It's raining: Time to go south

It hasn't rained in over two months.  Everything is dry and brown.  We had more rain here in the spring than usual, and then there was less rain over the summer than usual.

It couldn't come at a better time psychologically for us.  It reminds us of why we are happy being away from our Whidbey Island home in the winter---the rainy weather makes it too difficult for us to be outdoors in the way we both need.

......and we need all the help we can get because we will miss our home so much.

Knowing that the rain was expected today we got most of our small "home" (i.e., the camper/pickup) loaded yesterday.

A small portion of the supplies that we will need.  Chairs, tables, a well-packed and complete set of tools (since we are frequently need to make repairs along the way), truck supplies, tire chains, etc.:

Water.  Since we are live animals we need water.   Yesterday I put 35 gallons of drinking water into the camper storage, plus another 10 gallons in jugs.   We have another 4-5 empty containers that we will fill up along the way.  Our goal is to be able to remain away from civilization for 3 weeks at a time, and this means having enough water.

Since we are (somewhat) human animals we also need to be sorta clean at times.  We have another 10 gallons stored in solar heated bags.  These work really well---just a little bit of sun will warm them enough for our 1-minute, 1 gallon showers.  You realize how much water is wasted when we see how little we really need on a daily basis.

 

Vicky gets a lot of food packaged in such a way as to be able to make meals with as little clean-up as possible.  By repackaging our food she can also get a lot more into our refrigerator/freezer.  Time spent up-front saves a lot of time down the road.

We have to pack all of the clothes we might possibly need.  The weather can be very warm or very cold (even in the desert southwest it is winter;  nights, especially, can be chilly).  Our clothes are chosen carefully--they need to be moisture wicking for safety and so they will dry quickly when washed.  Some of our clothes also need to serve double duty as dancing clothes for when we can drop into a dance along the way. 

It was time to put the camper onto the pickup.  The first time we did this several years ago it took us over an hour.  We've learned, and now it takes about 10 minutes.  

Then it is a matter of loading the back seat.  Every inch is used.

Today's project is to shop for, prepare, and store our perishable foods.   The refrigerator was turned on yesterday, so it will ready when we move food into it.  Here are some of the veggies that will accompany us (at least for a few days):

The Prius is in the garage.  Even that seemingly simple task isn't very simple.  Before we left last year we had a trickle charger installed on this car.  This keeps the battery charged.  A Prius isn't like cars made years ago where it's a simple matter to just charge the battery.  On a Prius, if the batteries run down all of the car's computer systems can be affected.  So......a trickle charger.

Here Vicky is filling the refrigerator and freezer.  Every inch is used.  This requires a lot of planning.

By the time we finish today the pickup will be ready to hop in it and go, and all that will be left will be to shut down the house and winterize it.

Leaving our home.  It's sad, but we are off to see what we can find in this wonderful country of ours: