Ready or ... Not

Jane Reporting for 31st August

Here's a snip from Gary's email to the house sitters yesterday:

The ... washing machine and laptop mouse packed up this morning, on the last ... day before we leave. Managed to resuscitate the washing machine, but the mouse had to be put down.

Washing Machine Vivisection

 

Mouse Vivisection

And then just to add to Gary's maintenance woes, this morning (yes, the morning we leave) I realised my camera had again got dust on the sensor.  Exactly the same problem as last year on the trip.  Gary's got the camera in bits on the desk and I've stoked up the computer to find the repair video I found him last year that has step by step instructions.

And once that's done we'll be leaving!

Lugging the Luggage

Jane Reporting for 27 August

Just a quick note to acknowledge the arrival of the Salter Luggage Scale so we can weigh our bags with a little more accuracy than we get on the bathroom scales, and also (more importantly) weigh them in preparation for the return journey.  Dad has one of these which we used last trip and it was excellent.

Since we've been careless enough to allow Dad to go off on his own this year I thought we had better buy one for ourselves.

I am now the proud owner of one of these nifty bag weighing devices and also the instructions which include the following diagram:

Lifting Guide Illustration

That's me on the right.  Just by that cross.  Surely their diagram must be wrong! :o)

Missing them Already

Jane Reporting for 26 August

We have house sitters coming to mind the place while we're away.  

I think we all know they're not really here for the house.  They're here for the cats.  We would be fine with leaving the house unattended for 7 weeks but the cats must have human slaves to cater to their every whim.

Here are my favourite photos of 'the boys':

Sam

Mocha

It's not nearly as traumatic (for us) to leave them this time because we know they were fine last year - and Sam even improved, becoming much friendlier with visitors and neighbours.  Sam has also gained the weight he lost while he had kidney problems so there's not that worry, either.

And the cat sitter (Lloyd) and the library sitter (Anne) went above and beyond last time to pamper 'the boys'.  We started to suspect the cats were onto a good thing when we noticed Anne and Lloyd's reports had started to refer to them as 'the Royal Princes'.

So, my Royal Princes, we're going to miss you but the cat sitters spoilers are about to arrive and we know you'll enjoy your 7 weeks of pampering.

Counting Down

Jane Reporting for 25th August

We're driving to Auckland on the 31st August so we have six sleeps before we start the trip.  I'm not too worried about the sleeps, but a little worried about the amount of stuff we have to get done in the days between the sleeps!  Lists are starting to sprout up all over the house and the pile-for-packing is starting to look like a bit serious.

Gary has just handed over his itinerary to me to knock into shape; to make it into the sort of document Dad made for us last trip.  Dad's itinerary was an awesome document, a wire-bound book that not only told us where we were heading each day but anything of interest we would be passing.  As well, when we arrived at the motel in the evening there were lists of the nearby restaurants in the itinerary. A personalised trip guide or all you wanted to know about the Great US Road Trip of 2012.

It took him months to make.

As I write this I have a little under than six days, less the time I need to do all the other things on the list.  No pressure, then!

Last year's trip loomed pretty large on the horizon as we hadn't been on a big overseas trip for some years and we were heading into unfamiliar territory.  This year's trip, with its feel of déjà vu, seemed to be missing the same feeling of anticipation until I found this poster from NZ Post showing their latest stamps ... which are all New Zealand travel posters:

NZ Post Poster of Stamps of Travel Posters

I love travel posters. :o)  For me scenery shots, no matter how beautiful or awe-inspiring, will never have that wonderful romantic era of travel feel about them that the old travel posters have, even if they were just advertising rail trips to the south coast of England.

I've put my poster up on the door of the library where I pass it all the time and it certainly is making me feel like those half-packed bags are not just for show.  We're really going somewhere.  And we're going in six sleeps' time.

Whoopee! -Travelling again

Don reporting

OK.  As Jane mentioned I had a posting in draft form.  Well here its is:

Early warning - we are off again to North America, this time  traveling separately but both using this blog site to keep you informed. I am  flying to Canada and returning by cruise ship while Jane and Gary are back driving around the US continuing Jane's Rag Doll research.

I leave in about a month, flying to Vancouver, spending a couple of days before taking the train, The Canadian, across to Toronto and on to Kingston. After visiting with my friend Maureen, I fly to Seattle to board a 27-day  Holland and American cruise to Sydney. One day in Sydney catching up with Paddy's Market ( I haven't been there for at least 30 years) and then flying home.

Jane and Gary, although leaving earlier will be away the same time (Jane will tell you all about it soon) and will be using this blog site with me as we did last year.  However, we will be blogging about two different trips and this time not only keeping our friends at home informed, but also keeping each other updated on our travels.  Although at the start we both travel in the Vancouver area, I am sure there will be no confusion - we might even remember to put our names to our blogs. However, once I am at sea crossing the Pacific and Jane in driving across the US any confusion should disappear.

I like both train travel and cruising - this trip has large amounts of each. Even before travelling from Halifax to Kingston by train a few years I have wanted to cross Canada by train. This trip will seen me complete a complete crossing from Vancouver to Halifax.  Four days on a train and then later 27 days at sea.

VIA train. Not the Canadian but the one I travelled on from Halifax 

The Oosterdam. This is the ship I am spending 27 days on.

USA-13: Testing 1, 2, 3

Jane Reporting for 21 August

Hello!  Ten days to go until we head off for another trip around the US (with a brief detour into Canada).

It's not quite a re-enactment of the last trip though we are going to some of the same places: Laguna Niguel to visit with Gary's cousin Pete and family, Minneapolis to visit the Ragdoll archive, Las Vegas (last year just to see the place, this year to attend a Ragdoll Congress and a cat show), and Phoenix.

USA-12: Overview Map

(Click on any images or photos to see a larger version.)

Because Gary is never a fan of driving the same roads twice we had to choose a new route to join-the-dots.  And here it is:

USA-13: Overview Map

At home we'll have the same friends from Auckland house (cat) sitting again - thanks Anne and Lloyd, and we hope you have better weather in Palmerston North this year.

Instead of my dad coming with us this time we've got Gary's brother, Geoff, and sister-in-law, Lyn, joining us from Australia.

Don't think Dad is loitering at home - he's off on his own trip on the 18th September (mostly around Canada, including planes, trains and a cruise home).  We'll both be updating this blog which is really Dad's travel blog, as you can tell by the "Don's Travels" title.  We think this will be pretty convenient for my brother and his family as they can keep up-to-date with both expeditions in the one place.  (Hi Jessie!  Hi Emma!)

My 'To Do' list has only a few major items left on it - make up the itinerary book like Dad made for us last year, get the laptop running the way it ought to, and ... pack!

Must get going on these now.




P.S. Edited this to add that as I was leaving Blogger I noticed Dad has a post in the draft stages about his trip which mentions we're both using this blog.  He was using the 'Don Reporting' by-line at the top of his post and I thought that was a pretty neat idea.