It's Friday. The Adventure Begins!

The plan says we leave on Friday. The calendar says it is Friday. We are on the road! Yea!

But something doesn't seem right. I don't hear the engine running. I don't feel the car bouncing on the roadway. There are pictures hanging on the walls. Fran, why are there pictures hanging in the car?


We've been tracking the zillion of things to get done with Post-it notes on a white board. Critical stuff is moved toward the top, less critical to the bottom. There are columns for RV projects, kayak projects, shopping, packing, and more. There is a little area taped off with the label "WIP" (work in process), and another labelled "DONE". Currently there are 64 items in done, 6 in process, and 16 still in the queue.

I'm frustrated.  I can see it as I work the remaining tasks, and curse at delays.

We are about 1.5 days behind. We lost a full day when Fran's ankle flared up and she had to stay horizontal. Perhaps it is curious that we are going to paddle 700 miles (and Rod hike another 2800) when Fran can barely walk because of her ankle, and Rod has been nursing back problems all week.  We have both had two surgeries, with partial results. We assume that the body will respond to exercise during the trip, strengthening and increasing flexibility.  History supports that for Rod's back, but not for Fran's ankle.  That's one reason she is not joining the hike.

We have lots of time built in to meander to Florida before we put in the kayaks, so a couple of days would not seem to matter. But we want to overlap time at my Dad's in Indio with my sister, and attend a memorial for my Mom. And we want to visit Doris on the way. So a late start means less time to visit folks as we head out.

We've said our goodbyes in Portland. We just need to clear those pesky Post-It notes off the board so we can go!

Ryan has been a tremendous help with RV projects. Together, we got the LP oven and the solar system installed. It's fun doing projects with him. He's going to finish the inverter, and maybe even pipe the engine coolant to the hot water heater so we have hot water whenever we drive. That would be way cool!

We've taped off a new section on the white board, "On the Drive". We can do a few things along the way, like picking up a few more kayaking items. Only ten items left in the queue. Ryan will do two. Only eight left.  We can forego two. Six items left.

The pacing item is getting the dry bags made. We need to get the stuff separated into piles to see what sizes we need. Then we need to see what will fit in the boats. Lots of small bags are better. The other big item is cleaning up the house behind us. We want to give everything a good scrub so it is fresh and clean when we get back.

I'm frustrated that we are not on the road. My patience is short. I'm trying to stay focused on the tasks, but it is disappointing that we are cutting into the time for goodbyes.

Keep focused. Keep knocking off Post-It notes.

Patience, grasshopper.