The usual flurry of activity that precedes a trip is not without it's pitfalls, especially when the deadline for filing income taxes (federal and two states) looms just ahead of departure. Poor Ol' Abner made his plans to have taxes all done early this year. He actually thought we might get a little of our hard earned tax dollars back, but that didn't happen. Nevertheless, he hit one hurdle after another and the aformentioned documents were just completed today, just one day ahead of the drop dead, it's all over date. They are in the mail and his desktop looks cleaner than it has in this entire year...yeah, he started in January to "get ahead of the game on taxes for a change".

The next ten days will be spent either out of place or enroute to another destination. A trip to South Texas where the bluebonnets should be in bloom will give him a chance to finally do a little motorcycle riding with Son. Ol' Abner bought it last year and loaded it on a trailer, traveled 12 hours only to pull something in his elbow that made it impossible to manipulate the clutch safely. We loaded the bike back on the trailer and pulled it to Corpus Christi, back through Austin to the suburb on the northside, then on to Arkansas with a net mileage of less than 50 miles turned on the motorcycle odometer. The bike wintered under the deck here with only a couple of start ups of the engine to ride fifteen or so feet to relocate it for sweeping purposes. Now he's preparing the trailer for a reload and restart for the twelve hour drive to the northside suburb of the Texas capital.

Son will celebrate a milestone birthday later this month, so of course we will want to be there to remind him what it looks like to be double his age with an up close and personal view of the combined genes he inherited. Maybe he will vow to take better care of the body that will have to serve him through all those later years. Probably not, but a mother can always hope.

Oh the anticipation of it all! I know we will have fun once we arrive. A motorcycle ride is planned to a Central Texas rally point for and overnight campout and crawfish boil. Daughter-In-Law will have all details planned and perfectly organized (she takes much better care of Son than his mother ever did). We enjoy their circle of friends and always feel welcomed and included in the fun.

After the weekend, our journey will lead us North to the Metroplex, a couple of days on the Fort Worth side then over to the northside of Dallas. We will see a Brother in Law through a surgery, attend to Mother-in-Law's prepaid funeral plans (now that she has finally accepted that some day she might, in fact, die), then celebrate middle grandchild's birthday as the grande finale. Actually that was the original purpose of this trip. Seems we have missed her last three birthdays while we were off to other parts unknown. As we made sure a trip was planned for her special day, it just somehow became convenient to include the rest of these activities out in front of her occasion.

Now the dog must be boarded, refrigerator cleaned out, laundry finished and freshly cleaned clothes packed, sundries sorted and reloaded, mail held, newspaper stopped and neighbors notified. Ahh, but Uncle Sam has been duely reconciled and paid...Ouch! Now if we can just find the keys to the motorcycle!