Anticipation

Why is it that before a trip, I have an urgent need to clean the house?  Is it the desire to return to a spotless house, or the need to be sure the executor of my estate doesn't walk into a mess should my plane crash?

Sometimes, it's hard to tell.  Either way, the house is now both tidy enough to be a pleasant greeting when I return home, and neat enough not to provide posthumous embarrassment.

Call me crazy, but I actually enjoy the planning before the trip almost as much as the actual departure. This one is a particular challenge, as the trip has multiple personalities - work, sight-seeing in NOLA and visiting with a friend near Kansas City.  Later tonight and tomorrow I'll make the last of the detail reservations, including transport to/from various airports, steamboat rides and (maybe) bayou boat trips.

The suitcase, most of the clothes, the toiletries and a good portion of the electronics and do-dads are already laid out.  The packing list is almost finalized, and I've finally decided to check my bag rather than carry it on, primarily because the computer tote alone weighs a ton.  If not for the electronics I need to haul, a carry on and a regular totebag would be perfect for nine days.

Can you tell I don't get out much?

The few things that still need to be done include SLEEP.  In order to get through security (yay for new TSA guidelines going into effect the day before my first flight in ages!) in time to make my flight, I need to leave the house at an unreasonably early hour, even for me, the super-lark.  A long Sunday afternoon nap and decent bedtimes the next couple of nights will help.  Woe betide anyone who dares to call me after eight on those evenings.

The alarms will be set, the landlords home and all valuables moved to a safer place, so if you feel the need to break in while I'm gone, by all means, do - help yourself to my twenty year old television with my blessings.

More, perhaps, from the road.  The camera is travelling with me, and the notebook has an SD slot that makes transferring pictures for upload a snap (item #9 on the pre-trip checklist: test SD card upload - done).