“If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.” – Abraham Lincoln
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Second Day on the Road
Did well over 700 miles again today and pushed all the way to Grand Island, Nebraska, arriving around 6:30 p.m. (Our usual stop is in Lincoln.) That puts us an hour closer to the cabin and only a little over 400 miles away. We are staying at a Rodeway Inn that “gladly” accepted pets as long as we left a credit card number to be charged in case of damage. It is a very nice place. We have a room that looks out over a small lake. There is even a BBQ grill that we could use to cook our dinner. However, it is raining—sometimes hard and with a little lightning and thunder. It has been raining since we crossed the MIssouri.
Dogs and cats are settled into the room. All but Bella have made this trip before and know the routing. Bella is getting better at it and should be a champ by the time we get home.
Posted under: Cabin News • by Rick on 09/03/2009 at 05:11 PM
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Wednesday, September 02, 2009
1st Day On the Road
Today is our first day on the road to the cabin. We did a bit North of 700 miles today—ending up in Elkhart, Indiana. We love to stay at the Ramada on the South side of I80 at exit 92. They take the dogs, there is a phenomenal dog-walking area, and there is a Bennigan’s on site. So, it is easy for us to get off the Interstate, check in, unload the cats and get them fed and watered and kitty-boxed (after all, they spent about 12 hours in their crates), walk the dogs, settle into the room, order dinner from Bennigan’s, relax, walk the dogs again (please poop! pleeeaaase poop!), and get a good night’s sleep.
The weather was beautiful with no wind and no rain. Filled up with gas once in Clarion, PA. About 15 mpg is not bad for the Suburban with the Yakima pod and a huge cooler on top. We’ll need gas here before we leave in the morning.
Someone tried to call my cell three times today, but no message. If you want to contact us, please leave a message because our cell phone coverage is spotty! (Although this is being sent via a cell phone connection….)
More tomorrow….
Posted under: Cabin News • by Rick on 09/02/2009 at 06:50 PM
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
One Week and Counting
One week from today we leave on our 3-week vacation to our remote cabin in Colorado. There is so much to be done!
We will leave NJ on Wednesday morning, as early as possible and drive with 3 dogs and 2 cats as far as the Mississippi. That is our strategy—MIssissippi, Missouri, then Cabin! Our goal each day is to make a major river—with the last one being Bart’s Creek on our land. The cabin is about 20-odd miles directly south of Laramie, Wyoming, but in Colorado. No electricity, no post-office, no phone service, just a log cabin in the woods, 3 dogs and 2 cats—assuming we all make it across the two major rivers.
We’ve been working on “security” given some surprising discoveries about how our house and property is used in our absence. So, the web cams are running, the alarm system is tested. House sitters are lined up, the pool guy will be here every day to add toxic chemicals to the water, and the police will be doing a “house check”, assuming we get the forms back to them soon. Should keep all but the most tenacious or most stupid away from the house.
But, there is so much more to do! We need to work on our first week’s meal plan because as we drive through Laramie on our way to the cabin (the 3rd day on the road), we’ll stop in Safeway and stock up on food (and wine) for a week. So, we are negotiating meal plans, picking recipes and creating detailed shopping lists. You do not want to end up at the cabin and not have a key ingredient because it is a minimum 40 minute drive to the first 7-11.
The dogs are getting groomed so they don’t smell too bad in the truck on the way there. And, to minimize the dog hair. We just know that Bella will come into season on the day we leave and be in season the entire trip. Oh well, we’ve done it before, we can do it again.
I need to wash the truck. I like to start the trip with a clean truck. We’ll do an oil change in Laramie. It is about 1700 miles and very uncomplicated. Just drive about 10 mile south to I80, then about 1670 miles West to Laramie, then 20 miles South to “home”.
We have our favorite motels along the way—the ones that will take a dog. LIttle do they know that we don’t really walk our dog 3 times each evening and that each walk is a different dog! The cats like to sit in the window and watch the other people walk their dogs too.
I hope to post each day along the way and maybe even while we are there. Yes, we are “off the grid’ but thanks to solar panels, inverters, satellite dishes, and laptop computers, we’ll try to stay in touch.
After all, we need to check out the web cams often and watch the time-lapse movies of the pool activity, and ...
Posted under: Cabin News • Dog Stuff • Cat Stuff • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 08/26/2009 at 06:57 PM
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Friday, July 31, 2009
Rental Car Mystery
I was recently on a business trip to Colorado, where I rented a car—a Hyundai, I think. Operating and driving a rental car is always a bit of a trick since each car is just a little bit different. I usually take some time at the car rental facility to familiarize myself with the mirror controls, windshield wiper controls, lights, etc. One night I was driving in Boulder and it was raining, I had the front wipers on, but wondered if there were rear wipers on this car. Since rear wiper controls are often tucked away in various places, I started scanning the dash and probing for buttons with my finger. To the left of the steering column was a button labeled “ESC”. I was pretty sure this was not for the rear wipers (which, turns out, the car did not have), but I wondered what it could be. I was oh-so-tempted to press the button, but had visions of myself flying through the roof on a rocket powered ejector seat, so I used restraint. Still wonder what it did…
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/31/2009 at 08:13 AM
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Almost Summer?
On Sunday we had our first “cloudless day” in a couple of months. To me, a cloudless day is one where at times that I’m likely to be outside (or want to be outside) there is no cloud in the sky. On Sunday, that was from about 8:00 a.m. till bedtime 
The temperatures are still pretty low—with high 70s during the day and low 50s at night—and that is keeping the pool cold. Still, we managed to brave the pool for a couple of hours. I think it was around 75 or 76 degrees.
The best part about a cloudless day is that it makes a good canoe day. So, Sunday very early we toted the canoe to Green Turtle Pond and finally got in some nice paddling around. The lake was warmer than the pool.
It has been a very beary season. Lots of bears and you can follow them on Lynne’s blog.
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/14/2009 at 11:23 AM
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