Here are some random notes for today, this last week, really, since I have neglected this blog for that long.
Not too sure when I will get on the road, but it will probably be within the next week. My PT and epidural shots delayed it somewhat, but I have also been pulled into the very kinds of stuff I try to escape from, mostly condo board stuff. I actually enjoy seeing the pettiness and other such things in a minority of people because it makes me appreciate the mostly good people with whom I associate and, of course, my time on the road.
My home is beginning to look like the Everest Base Camp as stuff I ordered to reduce past irritations arrives in the mail and I pull the rest of my gear from storage. Soon I will set up a dozen stations around my home, one for each of the “rooms” (containers) I will take and start the formidable task of packing, packing so that I take everything I need and nothing more.
Donner was cleared last week by his vet for his allergy-triggered skin infection, but it is returning. I will just have to manage it on the road, including taking the Kahuna portable shower I bought several years ago for Leben for the same purpose. Space is at a premium in the Defender, so something else will have to give. Fortunately, the Kahuna doubles as a storage bin for my dog’s stuff, so it means just rearranging things.
I have learned how to use my new Garmin GPS fairly well, although I decided to relegate it to the status of backup, backup to my brain. I can see where these things can turn your brain into mush, destroy your innate navigational skills, and pose a danger to your driving, and with it your life, but it will come in handy for navigating the streets in strange cites and to avoiding wrong turns on unmarked roads that cost me dearly in daylight hours and gas three times. I can count fewer than nine times on all seven of my prior trips when I could have used a GPS. The problem is, you don’t think you need you need it until after your mistakes are made. And speaking of backup, I added a backup camera to it, which will earn the Garmin’s keep. With the Deferrer loaded down with gear, side and rear visibility while backing up is not that great, so I will activate it only on an as needed basis. In the meantime, the first coordinates I will program into it will be 
and see where it takes me; after that, I will program into it the coordinates 
and see where that takes me.
I took the Defender into EuroSport last week to get the new Badger II roof put on it. It will be an improvement over the Badger I, which I bought 14 years ago, but I still have some learning to do. I have to test everything out before I go rather than doing so on the road and losing valuable time. I won’t describe in detail what it is I have to learn about my new roof because most people wouldn’t understand, unless you own a Defender. For instance, with the new roof, I can turn it into a surrey top by rolling up he side panels and rear panel. But with my dog cage sides in the side and rear windows, there is a gap of about six inches that I have to full in with cargo nets to prevent things from blowing out of the Defender on the go.. I have tried four different options and still have not found the perfect solution, but I have run out of time. Did anyone understand what I just wrote?
Another purchase I am trying to learn quickly is the new radio collar for Donner. Although the probability of him escaping and not returning is so low, the consequences are so high that I had to invest one than $700 in a SportDog radio collar that will track him within 10 miles. My only hopes are that he does not run away, but if he does, that the collar is on him, turned on and with battery power. One of my pre-trip rules is to test and try out everything before I go, and thank God I did with this because I ran into a little snag, or maybe it was not so little. It seems that the on-off button on my handheld device does not work. Not good. Jamie, from Sport Dog, has been wonderful in walking me through the set up and making certain that I get a new handheld before I leave.
Loud thunder and streaks of lightning are performing outside now, and the rain starting to fall. If there is one scenario I look forward to most on the trip is just that, as long as I am in the tent and in a safe location. Will someone remind me to tell the story of my lightning experience in Birds Hill Provincial Park in Winnipeg back in September 2000 on OTR 1 with Sonntag, an experience I will never forget?
In a day or so, I will redo my itinerary to see what damage has been done to it by the delay. Right now, I just think I will only have to forgo the two week respite I was planning and perhaps most of the multi-day stays at one place or another. No big deal. The pivot of the whole schedule is my visit to Denali, where I have to be on the 15th. I was able to snag permits for the Denail Road drive on spatter 16th, 18th and 19th thanks to some good planning and good luck, and so the critical path ends there. As of today, I have 59 days to get there, but I am rapidly running out of time.
That’s it for now. From here on, every minute I spend on this big before I go means one mile on the road I have to make up.
ED, off he road
ED
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