Countdown continues

At the time of writing this post, we had a little over 14 hours left before departure.  The last day is always hectic, perhaps too hectic, but there's no way to avoid it.  It is what it is.

Here we are almost to 6:30 pm with substantial tasks still remaining.  And what, you ask, would be a substantial task?  Um...how 'bout packing all of our electronics and paperwork?  Yeah, those tasks are kinda substantial.

We are still in the process of blowing our pipes.  The city water guy turned off the water at the street at 4 pm today and we've been blowing air into the various hose bibs, faucets, etc. ever since.  The water heater is still draining--that's a process that takes a long time.  We have to run antifreeze through the washing machine pump and then treat all the traps and so forth.  Some will get treated in the morning, some tonight.  It's a long process.  We wish there was a way to shorten and simplify the winterization of the house.  Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a short, simple way to accomplish this vital task.

Before the water went down, we were hustling to get all the chores done that required running water.  Susun cooked dinner and washed everything up so we can simply eat tonight and have no dishes to do.  We pre-ordered a dozen home-made tamales so we have breakfast tomorrow with no muss and no fuss.

Annie and the Skamper are packed.  All our clothes, toiletries, trip food, etc. are all packed.  The Nissan is half-packed.  The Samurai is probably 90% packed.

We taking a big leap of faith on this trip.  We've had a series of vexing problems hitching up the Samurai since last April.  IN fact, there were a few times this summer when we COULD NOT hitch up the Samurai.  We had some work done on the hitch but it has NOT been field tested yet.  So, yeah, we're being optimists on that issue.  We sure have our fingers crossed that it will all work out OK tomorrow morning.

We're getting out of here just in the nick of time.  The winter storm is definitely coming Monday--no doubt about it.  The storm is now also expected to bring some impacts to Northern Arizona--mostly high winds and a little spit of rain.  Snow might fall from 6500 foot up, "might" being the key word.

It looks like we will probably be at Vermilion Cliffs on Monday evening before the full frontal force arrives.  Tuesday and Wednesday look to be very blustery and chilly days--perfect for exploring some of the areas of Marble Canyon, the Navajo side of Lees Ferry and House Rock Valley.  At this point, we're probably going to head down to Rimrock on Thursday or Friday.  The internet gets turned on Friday, November 1st so we might just dilly dally at Vermilion Cliffs and break camp Friday morning to head home on the 1st of the month.  There's a possibility Susan and Jeff might drive up to their cabin to meet us and that would extend our stay for sure.

When the gubmint shut down Lees Ferry there was some talk about trying to access the Navajo side of the Ferry.  We've always thought that was impossible.  Anyway, it will be fun to find out if it's possible.  Also, as you know, Marble Canyon Lodge burned to the ground earlier this year.  We'd really like to find out every possible detail of "whazzup" with the rebuild.

Heck, give us enough time and rope and we might decide to try to get a permit for Coyote Buttes, too.

Well, we have many hours of work ahead of us tonight and in the morning.  We arose at 5:30 am today and will probably get up at 5 am...or earlier...tomorrow.  That's the way it goes when we're doing this semi-annual migration gig.  There's a lot of work to be done and there's simply only ONE WAY to deal with it: JUST DO IT!  Of course, we both know the clock doth ticketh on us and we both know the longer we dilly dally tomorrow morning, the more traffic will be on the NASCAR track through the Salt Lake City Gauntlet.

It's a fine line we tread the day before our departure south each year...a fine line, indeed.

We will write up another summary tomorrow before the last minute frenzy ensues.

Thanks for reading.  Many Cheers, jp