Getting Ready to Leave

Today is Sunday, November 20, and we're just about packed and ready to leave. We plan on leaving Tuesday morning for Columbus, so tomorrow should just involve doing the final steps like filling the water tank, loading up the kayaks and bikes, and transferring the food to the refrigerator and freezer. Although we're pretty good at this by now, each year we do a couple things differently - for one thing, this year we're going to take Dickens' "kitty tower" along. I'm sacrificing my little rolling file cabinet and giving those few precious feet of floorspace to Dickens - what a nice mom, huh? And this year the major food-related emphasis is going to be carbs and sugar! I came in with a slightly higher sugar level at my physical this year, so right now I am all about getting that down a little lower. It'll be fun to see how healthy we can eat on this trip - I even found room for my food processer, and, of course, I can't leave home this year without my Keurig! Last year, I worked about 20 hours a week for Kerkstra, but this year I only plan on helping out "as needed" - we'll have to see what that ends up being! But it does mean that I don't have to pack the VERY large amount of files and binders that I did last year.
Dave had his knee left knee replaced about 10 weeks ago and is doing very well with his recovery, so we're optimistic that he'll be able to start biking and walking as soon as we get to Florida. He's already done some biking up here, so he's feeling really good about the prospects when we get down there. Other than his surgery (which actually went very well), we had a really good summer - I did a lot of work for Kerkstra again this year, which was great. This was my fourth summer working for them, and it's just been a great experience for me. I love the people I work with there (and, yes, I know some of you are reading my blog, so you'll think I'm just pandering to you, but it really is true). But it's starting to get PRETTY chilly these days and it is TIME for us to hit the road.
The first step, just like last year, is to spend Thanksgiving with Brenda and her family in Columbus - and this year I hope to spend the majority of those few days holding my brand-new little great-grandbaby Emma! Plus, Brenda's opened her new bakery since the last time I was down there, so I'm VERY excited to check that out. We should be down in Columbus by early afternoon on Tuesday, we'll spend Wednesday and Thursday with the family, and then Friday morning we jump on I-75 and stay pretty much on it until we get to Fort Meyers.
So that's our plan! Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'll post again once we get on the road - expect Emma pictures on the next post!