NEW MEXICO BOUND

Yep - the day has finally arrived - Daisy has been released from the repair shop, and we are headed out later this morning.

I had been developing a fear of towing Daisy - but I had a long talk with myself today about negative thinking attracting negative events - now the fear is gone and I'm so excited about starting out that I'm not sure my feet are touching the ground.

This trip is going to be a real education.  I have so much to learn about operating a RV and living the freedom of the road.

Today we are going as far as Helena - 120 miles - we're going to have Daisy's tires checked by a particular tire shop - they have a good tread - but they were purchased 10 years ago and have been out in the weather - unprotected - so we'll see what the experts have to say about them.

Diane's (my cousin, if I haven't introduced her previously) daughter is meeting up with us in Helena since she couldn't make Thanksgiving dinner due to the weather.  We have a Christmas goody bag to give to her.    We just may spend the time in the Wal-Mart parking lot shifting stuff from "Luv" (my truck, remember) into Miss Daisy.   She went into the shop containing 2 blankets and a pillow - that is the sum total of her contents.  

I didn't dare bring her back to the house to load her up - we might not have been able to get her out of the yard, loaded.   It's pretty muddy here from recent storms.

So everything is being loaded into Luv and then will be transferred into Daisy - some will have to be switched at the shop so I'll be able to see through the back window in order to hitch up.  I just know we have way too much stuff - especially clothes and food - more than I would normally carry - but why leave it here in the cupboards, and have to buy the same food .... again.

My own bedding takes up a lot of truck space - consisting of a 2 inch mattress topper and a down comforter - I never travel without them  - but once in Miss Daisy, and the beds made - they won't even be noticed.

Diane gave me a huge black trash bag of clothes - but then there were still piles of more clothes on her bed.  I asked her about it, saying that we have to watch what we take - and she said "but I haven't even packed my dresses yet!"   I reminded her that she has worn a skirt only one time to church in over a year and if she had to take dresses - she could take one - just one!

As she continued to shuffle through the piles of clothes, I got down her larger duffle bag and told her she could take whatever she could fit in it, and the rest had to stay home.   I had not wanted to take that particular duffle because of it's size.   I did not realize, she also had a small duffle filled  - and..... I neglected to tell her that she had to be able to zip the duffle when she had it filled - oh, well.

She is also taking her rather large Christmas Cactus cause it's about to bloom.  Don't know where we are going to put it - but taking a cactus to the desert makes some sort of sense, doesn't it?

Now, not to make Diane sound like the villian in this -  I decided to take my sewing machine after all -  - I plan to work on the slipcovers for the dining benches this winter - so, in addition to the machine - a large tote with accessories, thread, needles, scissors, etc,  2-3 large bags of scraps of old jeans plus 1 huge bag of whole  jeans - all this takes up quite a bit of room in the truck.  Oh, yeah, I almost forgot - the wall hanging I'm making for Kit.

After all, I'm not going to be stuck with nothing to keep me busy, so, along comes the card bag, the domino set, the French language lessons, my embroidery bag, my kindle, and my trek sticks.  Clothes, not so many - a small bag for spring/summer clothes, and 2 grocery bags for winter clothes - plus 4 coats - heavyweight, rain, fleece vest and wool plaid shirt-jac - layers work best.

A lot of the stuff has been packed since Miss Daisy went into the shop in September - but I noticed in passing that I have a lot of plastic storage containers.  Hopefully that is why there is so much stuff in the truck - at least it doesn't weigh much.

It's 4:25 a.m. - I've been awake since 2 - Tucker is here helping me write this post and periodically he plants a paw on the keyboard and all sorts of exciting things happen.

We have a great weather window for travelling this week - clear and dry all the way south.  

I've only lost track of 2 items while packing - my larger inverter - which may already be in the truck, tucked into a box I packed in September, and my camera - where in the world could my camera be?  At least I have a back-up camera so hopefully I can get some photos out of this trip.

Well, I'm going to try to get another hour or so of sleep - although I see from face-book that my friend Carol is awake - so I may chat with her some.

Tuesday night, hopefully, we'll be stopping in a KOA in Pocatello, ID - if I can, I'll post from there to let you know how it is going.

Until next time, Bear Hugs.

Boots and Tucker
"She believed she could, so she did!"