Getting ready

10 days before we leave on June 12th.  I'll bring the bus home on Sunday, June 10th, so Linda can pack her things and check what I have already packed. Linda goes through the entire bus double checking everything.  Plus this trip we're taking things for our children's families for the June 22nd wedding of Linda's oldest nephew. Our kids won't have to bother with the stuff at the airports and on the planes.  We also have our first grandchild, Caden, making his first plane trip for the wedding.

 I keep extra stuff on the bus, so I don't have to pack much.  I always pack too many clothes. Linda will check my things also.

I think about the planning we've done for this trip.  Usually Tim spends 6 months prior to departure reading magazines, books, travel guides and looking a paper maps.  This trip was planned almost entirely using the computer.  Online websites and maps enabled us to figure out where we wanted to go, stay, and see.  It's amazing how technology has changed our lives.

We've have some upgrades done to the bus this year, so we hope everything works.  We installed a 32" HDTV in the salon in place of the 26".  The finicky Bose audio surround sound system was re-connected.  We hope it runs during the complete trip.  Usually it stops working for no reason along the way.  We can switch to the speakers from the TV, so we're not without sound.  Linda has to watch Fox News and both Tim and Linda watch sports including the European Cup Soccer Championship, Wimbledon Tennis and of course, the Olympics.

We also had a new dash gauge display installed.  The old display ran from a PC computer running Windows 3.  The old display was starting to blink and sometimes refused to boot.  We're amazed that it lasted this long.  How many of you have a PC or MAC that was built in 1998 still running....nobody!

The bus has three roof air conditioners/heat pumps that are also 1998 vintage.  The front unit has been giving us some trouble for a couple of years.  It gets used the most because of the windows in the front of the bus.  We installed a new unit, which required upgrading the electronic control boards in the other two units and a new Comfort Control Center (3 zone thermostat).  Hopefully we'll keep cool this summer.  The bus has five air conditioners, so it's hard to keep up with them.

Come Tuesday, June 12th will put ourselves and two cats aboard....1 unwilling cat and 1 willing.  We have thought for the last three years the old cat, Snoopers, was on her last trip, but she keeps pulling through.  We've had her super charged at the vet this spring, so we think she'll complete another trip.  The young cat, Muffin, will go anywhere.  She doesn't care as long as she's with Linda.

Our first stop will be Jacksonville to plays tennis with friends Tim made while being treated at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute for prostate cancer between January 17 and March 14.

See our future post after our Jacksonville visit.  Stay tuned....