One week to go before push off…

Happy third birthday to my little Ava! Hope you had a good one!

Today is Ava’s 3rd birthday. It is also the start of our last full week at home before we head out on my long awaited journey.

Ava and Grace at Golf and Stuff on her 3rd birthday

Even though we are not officially headed eastward until February, we have a trip planned in Northern California. We wanted to spend some time with my family who lives in the Bay Area before we take off on this adventure, so we decided to pack up and head up to San Jose for a week or so before swooping back through Southern California one last time. This trip will be a good way for us to figure out if we packed everything we will need for the trip. Whatever we forget to bring, we will have one last chance to come back to get it. Like-wise with items we feel that we will not need to lug around with us, we can drop it back off at home during the drive through.

Jasmine’s castle at Golf and Stuff

This Sunday is Ava’s official birthday party. We have friends and relatives coming into town to help celebrate. As of right now, she is soundly asleep after spending her first day celebrating her life as a 3 year old. A little trip to the Disney store, mini golf and a night cap with some ice cream sundaes with her friend Grace at home.

We will have a couple more days after the party on Sunday to get everything ship-shape before we disembark on Wednesday. The next 7 days are going to be difficult to fit all of our to-do items in from the list. Visitors will start filing in as early as probably Friday. On Monday, we are planning on taking Ava to see Dumbo at El Capitan theater in Los Angeles. That means we will have the next 3 days to get as much off of that 15-item check-list done as possible.

Here are some items I will be focusing my attention on:

1. Tune up the van and check the brakes
2. Check the Airstream’s under carriage and repack the bearings if necessary
3. Inspect the tow system and tire conditions on both the van and Airstream
4. Check house batteries and Honda generator. Fix and/or replace where necessary

These four items are what I would call ‘the dirty work’ on our list. They are more involved than other items on this list like, ‘Cancel DirecTV’ or ‘Buy some pillows and cushions’. As much as I don’t have the motivation to do them, it could potentially be disastrous if anything is overlooked while we are traveling. Wish me luck. I need all that I can get.

over and out,
dan