We are so excited about our departure that we have been debating about whether we should leave here on Sunday instead of Monday as we had previously planned. The packing-up is coming together with Rick doing it all (I am still limited physically with how much I can help) and the motorhome is polished. Tomorrow I have my final check up with the doctor, the last hurdle, and am expecting him to be pleased with my progress. We have a little bit of running around, mostly for groceries but in reality if we really hustle we could be ready to leave a day early. Our main reasons for leaving here on Sunday are that it gives us more time to get to Shasta Lake (our next seven-day destination) by Tuesday night and we will avoid the rush hour traffic around LA. So what IS the problem?

We would have to miss a pre-planned farewell dinner with Anita, our friend from Palm Springs. Tomorrow, we’d also need to turn in our high-speed cable modem to Adelphia which would mean our broadband phone would no longer be usable (it works very poorly through the satellite Internet). We have Canadian cell phones, but the plans are not great for being in the States and if I upgrade now, just three weeks from crossing back into Canada, we will be charged a costly service fee to downgrade again. Staying until Monday will give me more time to make some final necessary (free) calls to reroute a parcel we are expecting next week and an extra day to call friends and family. Sunday is cleaning day, we change the bed, catch up on all the laundry and wash the floor so leaving a day early would mean either trying to do all of it tomorrow evening or postponing it.

When I started writing this we were leaning toward a Sunday departure but once I put in black and white the reasons to wait, we have made the decision to go with our original plan and leave on Monday. The extra time for cleaning, (particularly with the layer of dust on everything from the open windows yesterday) will be much appreciated and an extra two days with easy phone access to simplify some things is worth it. Rick has driven long hours and in traffic before, which really doesn’t bother him and this way he’ll be better rested as well. We may be anxious to leave but we have waited this long and besides, this way we can say goodbye to our friend Anita properly.

Here is Sam, our cat, tormenting Rick while he is trying to write an email!