Beloved Famwag on the Road

Somewhere around 200,000 miles, it became a love affair. “We love you sooo much Fam Wag” became a commonn refrain.  We’re convinced that the only reason she is still running is because she wants to see the country one last time before she retires for good.  So I imagine her soaking up the scenery, taking selfies when we stop to get gas and truly enjoying the kids’ laughter as we weave through the country.

While we separated stuff into keep, sell and recycle/dump piles, Famwag got some upgrades and repairs of her own.

She got a new power inverter wired directly to the battery so we can charge GPS, phones and tablets on the long legs of the trip. She also got new brake pads, a rear brake cylinder, front struts, rear shocks, a tensioner pulley, serpentine belt, fuel pump and filter, a clean EGR valve and tube, and freshly-recharged A/C. And since she has over 210K miles now, she opted for a fuel system cleaner (think juice detox) and cylinder lubricant (to ease those crow’s feet). Phew!

She’s held up perfectly through the first several legs of the journey.  The heat of the Arizona desert couldn’t slow her down.  The 6% grade for 16 miles into the mountains of New Mexico was just a chance for her to slow down and enjoy the scenery.  She got a well-deserved bath from the morning Cloudcroft rains.  And damn did she enjoy the few days of family reunioning! Today I gave her the last oil change of the trip in honor of the vast oil fields of west Texas. She just can’t wait to get back on the road again…

Packing for the move to Budapest

What to bring, what to bring?  Oh sh*t, what to bring?  And what to put it in??

Since we’ve decided to bake in a month of plane, train and automobile travel before we actually arrive in Budapest, we can truly only take what we can carry (or roll).  The airlines will let us check-in two bags each, which makes 8 total with 4 carry-ons and 4 personal items.  Maggie can carry her 5-pound Dora the Explorer rolling backpack pretty well, so we’re golden on her personal item!  The rest of us get to lug the rest of her bags, which contain the sum total of her collected dresses and shoes and toys.  Ian can just cover his own bags, so it’s really Amanda and I.  And thus the dilemma.

These are the backpacks Amanda and I took when we moved to Prague back in 1996.  Same when we moved to Puerto Rico.  So shouldn’t we use them again??  It feels right, but they just don’t hold the same volume as the new suitcases made perfectly for the latest airline regulations.  And we could really use the space since we’re taking extra bodies this time around…

[Editor’s note: Amanda read over my shoulder to this point and asked, “Will more stuff really make that much of a difference?”  Let us return to that shortly.]

No, more stuff won’t matter that much.  We’ve already decided to drop the money to ship over all of the pictures and artwork on our walls that can be handily removed from their frames.  Beyond that, a few week’s worth of clothes, a laptop and plenty of activities for the kids is all I need to pack.

So hell yeah, let’s take the backpacks!!  Enjoy the purge.  Embrace the simplicity.