Running behind

I am running seriously behind schedule. There is a zero percent chance I will get on the road on Sunday, a 50% chance on Monday, and maybe greater than 75% chance on Tuesday. If I leave on Tuesday, I can still keep my schedule (to make the camp in SF by the 29^th) since I had three days of slack in the Schedule. I will not leave, however, until I am well rested.

 

Spent hours yesterday cleaning out the Defender and loading the equipment etc. That’s one of the tasks I dread most about preparing.  The Defender never looked so good and drove so well in a long time.

 

Becasue I do not have the confidence that I will not have a breakdown on this trip, I ordered a satellite phone today just in case.  I would hate to be deep in some National Forest alone and have the Defender not start with no cell phone service,  and a dog that cannot hike out with me to get help.

 

I also spent time trying to track down the name of the vehicle hauling broker I used back in 2019. She (Dawn) was good.  I was finally able to get her contact information from Erik at Rovers North, who contacted Greg, who gave me Dawn’s number back in 2019, but no longer works at Rovers North. My rule is: if the Defender breaks down and the problem is not easily fixed, it gets shipped back home and we rent a van to finish the trip. It is not the same trip without the Defender, but it is a trip.

 

Although I have yet to work up my 150-item to-do list or the 12-page to-take list, I have been carrying out both of them by memory, after 10 prior times.  I suspect I have most items done, maybe 50 remaining. As for the to-take list, since I do not expect to be doing any serious dirt-and-gravel roads or trails, I can scale back somewhat.  I am having to redo the back of the Defender to accommodate Donner’s raised bed (one of the three he has). Before, I transported that bed on the roof rack and had to haul myself up there to retrieve it each time. I cannot put it horizontally  in the back behind the front seats, as I did before, so I will have to lay it vertically, and move the containers from the rear of the back to parallel to Donner’s bed. The advantage of this is that when I go to take him out for a rest stop, I don’t have to unload all the containers to let him out. 

 

I am also downsizing a number of containers.  My garage container will be cut back seriously.  I reduced Donner’s and my stuff boxes from 2720 ci each to 2321. Some stuff will have to go. If I need something I did not take, if I cannot do without it, I will look for the nearest outpost (i.e., Walmart).  I will not tsake my twp camemrs and rfely on my iPhone to do the photo’ing.  This probably means that the photos on my blog will be sent in separate postings.

 

Tomorrow I set up the DFBs (daily food boxes). I will only take 9 and restock every week.

 

Etc.

 

Ed and Donner from base camp, so to speak.

 

Sorry for any typos etc. still in this posting.