My packing/loading isn't complete, but I managed to catch a break. The friend I was to meet up with and I agreed to meet up next weekend. We both ran into a few setbacks where the extra time makes all the difference. I've pushed my departure to Monday or any day thereafter so long as I arrive before Friday of next week.
Before this decision was made I was seriously considering going without buying a generator (as was originally planned) to save money. I had no plans to stay anywhere with shore power, and figured on running my engine a few hours to recharge the house battery. Yeah, I know this is a bad idea. I could go solar and plan to eventually, but I've held off due to the cost. Right now I can get either solar or a generator, but not both simultaneously. The reason why I chose the generator first is because it was planned as the fallback for those times when solar isn't enough. For that reason it made more sense to get it first and then add solar. I did have funds earmarked for all of it, but staying with family kind of ate into that. Especially here in southern California where everything is ridiculously overpriced. I still have yet to pick it up, but will shortly.
Last year I got some maintenance work done on my truck. The timing belt and assorted parts were replaced along with an oil change. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to get all the work done and skipped having my CV boots replaced. I'd kind of forgotten about them. When I brought it in for another oil change two days ago, I was told that both boots were completely torn and had to be replaced. This was along with a valve adjustment, new spark plugs/wires, air filters, and oil/transmission fluids needing to be replaced. The downside was the cost, but the upside was the more expensive maint. costs would be good for the next 100k miles. Knowing I'm finally hitting the road, I got it all done. I simply can't afford to have my old girl running at nothing less than peak performance when out there. This costed me a day.
When I arrived here seven months ago I unloaded several boxes. I knew that when I left again, some would come with me while the others went into storage. In all that time I kind of forgot that I needed to go through some of them to separate out what was staying/coming. This is where it became difficult since I wasn't sure what items to leave/take. These were exactly the kind of things where it's better to have and not need than the other way around. This has also costed me quite a bit of time, and I'm still not finished.
My sister's current status has really been bothering me. Despite my inability to effectively help her, it's hard to leave someone in that state. I am feeling a little bit better today about her. I spent all of yesterday at her house while my truck was out for a spa day. I got to see how she's improved and starting to develop a routine again. The little guy is doing great and really stepping up to be mommy's little helper. I also really needed the down time, but this costed me another day.
I do enjoy those little victories life hands you from time to time. While going through my boxes I discovered at cost plus/world market gift card my sister had given me for xmas or my birthday a few years back. I gave this to my mom so she could get something nice for herself. The Honda service department gave me two free movie passes as a Thank you for choosing them for the truck's spa day. I gave them to my sister so her and the nephew could get out of the house and see something fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment