Planning for my upcoming trip has been slow to get off the ground. My hope is to accelerate it, starting today. I lost almost some serious planning time due to my helping a friend, Herschel Browne, deal with his daily struggles during his last five months. Herschel died on July 10th. Here are some brief thoughts about the trip.
The Plan - since I doubt if I will get on the road before late August, I may have to drop northwest Canada and that new road to the Arctic from Inuvik NWT from my plan. Perhaps I will settle for a trip across the continent to Vancouver Island, and then drop down the west coast again to some of my favorite camp sites, before heading home.
The Defender is back in the shop again, mostly for some small but important stuff, including rigging a ladder system to make it easier for me to access the front of my roof rack. It seems that my hip surgery last year took away the full range of motion with my right leg, which did the bulk of the effort to get onto that rack from the bonnet (hood). But the most important work involves remedying a pesky starting problem I am still having. My mechanic thinks he has the solution, which I hope is the case. I would be foolish to start any trip knowing that I have a starting problem.
Donner is in the best shape he has ever been in so I do not expect issues with him to delay the trip any, knock on wood.
My own situation is that I am still dealing with that mobility issue with my right leg, which, all indications are, started with all my road trips, It seems that driving the Defender over tens of thousands of miles took a toll on my right abductor muscles. Fortunately, I am able to walk without a cane for the first time in two years, and so if I have to take the trip as I am, I will. I am also starting to clear the deck of the numerous things in my daily life that occupy my time so I can focus almost exclusively in planning and preparing for the trip.
ED
