The Vacation To Be

Yesterday, The Man left for California to represent our small family at the Big Family Wedding. Small Child, Large Dog, and I have been rule breaking ever since. Nothing major, just things like pets on the new patio furniture, Large Dog upstairs, and thrown together meals eaten in bed.

Getting him out the door on time was a real clusterf*ck. His flight - the airport is about a two hour drive in traffic - left early this morning, and given that dawn does not elicit birdsong in his world he decided to stay at an airport hotel the night before. First, we thought we'd turn it into a family outing. You know, swimming, room service, etc. As departure grew nearer, and folks (uhm, one male in particular) grew grumpier, this plan turned into, "I think you'd have a much more relaxing trip if you had some quiet time the night before. Why don't we just run you down to the hotel?" As grumpiness degenerated into snarling, and I was faced with a drive into the city in rush hour traffic, I threw caution to the wind and called a car service, knowing full well that the likelihood of an available town car was slim. At this point, however, I'd have happily taken out a second mortgage for a super stretch limo.

The stars were in my corner. The service just happened to be making a one way run from the airport to the town just north of ours. So when The Man returned from yet another errand he'd neglected to plan for, I told him that he'd be transported in anonymous peace.

And we all heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Two hours later, a polite man with a German accent and a tie whisked him away.

And tomorrow I begin packing in earnest.

We will be spending a week and a day on Balboa Island. The Man spent portions of most childhood summers at his grandparents' house there and has many fond memories, including waving at John Wayne as he cruised the canals in a PT boat. I love this island, too, but I'm not so much looking forward to being cheek-to-jowl with my anorexic mother-in-law.

Countdown...

...to something, I think.

All sorts of obstacles are popping up in the way of my planned departure for the west. Best Case Scenario? Leave Thursday. Worst Case? Leave Saturday, and then my leisurely 5-night drive becomes a mad sprint.

I picked up some super-sized doggy downers for Large Dog, just in case we do the latter.

To all you dog lovers out there...have any of you ever driven 2200 miles with an 80 lbs. bundle of energetic affection? I inherited a crate from my sister-in-law's GSP when we adopted Large Dog, and I'd planned to secure it in the rear of the mom-mobile I'll be driving, but this afternoon I took a good look at the dog beside the kennel and there appears to be too much of the former and not enough of the latter. I don't know where to find one of those barrier gates (much less how I'd get it installed in time), and I'm not sure where it would go with the van's back seat stowed.

Any ideas would be welcomed.

The frenetic pace of preparation is taking up time and energy I'd rather spend writing, but whattcha gonna do?

I'm hoping to get a USB wireless antenna for Miss Mac so I can be in touch from the road. Anyone used one with a Mac?

I shall now hit post, and wait for the excellent advice to flood in.

Or maybe I'll just pour a drink and fold clothes.

Postscript: I was able to leave on June 1, but I only made it to Wichita Falls on day one - I ran into a giant thunderstorm around dark-thirty. Who knew it was going to be the start of the deluge? From then it was on to Raton, Laramie, Salt Lake City, and Lakeview.