"A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."
– Grace Murray Hopper


This week's activities are centered around shoring up loose ends.  We secured our storage facility, made copies of all pertinent documents (like driver's licenses, vehicle titles, birth certificates, credit cards, etc.), made a run to the Goodwill, and lots of stuff like that.  We will begin to move our furniture into storage and disassemble the house.  HOLY COW!

Next week we are taking the grandsons camping with us for a few days.  We are staying at the Totem Pole Park in Petersburg, MI.  Our purpose is to actually live in the trailer for a week without the benefit of running home or to the store for essentials (other than food).  This way we will know what we've forgotten to pack and will need for a long trip.  We will also weigh both the truck and the camper to ensure we have not exceeded weight limits.  Packing for a weekend trip is COMPLETELY different than packing for full-time living as you can imagine.

When we get back from that week of camping, Steve and I will be on call for our first Red Cross Disaster Assistance Team (DAT) runs.  Here locally, Steve and I will be assisting with any major disasters within the Toledo city limits.  Lately, it's been house and apartment fires.  We aren't sure how that will go as this will be our inaugural run with the Red Cross, but it should be interesting.  We have one more training class later in August and then we are ready to go on National DAT.  For those runs, we will be assisting victims of much larger disasters (like hurricanes, floods, wildfires) in other areas of the country by working in the Red Cross shelters that will be established in whatever town is devastated by the disaster.  Part of our intent with this trip has always been to "give back" some of the tremendous blessings we have received so we are excited to be of service to those who have suffered tremendous loss.

Lastly, we want to keep you informed of our travel plans.  Our proposed "launch date" is September 1 but we think we'll be ready to go before then.  The plan is to first travel to our family cottage in Gladwin for the Klott family reunion (Lauren's dad's side of the family).  From there we will be headed to the Upper Peninsula for two weeks.  Our first stop will be the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie.  After our Barb Breese endorsed visit to the locks, we will head up the coast to Whitefish point and then on to Copper Harbor.  After that, through Linden (birthplace of Julie Ferguson) and into Wisconsin.  While in Wisconsin we will visit the Dells and then head to Chicago, where Lauren has to be for school the week of October 10. We will also be visiting our nephew Adam and his girlfriend Alana and catch a Bears game.  
After that, we know we are heading southeast to visit our son Terry, his girlfriend Jill and our grand-dog Rooney. 
Then southwest to Texas where we will stop and see niece Jessica, her husband Josh and their son Caleb . The route between Virginia and Texas has not yet been determined, but we're flexible.  We'll figure that out as we go along. The timing on this part of the journey is undetermined as well.  We may spend a few weeks in Texas (perhaps even Christmas) because another purpose for this trip is to determine where we will live once we come off the road. Texas is an area of the country that we have considered as a potential home so we will be checking out houses and condos while we are down there.  One important consideration - - Do the Browns ever play the Cowboys?

Lauren and I attended a FROG (Forest River Owners Group) Rally at Maumee Bay State Park. Come check it out.