No, I haven't been abducted by aliens

...I've just been incredibly busy.  A small sampling:

Monday

Do research on RV club memberships.  Find out that Escapees, a club for people who live full-time in their RVs ("fulltimers") will be my best bet.  Learn that if I renew my Camping World President's Club membership for $15, I'll save $20 on a new Escapees membership.  Sign me up!

Arrange to have membership stuff sent general delivery to Ogdensburg, NY, instead of my dad's place in OR, so that I have the use of these resources at the beginning of my trip instead of towards the end.

I have some computers and equipment, some of which I've been working on for Computers for Communities, a local nonprofit, and some of which is my own to donate to them.  5 of their computers, 2 of mine.  Hard drives need wiping, cases need to be put back together, parts need careful packing and organizing.  Working on it.

Tuesday

Get hitch, hitch ball, sway bar ball, 7-pin wiring, and brake controller installed at Stittsville Trailers.  Shop for trailer accessories.  Freecycle my bike (I'm keeping my trike).  Continue working on Computers for Communities stuff.

Wednesday

Chug away on the last of the preparation for Computers for Communities hardware.  Pack everything carefully in the back of the truck and deliver.

Thursday

A whole bunch of highly stressful personal legal stuff to do, that you don't even want to know.  Boy, am I glad all of *that* is done.

Friday

As luck would have it, I developed a dental abscess a few days ago, which is now worsening.  Give up and call dentist.  He's not in today, so he can't see me until Monday.  I wonder if I'm going to make it until then.  I continue to use lots of mouthwash and hydrogen peroxide.

Get money order for balance of trailer price.  Go to seller's house, submit payment, fill out form to transfer title, get user manuals for trailer and all of the accessories, discuss maintenance history and some basic background on how things work.

Saturday

Go to Ministry of Transportation and transfer the trailer title.  Attempt to transfer the truck title from joint to single, only to be informed that I need to go get an $85 safety check and $35 emissions test and both people need to fill out extra forms.  (Why???  I still own it, don't I?  Can't they just take one name off, as long as we both sign for it?  *sigh*)  Roll eyes.  Schedule needed tests.  Call CAA to activate comprehensive and collision insurance for the trailer.

The tooth abscess has started to swell up my cheek, and the pain is increasing.  Decide this is craziness and go to the doctor for antibiotics.

Sunday

Go back to seller's place for a 2-hour walkthrough in bone-chilling -19°C weather, on how everything works in the RV.  (Now *that's* dedication!  Thanks, you two!)

Monday

Take truck in to Vance's Service Centre in Carp for full bumper to bumper testing and inspection, and yes, the redundant $85 "safety inspection" required by the province.  Lucas additive in the transmission oil and engine oil, check shocks, brakes, tires, etc.  Then, according to recommendations, replace rotors and get new brake pads installed.  In the meantime, research and call RV parks to try to find one that's open this time of year.  Not much luck.

Follow up at the dentist.  I let him know I'm moving and ask for them to gather my dental records for me.  I also ask them to compose a letter for my next dentist so s/he will know I am not exaggerating when I say I need a *LOT* more anaesthetic than most people do.  No problem, he says.  But he also informs me (joy of joy) that I need a root canal.  Again, as luck would have it, he doesn't do these on molars and refers out to some specialist for them.  I wonder how much time and money this is going to set me back.  Worst timing, ev-er.

Tuesday

Take truck in for the extraneous $35 emissions test required by the province (you know, not that I'm bitter or anything... LOL).  Take all the paperwork back to the Ministry of Transportation.  After lots of hemming and hawing, they finally decide it's in order and charge me some more money to take one name off.

Fax the newly changed truck title to CAA, to make the change to the insurance policy.

