We got wrapped up in some projects that have delayed our departure for a bit, but with most of the things wrapped up that we wanted to get done before we leave northern Indiana, we hope to be on the road by the weekend. Now we just have to decide where we’re going, and how to get there.

We plan to spend November and most of December in Florida, and as I wrote here before, the plan was/is to go over to the coast someplace and go down the eastern seaboard. But since we’re getting a later start than originally planned, we’re undecided about which route to take.

We would like to go to Washington, D.C. again, and considered dropping down to Interstate 70 across Ohio and into Pennsylvania, and then dropping down to catch Interstate 68 across the northern edge of Maryland. But we may be too late in the season. Getting to warmer weather is a priority. Playing tourist is no fun when you’re chilly.

I thought about going to Lexington, Kentucky, and then taking Interstate 77 east to hook up with Interstate 64, which would take us to Norfolk, Virginia, but again, weather is a factor.

A third option was to go to Knoxville, and then take Interstate 40 east, but a major rockslide has closed the highway near the Tennessee – North Carolina border, and news reports say it could be weeks, if not months, before the road is open again.

Now we’re looking at going all the way to Atlanta, and then striking east on Interstate 20, but we’ll miss a lot of the territory we wanted to see along the coast going that way.

Then, just to muddy the waters even more, we have learned that Terry’s father has some health issues that are causing us some concern. Hopefully everything will be just fine, but we are prepared to scrap our travel plans and head for Arizona at a moment’s notice.

We have also been kicking around getting an extended warranty on our Winnebago motorhome. The Ultimate Advantage only has 34,000 miles on it and except for a contrary electrical side to our water heater, it’s in excellent condition. We’re debating whether the cost of an extended warranty is worth it.

Like any insurance policy, it’s a gamble. If we are lucky and don’t have any major breakdowns or system failures, we’d lose money on an extended warranty. However, a serious problem, such as an engine or transmission failure could easily cost much more that what we’d pay for an extended warranty. So do we bet against ourselves, or for ourselves? Why don’t some of you fulltimers and extended time RV travelers out there pitch in and share your input? Do you have an extended warranty? If so, who with, and are you glad you bought it? Is there anyone out there who decided to play the odds and lost with a major repair bill? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thought For The Day – Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

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Everywhere you turn in the last week somebody is talking about the latest crisis. This time it’s the swine flu pandemic. Oops, that’s the H1N1 Influenza A outbreak. Somebody apparently decided that we can’t call it swine flu, because pigs (or pig farmers) were getting upset.

Somebody e-mailed to ask me if we were still going to the Escapees Club Escapade rally next month. They have decided not to go, because they are concerned about being in large groups of people with this new disease going around. Give me a break!

What about the grocery store, or WalMart? Are you just going to lock yourself inside your house until the “crisis” passes? But remember, as soon as this one is over, there will be a brand new doom and gloom prediction to fret over.

People just need something to talk and worry about between our regularly scheduled media crisis of the moment! The talking heads can’t come onto your TV screen and say “Nothing bad is happening today. Things look pretty good.” What fun would that be?

The World Health Organization (WHO) had reported only a couple  hundred worldwide confirmed cases of this new flu worldwide by Thursday afternoon. A couple hundred people out of the nearly seven billion folks walking around on this planet! I think my odds are pretty good of surviving.

Yeah, the flu spreads fast. But every news report I have heard yet says if you start to feel symptoms, DO NOT go to the emergency room, because it’s probably a minor illness. So we have this major pandemic, but it’s not serious enough to seek medical attention for. Huh?

Yes, several people have died from the flu in Mexico. But let’s remember that a LOT of people die in Mexico every week from things that are no more than a minor inconvenience here. No matter how politically incorrect it is to say, Mexico is a Third World country. That’s why its citizens keep sneaking under the fence to get here!

More people have died in drug violence along the border lately than the flu will ever get near. In Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican border city of 1.5 million people across from El Paso, Texas, five deaths a day in January and February were attributed to drug violence. And that violence is spreading rapidly in the United States. Last year alone, Phoenix, Arizona reported 366 kidnappings related to drug activity. But how many of us are staying away from El Paso or Phoenix?

I refuse to live my life in a bubble, just because some over-coiffed pretty face on a TV screen says there is a new crisis.

As RVers, we have enough to worry about already. Every minute we’re on the highway, some fool is pointing tons of metal at us going 70 miles an hour. Worry about that!

Even off the interstate highway, we can still get ourselves into trouble, as this picture my daughter took Wednesday proves. Somebody was pulling this fifth wheel into a lot on White Mountain Boulevard in Lakeside, Arizona and didn’t think about their rear overhang, apparently. We drove by the scene a couple of hours later, and there were some serious gouge marks in the pavement!

It reminded me of the time I got our bus high centered in Bremerton, Washington a few years back. (Okay, okay, Miss Terry reminded me of it!). But I don’t see any news bulletins about the dangers of doing really, really dumb things when driving or pulling an RV!

Thought For The Day – The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

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