Excessive Heat Advisory

We're safely in small town Utah, napping comfortably in an air conditioned hotel room through the afternoon heat outside. We're looking forward to sampling some of the "creative American food" that the diner just outside the hotel is allegedly dishing out. As I sit here and watch the weather channel, it turns out that the entire stretch that we just drove through is under an excessive heat advisory, not exactly a good addition to a road trip.

We did get on the road just after 4:00 am, and yeah it was painful, but well worth it to avoid some of the hot hours of the afternoon. Alycia made it just fine, the dogs are lazing around, and the fish did not get boiled alive, all in all a raging success. One which we'll repeat again tomorrow.

It was 96 degrees as we drove through Barstow at 8:00am, and it only got hotter as the day wore on. We got out of the car around 10:30 am in Mesquite, NV and strolled around a park I found online to give the dogs a bit of a respite. It was quite warm, even in the shade, and the dogs were panting by the time their paws touched the ground coming out of the car.

Despite the intense heat the North Dakota mobile soldiered onward and made it through the day with nary an issue, and except for a couple of long uphill grades, we successfully ran the a/c the whole time.

The good news is that though it's supposed to be hot again tomorrow, we should be out of the super hot areas and into northern Utah and Wyoming. We're pondering another early start tomorrow to get some hours on the road before it gets too warm, we'll see.

Go Time

We're wrapping up our short stay at my sisters place in Vista, though it's actually so nice it's like more of a resort; pool, big yard for the dogs to play, tons of lounge chairs for us to hang out upon. It was a great place for us to stay for a few days and recharge our batteries (both actual laptop/cell phone and metaphorical internal) for a bit.

I made the most of my last meal in San Diego by partaking in an In N Out burger....tasty. Truly one of the things that I'll miss about California.

The plan is to take off early, 3:30 or 4:00 am tomorrow morning to try and make it through most of the hot part, through Vegas and up to the border of Utah, while it's still relatively cool. Cool though is a bit of a misnomer since "cool" for that area is only 95 degrees. Hopefully we'll make it by noon, maybe 1:00 and be able to hole up in our hotel during the heat of the day.

Boxes Boxes Everywhere

Yay a packing update.......

The truck arrived promptly on Friday (I'll give a big plug to ABF U-Pack here, they know their shit and do it well) and even Alycia was impressed. Yup, it's a full sized semi trailer, and we're a packin' it. Again a plug for ABF U-Pack - the driver was able to skillfully manuever the trailer without killing or maiming the podocarpus tree along the street, left the end of the truck right at the start of the driveway (exactly where we wanted it), and took plenty of time to explain how everything worked. Sure he didn't have all his teeth, but he more than made up for it by being super nice and helpful.

This morning the nitty gritty work began, the hauling of boxes out to the truck. Naturally the weather has complied and God has rewarded all of my previous blasphemies with hot hot sunshine. It always make me reassess how much I REALLY want to keep something once I've hauled it around in the hot sun a few times. Am I really going to read this book again? How badly do I really need all these chonies? Do I really need all these cooking utinsils, can't I just stir with my hand?

We loaded up the truck for a couple of hours, arranged some of the items and boxes, and by 9:30ish, decided to call it a day, at least with the outside portion. I had already sweated through one outfit, so we are gonna concentrate up inside tasks, packing up the last remaining items, vacuuming, etc, until the cool of the evening returns.

The countdown for departure is now at three days and counting....break out the chippers North Dakota, we're coming!!!

Another Reader

A quick but hearty shout out to my buddy Mike (last name hidden for security reasons) who recently and reluctantly admitted to being a regular reader. He gains notoriety as he is the first non-relative/non-significant other to publicly admit to being a frequent reader. We'll do our best to entertain him with humorous stories of our upcoming acclimation to life in Grand Forks.

Zen a Day Calendar

One of the few things that isn't quite packed up yet is the Zen A Day Calendar (it's present from my Dad to Alycia, so technically it's hers, but I ponder many of the wise words of wisdom). The quote from yesterday was fun. I'm not necessarily all about mantras or slogans, but sometimes things are said that are profound and are worthy of further introspection.

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what want so that they will be happier.

The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you really want."

Margaret Young

Margaret Young was no critic of modern society, but a jazz singer from the 20's and 30's.

Sorry to get all thoughtful and pensive on you, just though I'd pass along.

One Week

Just a week left. Boxes are piling up in the garage, lower backs are tender from all the lifting, and dogs continue to wonder "what the hell is going on around here?" The big truck will be here in a week to hold all of our stuff, and we'll see it off and then race it to North Dakota as fast as our tired little 1992 Camry will take us.

For the most part, we're in pretty good shape, closets are virtually empty and non-essentials from the kitchen, bath, and bedroom have all been packed up. It's been kind of warm so I've been procrastinating on going out to the garage to figure out what stays, what gets tossed, and what can be given away to Goodwill or on Freecycle. I suppose it's not going to get any cooler though, so I'm not sure what I'm waiting for......

That's the update for now. We've settled into the rhythm of working most of the day and spending a few hours of packing every evening. While this helps to ensure that there hasn't been a mammoth "16 hours of packing in 1 day" session, it has drawn out the process and not we feel like we've been moving for the last 2 weeks - ugghhh.

Cheap Organic Recipe: Vegetarian and Gluten-Free Sloppy Joe’s

How about a delicious, vegetarian and gluten free dinner dish?

Here's a recipe for gluten free Sloppy Joe's in all their gooey, tomatoey, sloppy goodness. For me Sloppy Joe's are a classic dish that hearkens back to grade school cafeteria lunches. The recipe has been updated for the fashionable vegetarian and gluten free consumer. It's pretty tasty and makes plenty of leftovers....

Cheap Organic Recipe: Vegetarian and Gluten Free Sloppy Joe's

Travel Warning Article

I read an article in the Sunday paper a week or so ago about folks who post Twitter/Facebook updates or regularly blog who include travel updates and vacation pictures etc. A few people were interviewed who were burgled/robbed while they were on vacation, in a large part because their Facebook friend had a friend of a sketchy nature and ransacked their house, knowing they were away on vacation. The article, as journalism is wont to do, took the fearmingeriong approach and actually seemed to make me a bit wary.

Granted I'm sure that these were isolated events, but it got me to thinking how easily we throw out our personal information with nary a thought on who will do what with it. That being said, for some reason I'm a tad more hesitant to reveal personal info about our packing and moving plans for fear that someone will invade our house, and soon I'll have squatters in my empty San Diego abode. I'm really not that afraid though, mostly because I know how few people really read this.....so that being said.

We continue to make preparations for the trip, many boxes are piling up. I frequently check the weather in Grand Forks and was dismayed when last Friday a huge sumemr storm rolled through and thunderstrorms, tornados, and 3-4 inches of rain were dropped on Grand Forks overnight, man that would have been cool to see.

And though our route is still somewhat flexible, we anticipate going up the 15, turning right in Montana and then heading East towards our new home....more info to follow.