge, furnace) and they all work.

Norma has been wanting the carpets cleaned for a couple of years so she finally hired Sears to come to clean the carpets and upholstery. The guy was here with his truck for just over an hour and dropped off a bill for $220. I missed my calling, I should have been a carpet cleaner instead of an electronics technician.

We brought all the storage bins into the house to be sorted out and some stuff thrown out. My job is to go through all the electronics and motorhome related stuff as well as the paperwork (including travel guides). I will do that today and tomorrow as well as running the generator for a couple of hours on load. This is supposed to be done every month but I have trouble remembering to do it. Our generator gets quite a bit of use as we boondock (WalMart) quite a few nights as we travel as well as stopping in rest areas for lunch and coffee breaks. It always fires right up (except for that time in Puebla, MX).

We will be towing the Mazda behind us this year. The A/C on the Honda packed it in again and it will cost +/- $1000 to fix it and the car is simply not worth this expense. The Mazda is bigger, heavier and wider so it will be a little harder to load properly as it has to be exactly centered on the dolly to avoid the possibility of the dolly fenders making contact with the doors as I make sharp turns. I may take some measurements and paint some guide lines for the tires on the dolly to make things easier.

I still have to deal with travel medical insurance. I am not looking forward to this as we are both a year older and costs go up every year. Our first winter insurance cost around $500, last winter it was $3,100.

Another difficulty this year is the devalued Canadian dollar (or over valued US dollar). Our dollar is worth 89 cents right now. On the positive side, gas is fairly cheap in the US and groceries are always a bargain compared to Canada. We will be fine. We will be saving on RV parking (and gas) by staying more long term and when we are in an RV park, the temptation to dine out is not as strong.

It will be a good year.