Have multiple discussions with dentist's staff, because the specialist he refers me to can't see me until the middle of May.  They try others.  The soonest they can find is April 13.  Great, considering my electricity gets shut off on the 8th.  I toy with the idea of just heading to my dad's place in Oregon as planned, and taking more rounds of antibiotics if that's what it takes to get me there.  Or, staying in the apartment for a few days after the cutoff, and keeping a flashlight on hand.  *sigh*

See a heart specialist (unnecessary, if you ask me) because, last July, I had some blood work done, and somebody just noticed like a week ago that one of the readings was high.  (Cute, I know.)  Two things can cause it, apparently - an infection or a heart problem.  Did I have any kind of infection in July?  Gee, I don't know... um, maybe if you'd asked me 8 months ago I'd remember.  LOL  So anywho, I was referred here.  He tells me there's no point in doing another blood test now since we know I currently have a tooth infection.  He says I have no risk factors (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, chest pain, or anything like that), but wants to do a cardiac stress test anyway.  Call the hospital to schedule, he says.  But I'm already really pressed for time, and this seems like a waste of time if there ever was one.  And just one more case of extremely bad timing.  I'll think about it.  If it was truly that urgent and life-threatening, I imagine I'd have heard from them in July, no?  Unless this clinic is just that negligent.  ???

Meet with seller, learn how to hitch up to trailer, make all the connections, use the brake controller, haul the trailer, corner, back up, and unhitch.  He's kind (and brave) enough to get in the truck with me and patiently teach me all of this, even though I freely admit I've never done this before.  I offer once again to take them out to dinner or at least coffee for all their kindness, which he politely refuses.  What a guy.

Wednesday

Hitch and connect everything myself according to what I learned yesterday (like a game of Simon, but harder!  LOL), make sure the trailer is ready for travel (all the cupboard doors are latched, nothing loose rolling around), pray I did everything right, and sweat bullets while driving it on the highway to the RV service centre.  Check it in for full testing and inspection.

Then, in a rare instance of leisure time, off to a hip little café and a little sightseeing with friends.  (Pics of both to follow soon.)  Had myself a soy latté and a slice of cranberry orange loaf, with real cranberries in it.  {singing} Heavennnn, I'm in heavennn...!  I don't even know the name of the place, but it's in Almonte (pronounced AL'-mawnt).  One of my friends, knowing I'm not familiar with the parts of the continent I'll be traversing, helps me plan a route.  The other, knowing my love for hard sci-fi, gives me a copy of Ringworld for the road.  I am touched at their kindness.  We take a walk along the river, still lined with interesting ice formations, and take some really pretty photos.

Thursday

Call CAA to ensure they processed the insurance policy change.  They hadn't.  Checked when they're sending the paperwork, so they don't miss me.  I don't feel like spending $75 for 3 months of mail forwarding to the U.S., so if you don't catch me while I'm still here, you're not gonna.

Pick up user's manual for the brake controller installed by Stittsville Trailers.  This is right down the street from VOS Trailers so I drop by to look through their accessories and ask some questions.  I leave, only to be called back a few minutes later with bad news.  Apparently, the former owner failed to drain the water out of the water heater before winterizing.  So all of the pipes are full of antifreeze as they should be, but the (metal) water heater is now full of ice.  Which has burst a seam.  And will cost $500 to replace.  Oy.  Do I call them and let them know?  The price I paid was a steal for what I got.  I'm sure it's worth significantly more than they let it go for.  It's otherwise in mint condition.  They've been so kind and incredibly helpful, and taken otherwise wonderful care of the trailer, and saved me untold hassles and expense bending over backward to teach me everything they could.  I decide I will probably say nothing.

Friday

Check on trailer - is it going to be ready for pickup today?  They say it is.  I come down to pick it up, and grab a few accessories from their store.  One of which is a serious wheel lock which I haven't been able to find anywhere except online... but VOS just so happens to have it, because a customer bought it for their huge 35' RV and it wouldn't fit.  They were eager to get rid of it, so I got a deep discount.  Score!!

Ran into quite a hassle trying to pay my bill.  Apparently, the bank has a cap on the amount I can charge by credit card or ATM per day, and their customer service reps don't know how to find it or remove it.  Grrr.  Spent 20 minutes paying my bill, while stressing that the RV storage place was going to close before I could get there.  Finally got done, and got to the storage place about 5 minutes before they would have turned me away.  Otherwise, would have had to find someplace to park it overnight and sleep in it, since there's nowhere to park it on our street!  But I made it, luckily found a spot where I could pull through instead of having to back it in, and it's ready for the next steps.

Whew!!!!

As you can see, I haven't had much time for blogging or anything else.  But fear not, the Zorgs from planet Voltron have not taken me hostage... yet.  While this would no doubt provide me with a much-needed vacation, I guess for now I'll just keep packing.  LOL