Got to bed at 2:30 this morning, working on trip-related things I have
already forgotten, but presumably they were important. Had to get up early
to take the Defender in for the installation of the back-up camera, although
I decided to make it a rear view camera instead and leave it running all the
time. The side-rear windows in my new roof are smaller than what I have
now, and side-rear visibility in the Defender was never great to begin with.
I am tired of getting honked at by cars passing on my right as I try to
pull back into the right lane, so my hope is that this new camera will
eliminate that irritation. This and the GPS are really moving the Defender
into the modern age. On my first road trip in 2000, I had nothing
electronic, not even a cell phone or camera. These days, I carry an entire
attaché case filled with electronic devices and their pesky cables. I prefer
the old days.
The OnTheRoad.camp patches I had made up for our trip arrived today. I
won't tell you how much time I spent preparing them, but I think it will be
worth it. I tell people they are for the kids I meet along the way, but that
is only a half-truth. The few adults I gave some to already seem to enjoy
them as much –if not more- than I imagine the kids will.
I have been on a spending spree over the last week, buying things to
eliminate all of the irritations of prior trips that I decided I would no
longer tolerate this year. The trip will be difficult enough with the
unpredictable but inevitable challenges popping up every day, so the more
irritations I can eliminate before I leave, the better. Most of my shopping
is by way of the internet but it takes hours sometimes to decide on just one
item. For instance, I spent two hours – count them, two hours - looking at
hundreds of, would you believe, waste baskets for the Defender, and the same
for a half dozen other items. But that sure beats driving miles to a Target
or Home Depot or other such outfit in the now-oppressive DC heat. Two or
three deliveries arrive every day…dog food, dog tags, new bandanas, and a
new beach chair that doubles as my in-tent chair as well as a passenger
seat, which I removed back in 2000 for Sonntag's, later Leben's and Erde's,
now Donner's front seat bed. (The dogs get two beds in the Defender, one in
front, and one in the back, and use both, depending upon their whim.) One
cardinal rule I have for my trips is that everything I take has to serve at
least two purposes, which cuts down on the amount of stuff I have to take.
I went to PT against today, and go back tomorrow, too. Since I am still
experiencing shooting pains in my right leg with almost every step I take, I
decided to go through with the rest of my epidural shots, just in case the
PT doesn't cure it. It would not be a good thing if I got those shocks
climbing up or down my roof rack ladder. That would ruin my day, to be sure.
Chris Laws of Badger Coachworks in Cape Cod called me today to tell me my
new canvas roof is ready. It promises to eliminate some very big -and often
cold, wet- irritations of all my prior trips…..easier and faster to close
the plastic rear windows when it rains, and it close up the Defender in cold
weather. Most people reading this bog will not be able to relate to either
of those things, but one of the challenges of owning a Defender is to
reinvent the wheel of vehicular conveniences discovered by Detroit engineers
back in the 50s. Perhaps the most advance bit of technology in a Defender
is the ash tray. By the way, my new roof does not mean the cold or rain will
not get inside, as they will, but those things place insignificant when
compared to the confidence I get in driving the Defender that I will get to
where I want to go and, more important, home again.
My home is turning into a scene of pure chaos as I start pulling things out
of storage or, more likely, simply from where I abandoned them two years ago
after OTR7. Soon I will have at least 12 stations set up around my home, one
for each of the "rooms" (containers) of stuff for the trip. Until now, if I
could not find something, I would continue to search for it. But as of
today, with time of the essence, if I cannot find something in a reasonable
time or if it is not where I was supposed to put it, I just order a new
one. I just hope I don't misplace the Defender or, worse, Donner.
Tomorrow I take Donner into the vet to see if he can get a clean bill of
health on is allergy-triggered skin infection. I really do not need a
100-pound German shepherd scratching himself during the night two feet away
from me in the tent.
That's it for tonight. Just a bunch of mundane activities. That's the nature
of P&P (planning and preparation). No time to write anything profound.
ED
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