Gearing up to go

It's about 6 am Tuesday, November 3rd--election day here in Idaho Falls. It's a good thing to hang around long enough to vote--snowbirds should never abandon ship until they vote--it's their patriotic and civic duty, especially in a hotly contested city council election. Afterall, the two incumbents are very "pro" Greenbelt and that thing strip of magic is one of the reasons we moved here. Gawd forbid that they lose to the heathens that are running against them.

We've already notified the Post Office to hold mail--a Snowbird ritual exceeded only by the coveted "forward mail" process. You're really only a true snowbird when you actual spend long enough down south to have your mail forwarded to a private address.

We will be stopping the newspaper soon. We won't be gone long enough to put DISH TV, Cable ONE internet and the city services into hibernation. Afterall, this is a test run. We have, however, investigated the costs of all of the above and they are either free or very reasonable.

We spent most of the past two weekends packing like squirrels preparing for winter.
This Sunday was a final orgy of stuffing stuff into the back of the truck to see if it would all fit. Luckily, our vision of how to pack for this trip converts well to reality and we will have no problem. We had to sacrifice two normal essentials: A) the ability to see out the back window of the truck and B) a second cooler.

I know we will miss the second cooler but, alas, there simply isn't room--not when you're taking the chain saw, too.