PREPARATION


Thus far, the summer has been filled with preparing to leave Oregon for our year-long road/Europe/New Zealand trip.   At the present time, we're hopeful to leave on or about the 23rd of August.  

Debby has been spending a lot of her time trying to figure out European transportation, hotel accommodations, renting Apartments and travel schedules.  She has always wanted to be a Travel Agent.  It's nice that I have my very own!


We are working on preparing our house to receive the "house sitters" we need while we are away for 10 months.  Things have to be packed away properly to make room for the things our sitters will be bringing in.  


Electronic bill paying needs to be completed so we can avoid conflicts.  Special instructions need to be given to those who will look out for our best interests.  Emergency instructions and authorizations need to be in place, like Power of Attorney, Last Will and Testament document, and all the "i's" dotted and the "t's" crossed to make things go smoothly while we are gone.


We have purchased a Cargo Carrier for the top of our Toyota Sienna that had to be the perfect size.  It will carry a family tent, inflatable 18" mattress, folding chairs, canopy and other bulky items we will be taking with us. We have also purchased plastic tubs that will contain the different things we are packing.  Things like clothes, shoes, blankets, laundry soap, foodstuff and all the things we want to take to make our road trip comfortable.  We will also have our carry-on suitcases that we will be taking for our 6 weeks trip to Europe in September.


We have made a list of names of friends and relatives across the United States who might like us to stop by and visit them as we journey across America.  


We have also made a list of famous places we would like to visit while we are traveling.  Those include Presidential Homes, National Monuments and Battlefields, National Parks, mountains, lakes, oceans and fun places to eat good food!


It's a lot of work and we are coming down to the wire.  We have packing to do in the middle of company coming to visit, two or three backpacking trips planned starting the middle of July and ending after the second week of August, and get together's with friends before we go.  


So the days are busy and the time is closing in quickly.  We are very excited about our trip, yet, at the same time, look forward to returning home to hug our kids, grandkids and close friends.  We do plan to return for the Christmas holidays before heading into California where we fly to NZ from Los Angeles.  We already have doctor appointments scheduled for December!


These are exciting times we live in!