Preparing to hit the road...

It got cold enough last night for the heating system to kick in, which is always a treat, especially around Halloween. The system consists of hot water pipes running overhead, above the ceiling, and the system is old enough so that when it heats up, it creaks, and groans, and titters, and chatters, and moans, and generally keeps you from sleeping at 4 am. If I hadn't known better, I would have suspected Atilla the Hun and some of his cohort were trying to gain entrance to the joint.

I tried to go back to sleep, but don't recall actually accomplishing the goal.

I've done all the important cleanup, like wash the dishes and collect the garbags. For the life of me, I keep putting off the sweep/vacuum portion, and this little voice keeps popping up in my ear: "Who do you need to clean up for?" A month ago, I was expecting the old man to come home from the hospital, so I put a little elbow grease into the cleanup; today, the only person I expect to return is me, with Galina. I'm thinking the scraps of paper that Shiloh has created out of shopping bags and paper towels aren't going to go anywhere or cause any damage, so...

I'm figuring it's more important to put some miles under my tires than to put a spit shine on the floors. I've done the Mapquest thing with the route, and I'm informed the road is long: 2100 miles, or 400 miles longer than the trek here from Texas.

Now, to load the car (keeping in mind where all the important stuff is) and get outa town!

Cheers...