Eric and I dedicated the last week in the states to spend time with my parents. The San Diego stop gave us time to relax and do a little final prep with them which was perfect.
My mom and I spent quite a bit of time running errands and Eric and my dad worked on the car daily. Everything was pretty minimal but took up time and a whole day seemed full with sixteen 20 minute tasks. The second night in town we spent an evening with a lifelong friend and her husband at one of those meals that you definitely put in the top 10 for conversation, wine and food. We celebrated my birthday early with a family dinner (only missing Mark) of homemade pasta and angel food cake. One night we engaged in men versus women dart tournament and Eric found my dad’s stash of old, amazing records. The music and the wine were great but losing at darts was not. The rest of the nights we cooked and spent time explaining and discussing the details of the trip. We looked at maps and set up ways to make communication a little easier with friends and family.
Eric and Bob worked on the car and finished last minute tasks. They built a little more storage, rotated the tires and changed the oil, waterproofed the roof and sealed a small leak we realized we had on a rainy afternoon. Linda made curtains and they turned out so well she is considering creating interiors for campers. Kidding, but they are great.
Eric and I met with one of his good friends from his time in Switzerland and she also joined us for a night of breweries later in the week. We tasted at White Labs, Rogue Brewing, and ended the evening at Ballast Point. On the last day we made copies of all important documents, planned the route through the border and packed. Packing this time around was so much easier. The car seemed almost spacious. We rid ourselves of a lot of items already and feel so much better with not just the physical weight of the car but the items that we are making necessity for the next months. We stocked the car with a little food and figured out our first stop for Saturday night, and triple checked the house and car.
The time spent in San Diego was great and we truly felt like everything we had set as a goal was completed. We crossed items off our list until the list was totally gone. There was a bit of a feeling that if we could get just one more _______ we would be better, but we can always find items on the way. And we probably just won’t need it. We had so much help and encouragement to prepare for this journey and we are overwhelmed with how lucky we are and how blessed we are to be supported by the community we have from all different areas of life. We prepped as much as we thought we needed to and now it is the time to just adapt as we go! Saturday is border day!