Time To Hit the Road?

Snowing at the Aerie today. They promised we'd be in the 1-3 inch zone. when the forecast came out this morning. We've passed that and are now looking at 5 inches. Funny thing about weather: The models often get it wrong. (Same is true for climate. Not one model predicted or can explain the 15-17 years of non-warming we've been having.) The snow and the cold (At least THAT hasn't been a problem today. Low of 12 and high of 24 degrees.) got me to thinking.

Since I had my knees replaced last July 15th, I have been--with the exception of one flight to Portland, OR to say hello and goodbye to Aisley Cecilia--pretty much confined to short trips to New Jersey and the doctor's offices in Corning, New York. And it is starting to drive me nuts. That's why I didn't mind the 300 mile round trip to Harrisburg for the Great American Outdoor Show last week.

But it wasn't enough. I'm slowly going stir crazy. When I'm not out moving snow around (something I will have to do on Friday...again) I've been rereading all of Terry Prachett's books, doing crossword puzzles, solving sudoku puzzles, swiffering the floors, and doing laundry. Heck, I even cleaned the range top the other day. And now I've started doing jigsaw puzzles. One thousand pieces takes three days while watching Bones and Castle reruns on TNT. (BTW, I've almost memorized all the Castle episodes up to the 2013-14 season, having seen each multiple times.)

Terry, on the other hand has, in addition to the short, sad trip to Portland, traveled to Poland, Louisville, KY; Dallas, TX; Anaheim, CA; Fairfield, CA; Columbia, SC (twice!); a conference in western PA; and another in western NY. And she's got a second trip to Louisville planned for March.

I'm thinking it's time to pack my bags, load the Tundra with stuff to be delivered to relatives and head west. A grand road trip may be just what I need. (It would be better with the RV but that's frozen in at the moment.) Milwaukee, Portland, Fairfield, and Anaheim seem to be in order. Then maybe San Diego, the Big Bend country of Texas as well as the Texas Gulf Coast. Then on over to Florida and a stop at my cousins' house. before turning north to Columbia, SC. I could do with a stop along the Delaware coast and even the Atlantic City area before returning to the Aerie.

The goal would be to deliver things from Mom's house, visit with relatives and friends, and do lots and lots of birding. In warmer(?) climates.  I figure it would be a trip of about 8K miles and perhaps five to six weeks.

I've a doctor's appointment on Monday for my frostbitten finger, an Audubon meeting Wednesday night (not mandatory!) and nothing until the end of March.

Hmmm. Sounds doable.