'Tis the season - for travel

December 12, 2009
Peoria, AZ

We spent much of the last week finishing up preparations for both the holidays and for our trip east. So, what else have we been up to in the past few days?  Other than seeing bits and pieces of every Christmas movie ever made as we troll the DirecTV channels, that is...

Well, we've continued to eat well. Monday was Geri's famous Chicken Pot Pie with a 1997 Beaux Frères Oregon Pinot Noir. On Tuesday, I made a pot of sauce so we'd have some in the freezer for our trip east, and we had pasta with veal parm and a 2000 Damilano Barolo (this bottle was reasonably good, compared to the last one). Wednesday was grilled steak and baked potatoes and the wine was a surprising find: 2004 Rock Hollow Cab Franc from California's Santa Ynez Valley - great match. Thursday was leftover pasta/veal, and another bottle of the Damilano Barolo, which was completely corked, went down the drain, and was replaced by a nice 1997 Notarpanaro Salento. Next up on Friday was Geri's sautéed pork medallions with mushroom risotto and another pleasant surprise, a 2002 El Molino Napa Pinot Noir that was exceptional. We finished the week of tonight with Chicken & Brie and a 2002 Nebbiolo; our neighbor, Mary Ann, helped us polish this meal off.

Other than that, we've been pushing through a list of things to do before we leave. In addition to the coach maintenance done last week, I've finished off the trip plan so I know where we'll stop each evening and where we're plan to fuel up. I've made appointments for coach alignment and repair of a fogged window at places we'll be near in Florida. Our vehicle insurance is updated to handle what we learned about coverage gaps after the September mishap with the tow equipment. Bills are paid, unless they need to wait for the next billing cycle. The mess in the study is all cleaned up, except for the remaining filing (I hate filing like Geri hates ironing). Most of the stuff that'll go back in the coach for the trip is queued up in the garage or in the house.

The next couple of days will be busy. Tomorrow morning, I'll get the coach early, swing by the local Flying J to top off the fuel, and we'll start loading. Since the forecast is somewhere between isolated and scattered showers, we'll focus on loading tomorrow and I'll wash the exterior on Monday. Who knows how long it'll stay clean, but at least it will be when we start out. Longer-range forecasts seem to indicate that we'll have reasonably good weather as we head out and travel I-10 to I-20 in West Texas, and through Dallas, across Louisiana and Mississippi, and into Alabama. Things are predicted to turn colder during Christmas week, but who believes a forecast that far out anyway. We'll be fine...