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Final Preparations; 04/06/03; Canyon Country, CA
It has been a busy week getting all the loose ends tied up. We have made certain that we have all our medications and extra prescriptions from our doctors, just in case we need replacements along the road. Yesterday we stacked all the packed tubs, the various shoulder bags and totes alongside “Clara,” our Victoria, for a final photo op prior to loading. We were pleasantly surprised that it all seemed to fit in the back of the car with even a bit of room left over.
The lug nuts on the wheels were checked for proper torque and the tire inflation checked. The engine oil and oil filter were changed and the car placed on Ron’s hoist one last time to check for loose bolts, cotter pins, lube and such. It appears that the car is ready. It is sobering to realize that we are starting on a 12,000-mile tour and to think of all the things we have repaired on the car in the past 7,000 miles! Oh well, time will tell if Henry Ford and we know what we are doing.
One last minute problem popped up; the notebook computer, which I have been relying on to keep in touch with family and friends, bombed! It is in the shop and getting the hard drive reformatted! Those of you who know computers realize that this means that all my application programs and their data files must be reinstalled and checked out. The computer will be used to assist in navigation, even to providing GPS positions and maps. Moreover, it will be used to pay my monthly bills, so you can see my concern that it is not functioning at this late date. At day’s end, it is still in the shop and will not be ready until Monday noon, at the earliest! Much of tomorrow will be spent trying to assure myself that all of my programs are in working order.
We have been watching the weather forecasts and there is every indication that Tuesday will dawn bright and clear. We will only have the work traffic to contend with. Ron and Carol (our son and daughter-in-law) are departing the same morning for Texas. The same goes for Lee Chase, Mike and Beverly Kneist, Bob & Joyce Travis, Bob & Judy Moore and Bob Sterner, all friends from Southern California and members of our touring club. This group are towing their cars on trailers and will precede us to Texas, as we are traveling a bit slower and will be stopping en route to see the Carlsbad Caverns. We will meet up with them in Kerrville, Texas making it a group of 25 cars to tour “The Hill Country” and enjoy the wildflowers.
We check in frequently with Joan & Dennis Olson and find that they are doing may of the same things we are these final days. We plan to meet at a convenient on-ramp to the 210 Freeway Tuesday morning at 0700. From that point on, the important war in Iraq will take second place in our concerns as we face the uncertainties of keeping our 70-some-year-old cars functioning for over 12,000 miles. That is the story that those of you who visit this web site will learn as it unfolds on the road before us. We hope that this personal story will provide you some diversion from the grim news you are now seeing daily on your television.
Fond Regards,
Keith, Joann, Dennis & Joan
PS: If you don’t get any updates beyond this one, you will know that my notebook computer failed to make the grade!
Stuff to load...
Loaded to the gills...
Let the Tour Begin! - Olson and Smith cars poised on the Pacific Shore in Ventura California ready for the jaunt across the US to the Atlantic Ocean.
