Day 110, Saturday, November 26, Salina

Day 110, Saturday, November 26, Salina

Before my journey, i had  a running ToDo list that totaled probably 120 major items. I could feel the pace of my preparation quicken each day as the list dwindled eventually to no items, and then we were off. 

During this journey, outside  of the normal quotidian chores of tenting on the road, i probably wrote down at least 10 To Do Items a day, more than 1000 in total.  Last night, i created what i hope is  my final list of ToDO chores, a dozen or so items, some of which I tackled today. For those interested in this kind of detail, here they are.

1- buy kennel for Donner to fly home DONE

2- buy metal wing nuts for kennel and apply DONE

3- retrieve Defender from Andy and pay bill DONE

4- get health certificate for Donner to fly plus shots DONE (Note...this expires in 10 days so i have to move on down th road within that time period.)

5- arrange ride to airport with Mi Tai or Enterprise Car Rental DONE

6- finalize date of transport of Defender by Montway

7- get airline tickets for Donner and me AFTER 6

8- load defender with gear from roof rack DONE

9- load defender with gear from motel room

10- Manage loading of Defender onto trailer or make arrangements for someone to manage loading of Defender and handling of roof rack if i am hot here AFTER 7

11- pack, clean room, and ready Defender 

12- drive to airport, fly to DC, ride home.

Let me talk about items 3.and 4 for today's posting.

Andy picked me up at 9 as promised and we drove to his shop to square up my bill and have the Defender pulled back down to the motel.  The bill, much to my delight, came  to  only $375, the second time in my life i felt i was seriously undercharged. (The first time was last week in Ely.)  More important than the bill was the advice Andy gave me on things like what to do to get the Defender back on the road, whether to take it on more road trips, and the like. Valuable advice. I am sure if I had spoken with Andy before my trip began, I would not have taken it, at least not in the Defender or without some additional work being done on it, e.g.,new electrical system. The bottom line is that my initial instincts about Andy turned out to be right...he exudes confidence and professionalism in his craft, is a hard worker, as amicable as you would want your mechanuc to be, wants to please the customer and add value wherever he can, and is concerned about the total welfare and safety of his customers, especially those stranded in Salina. I cannot imagine that anyone has ever sought help from Andy's shop with a more complex situation than i. The bottom line...FIVE stars to Andy at K&K.

Later in the day, Mai Tai, the manager of the Ranch Motel where I am staying, suggested that instead of driving 18 miles to Richfield on Monday in the snow to get Donner's health certificate to fly home, she suggested that she would drive me to Gunnison Valley Animal Clinic in nearby Gunnison this afternoon to get the health certificate there at the vets. Although the vet was closed today, Saturday, MainTai called the emergency number anyway and arranged with the vet to meet us at his hospital at 5 PM. Try getting that kind of service back home in zdC or where you live. It's just not there. We arrived at the vet promptly at 5 PM, and were met by Dr. Tyler Soresen's wonderful wife Amber and 2 young sons, Landon and I did not get the name of the younger boy. Dr. Sorensen first inoculated Donner for his recently expired vaccinations and then did an examination for his health certificate. He even qualified Dinner for 10° to 70° weather based on Donner's experience with the extreme cold weather in Alaska, the Yukon, and Nevada. The total bill for the examination and the shot? Something like $85. Try getting that at home too. Let me tell you something,folks: life here in all these small towns spread across this great continent iscsomething completely different then more than half of us experience in those large crowded cities.

Before i set out on this journey, it never dawned on me what i would be returning with in my mind as the most memorable experiences, or what would trigger them. Although I still have maybe 10 more days or so before we will get home, i suspect that the jury in my mind's eye has already decided. I will try to collect my thoughts on the plane ride back home and post them as i cross the threshold of my home, if i ever get there.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

www.OnTheRoad.camp