“Houston, Let’s Not Have Any Problems.”

I’VE STARTED THE PROCESS OVER AGAIN. Planning what is needed and what is not. We are heading off to Texas once again after a short hiatus of one month. Somehow we skipped February. I think that may be because it was a short month and we just got lazy. Ever since last July we have spent part of each month remembering the Alamo. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining. It is just tiring and I guess that I tire more easily these days.

Getting ready to go there requires a surprising amount of preparation. The Pre-flight Checklist for the Apollo 11 Moon shot was shorter than ours. The Astronauts didn’t have to pick out what clothes to pack and somebody else took care of their mail delivery and feeding the cat. Of course, we don’t have to worry about wayward meteors.

The trip to Texas is to spend some quality time with Family. Dawn’s mother, who is now 97, is our main objective. How can you not want to spend as much time as possible with your Mother…unless you are Lizzie Borden?

One thing that I can put into the Plus column about this trip is that it is not taking place during “Hurricane Season.”

Been there. Done that. Not going to do that again – unless we do.

Last August we walked smack into the fist of Hurricane Harvey and I do mean the fist of it. Our original 7 day trip got hyper-extended out to 18 days, mainly because we couldn’t get out of Corpus Christi. The airport was closed and Houston was in sad shape as well. We did a lot of laundry. In the middle of it all the funeral that was our reason for going there to begin with had to be postponed for a week.

100mph winds, power outages, uprooted trees, destruction everywhere, and no potable water. Late August of 2017 was not fun.

This trip is in Springtime. Flowers blossoming – Birds chirping – Gas below $2.00 a gallon – No hurricanes.

We are packing for a two week stay. Part of my duties in our Pre-flight preparation involves things like arranging for our mail deliveries to be stopped, and making hotel reservations in Indy. Our flight out of Indiana is quite early so we like to go up the night before and do a “Park and Fly” at a hotel near the airport. It is both cheaper and easier than driving up at 3 AM and parking at the airport for two weeks. Plus we can have breakfast at the hotel. It’s not much of a breakfast, but it does conform to the definition.

I’ll be taking my computer with me of course, and my Kindle, and my notebook, and a fistful of extra pens. There is going to be a lot of low energy hours to fill. I hope to get some writing done on that old, partially written novel that has been nagging me for the last twenty years.

It will be a good trip. Warm, dry, and wrapped in the loving arms of Family. I am a very fortunate man.

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