Yes, indeed, Lin is "ready to go."

I, on the other hand, having found most(?) of our camping stuff, have loaded about half of the "outside essentials;" but still have to get camp chairs, carpets, shade tarps, and such loaded. Oh yeah, if we remember them we might take some musical instruments. There's also two trailers and two tow vehicles needing battery, oil, tire, and other checks left to do. There's the minor matter of the water heater that's been putting out smoke like a coal generator, that probably has a bird nest in the stack. I've tried the argument that cold showers are good for you; but I don't think Lin is buying it. And I've still got garden hose and extension cords that need "containerized" to stow.

The camper, except for that water heater, seems about ready to go with the exception of "routine maintenance checks;" but those take a couple of days to do right (age being a factor).

We acquired a nice 8x10 covered utility trailer while we were swapping homes that solves the problem of transporting our "granny scooters" and keeping them out of the rain, if Lin's aging S10 manages to pull it down there. Yesterday I replaced her rear view mirrors with mini West Coast style ones both sides. A new tranny might have been more suitable; but if ya can't fix it, decorate it.

Her S10 lost two "factory" mirrors in the WVA campground in different years. Since the Original Equipment replacement for the first one was about $140, I used a "similar" aftermarket one for the second replacement and it's never been too satisfactory. The WCs are "breakaway" mounts that fold flat against the side of the vehicle so maybe they'll survive, and they're almost wide enough for her to see a little bit of road behind the little trailer.

I still need one "commercial" modification to my (tow) truck, that I'm hoping to get done this morning. Other changes will be "home made" and probably will be done in the campground during the Lineup wait (if at all).

In recent years I've usually gone down at least a week before Lineup, to try to get "close to the gate;" but we aren't likely to make it until later - probably Lineup day if possible - this year. My experience/observation is that if you're not parked at the gate when it opens you probably won't be able to get to the gate until sometime after noon. The late arrival makes it a bit questionable whether we'll be able to get electricity (necessary for our medical appliances) at our usual site, so it's fairly likely that we'll be forced to relocate. If so, we'll probably try for a space East of the grandstand, since there are fairly plentiful hookups there (for the first few hours) and it seems to fill up a little slower than the older "established" areas.

One of our regulars, with a large (50'?) camper won't be there, but another has abandoned his 20 year old "10 foot primitive popup" for a new self-contained and will be trying to take the vacated space (and hookup). We haven't seen the new camper so don't know how big it is; but as long as it "plugs in" it doesn't much matter how big a footprint it has and we've all agreed he's welcome to the space. (We're speculating that the new camper is because he's finally admitted he's getting too old to enjoy misbehaving and has decided he might as well bring his s.o. along. It could also be because she's believed some of the stories we told about him, and decided to come along to check them out.)

We appear to be having a slight break in temperatures, but the first drop in temps was accompanied by a drastic rise in humidity so there wasn't much noticeable difference. The local (Wichita) forecast a few minutes ago is for 20F cooler tomorrow than today, and for scattered thunderboomers, some with locally heavy rain for the next couple of days. River condition remains "low" so there's no threat of flooding - for now.

John