BRR. It’s been very cold and damp here the last few days. I’m trying not to heat too much so I can acclimatise, but it’s hard. I’m dreaming of palm trees and beer on the beach!

My neighbour Caroline asked me to come over yesterday afternoon to see her latest purchase for the kitchen and we had a nice chat by their wood stove (lovely) while sipping black current tea (yum!). She then presented me with a gift that showed an extraordinary amount of sympathy to how I feel about the current weather:

Yes, that’s a union suit, complete with rear access flap. 😀 Every time I look at it, I burst out laughing. I do have to say it makes for wonderful pajamas! I usually wear pants and a top to bed, but then the top rides up and my lower back gets cold. With a union suit, you remain covered no matter how much you wiggle in bed. I was pretty comfy until about 6:00 this morning, when I had to turn on the mattress warmer.

We should have a warmish afternoon tomorrow, so that will be my chance to give the truck bed a good wash and then I can start working on filling it. I’ve started doing a bit of packing, but with nights heading below freezing, everything is staying piled into the RV. It’s getting pretty cramped in here!

The payment I wasn’t expecting to be here before leaving landed on Friday (!), so now I can leave with complete peace of mind and not be on such a strict budget for hotels. I am going to have to average 775KM per day between here and Nogales to get there by the Monday afternoon, so I’ll be glad to not have to hunt too hard for the cheapest motels along my route.

It’s going to be a very fast trip to the Mexican border! I am going to be somewhere in Wyoming the Friday night (probably Gillette, unless the border crossing goes exceptionally well and I decide to push on to Cheyenne). Then, I’ll probably be in Walsenburg, Colorado, Saturday night. After, things get fuzzy because I took a heck of a lot of my time between Nogales and Walsenburg in the spring! I’ll probably be somewhere around Deming, New Mexico, on Sunday night. Monday, I’ll hit the Walmart in Benson for as much of my shopping as I need, then get to Nogales by mid-afternoon.

Work in Arizona is going to be brutal as I will be starting work at 5:00 a.m.! I am considering the possibility of staying in New Mexico to work, getting the bulk of my errands done there, and then doing a run to Nogales on the Thursday afternoon after work. I’d finish at 2:00 and could be in Nogales by 6PMish. I’ll see how I feel as I get closer. The weather will play a role in my decision as will whether or not I can buy some pesos wherever I land in New Mexico.

It’s really good to have a firm departure date as it is making it so much easier to work through my massive to-do and packing list. The bulk of it will likely be done when I get off work the day before I leave, but there are a few things I can do ahead of time. I’m playing a lot of the ‘what are the odds I’ll need this before I leave?’ game and putting things into totes only to pull them out again! But I think it’s safe now to put away all the summery clothes. 🙁