D-38, Monday, May 18, 2009 No trip preparations today.

D-37, Tuesday, May 19, 2009 While not exactly pre-trip preparations, we spent the morning working on our property, getting it ready for an extended absence trimming low-hanging limbs that were chigger and tick havens. Donald finished adding the eye bolts to the Saturn for attaching the Protect-a-Tow; it’s ready to install now each time we need it. Enough for one day, time to rest as the tree trimming wore us out.

D-36, Wednesday, May 20, 2009 Once again, our great friend, Wayne, bailed us out by installing an inverter-on receptacle in the bedroom for Donald’s CPAP. Donald can now use his CPAP when we’re boon docking (dry camping without hook-ups) without having to run an extension cord from the only other outlet wired for inverter use, all the way in the front of the coach. The inverter converts 12 volt battery power to 110 volt power, what we have in our houses. Our motorhome has an inverter, but the only thing hooked up to it was the TV and surround sound in the living area of the coach. We’re limited to 400 watts, but that’s more than sufficient for what we’ll plug in while boon docking. This extra outlet will also let us use the crock pot while underway.

D-35, Thursday, May 21, 2009 No pre-trip work today.

D-34, Friday, May 22, 2009 We made our first trip reservations today, reserving a site at Custer State Park for July 27, 28, and 29. The campground we preferred had already filled, but we have a site in another campground adjacent to a blue ribbon trout stream—all the planning in the world can’t beat dumb luck. Kay is sick in bed today with the CRUD and a severe back ache—rare for her.

D-33, Saturday, May 23, 2009 Donald maneuvered his way under the motorhome this afternoon to inspect the wiring on the fresh water tank gage. Sure enough, one of the wires was severed. After attaching a wire connector, we are back to normal and can monitor the status (extent of fullness) of the fresh water tank. This was a dreaded chore that took no more than 30 minutes to do. We have accumulated a number of documents and email messages regarding the trip. This afternoon we collected and assembled those in a common folder on the computer. Kay is still sick in bed; back ache is worse.

D-32, Sunday, May 24, 2009 We spent the day getting our paperwork and computer files in order, along with making sure our bills will be paid. Kay is beginning to recover; back ache is slowly disappearing.