Thirteen days to go

We accomplished the mission and secured a car-top carrier. It ain't pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but it's functional. Thanks to my dear brother, it will now ride atop the van instead of inside. Inside kinda defeats the whole purpose of the carrier.

We took the AAA membership for a test drive recently, and thankfully it passed. We were driving home through a canyon the other day and ran over a football-sized rock. The new tire didn't take too kindly to the rock, and we ended up disabled on the side of the road in very nasty weather. Thanks to the poor tow truck driver, we got back to town safe and dry. When I say "we" I mean me and the boys, but not the truck driver. I now am a firm believer in AAA.

Everything significant is pretty much done. We have all the major camping supplies purchased and have tested all the equipment out to make sure it will function properly. Everything that is left can either be purchased over these last few days, or more likely will be purchased on the road. I would leave tomorrow at dawn if I could, but I have determined to wait. I'll stick to the plan - it's a good plan.

My grandmother was born in 1911. As far as I know she was never involved in a wagon train, but I know she was involved in the Dust Bowl. Her and my grandfather and their children, I think there were two at the time, had to move from Kansas to Colorado because one of their children had asthma and staying in the dust would have been fatal for him. So they moved somewhere in Colorado and felt like they'd moved to paradise. They all lived in a tent and I suppose Grandma cooked over a campfire. I kinda feel like I'm living a memory of my grandma by going on this trip, even though I have all the modern conveniences of the present day, like a propane stove, an 8-man tent that actually repells water, and the ability to go home at any moment. But the spirit is still there. My grandma was tough as nails, as sweet as honey, and as soft as silk. No... not silk. Grandma didn't have any silk. She was soft like a cotton quilt that has been washed hundreds of times - that kind of soft.

After Grandpa got paid the $2.00 for his first week of work, Grandma bought one of her children a pair of shoes for ten cents. Five percent of your weekly wage for a pair of shoes, with a work day that was determined by the sun instead of the clock. They were awesome people.