Oma's Trip ~ 02/11/03
Dateline: New Orleans, LA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK... I'm in "planning stage" for my return trip. I'm
thinking to leave here on 2/19, 2/20, or 2/21 and will
have to take the "southern route" home because the
weather is still kinda nasty in CO, WY, MT, and ID --
and will probably stay that way for another month at
least... so it's I-10 west from Louisiana and haven't
quite figured out the whole route yet... MAYBE just go
I-10 til I see a sign that says "I-5 NORTH" and hang a
right...

Had my trusty '82 Subaru checked ut last week and it's
good go go... tires are fine... oil and oil filter
changed.

I'll rent a mini storage place here for all stuff that
won't fit in my car -- stuff I've accumulated since I
got here -- stuff that I might be able to use when I
come back next Winter. Stacey will have a key so that
anybody who needs/wants anything can get to it.

Say "road trip" real fast and it sounds easy...  I plan
to update this page and also do my e-newsletter (The
Alumni Sandstorm) every day on the trip, so here's the
process I go thru as soon as I arrive at the motel for
the night... after check in....

FIRST THING: Let my puppy, Pepper, out take her for a 
little walk around the motel parking lot - look for a
patch of grass and see if she has any business she
needs to take care of... and then get her settled in
the room... I can usually hook her leash to the toilet 
paper holder in the bathroom while I unload the car....

THEN UNLOAD THE CAR
Suitcase over night necesseties, Pepper's food and
water, drag out the laptop (and of course, all that
goes along with the laptop -- the portable/external zip
drive, the power supply, various CDs and zip floppys,
all the cords that go along with all that, mouse,
mousepad, and maybe some other stuff I can't think of
right now)..

Get everything plugged in -- including the phone
cord... find the local access number for earthlink and
see if I can establish a connection to the internet
(that never DID happen in Salina, KS on my way down
here -- have a coupon for one free night at Motel6
because of that). Getting connected to the internet can
sometimes be the most time consuming part of the whole
deal)... Once I'm online, I'm likely to STAY online for
a while cuz I'll download the day's messages that have
been building up while I drive... and then take care of
anything that needs attention -- have to update
websites (including Oma's page -- lotsa people out
there WAITING for the daily Oma's page update so they
can relax for the night) and sometimes have to change
an email address on a website -- or change a Sandstorm
address and let the class webmaster know about the
change).... I put all the Sandstorm entries in a
separate folder as I'm going thru the incoming email
until I'm ready to put it all together...

Got to eat dinner sometime... this is where someplace
close the the Motel6 would be cool... I can leave what
I'm doing, go eat, and then get back to it... but if
that doesn't happen, I have cheese, triscuits and Power
Bars OR if I can find a Burger King or McDonald's close
by, I'll do that... and then go there on my way OUT of
town in the morning, too for sausage/egg croisant or
McMuffin (my favorites!).

Then somewhere around 11pm or so, I start to put the
Sandstorm together... get that all finished, and (just
after midnight) post it on the Alumni Sandstorm website
and send it to the NetAtlantic folks so they can
distribute... then do some back up so I can shut down.

When I'm at home, I usually stay online and do other
stuff... maybe get a start on the next day's Sandstorm
formatting... but when I'm on the road, I GOTSA sleep
so I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed to drive the
next day...

AND... I do nicotine, too!!! All the while all the
above is going on... There's so many people who don't
these days... If I stay with someone who doesn't smoke,
I go outside to smoke occasionally -- which just adds
to the time it takes me to get everything done so I can
sleep... I can smoke in the Motel6 and they also allow
animals, so my Pepper isn't a problem... plus lots of
them even have a separate line for internet access
which is cool...

My plan for next year (which was really the plan for
this winter, too, but it didn't happen) is to get a
class "C" mini motor home... call it The Alumni
SandstorMobile or maybe Oma's Hot Rod and have
the laptop all hooked up all the time, so I won't have
to deal with that... when that gets all set up, I'll
seriously consider friends' DRIVEWAYS en route
*GRIN*... and then just plug in to power and phone for
the night...