Quebec Ho!

Thursday, July 23

We're packed up and ready to go. The cat is eyeing us suspicously. He's seen this before. After months of ignoring it, all of a sudden we've been paying an undue amount of attention to the big rectangular box that serves as the roof for his litter box. It can mean only one thing. He is being left behind again. Who knows how long it will be before his regularly scheduled jaunts through the house in search of food and behind-the-ear scratching will be back?

We're out of the house by 7:07. Not bad since our target was 7:00. But, this does not account for the requisite returns to pick up things we forgot. First we go around Valencia Loop and have remembered two things by the time we get back to our house. Then, it is off to the races. Willy is on the new radio-come-entertainment center singing "On the Road Again". We get a mile out before Alex remembers his glasses. We turn around and head back. By the time we get home, Alex has found his glasses, but, no worries. On the way back we've remembered two more things we can't live without. This time, we leave for good.

Mary-Jeanine has been pestering me for a month telling me that the A/C in the van is not working and that I'd better get it fixed before we leave for a month of scalding weather in July/August. I look at her incredulously. She tells me that on a trip to Sanford, the only thing she could get out of the vents was a hot desert wind. I've been driving the van off and on for months and haven't noticed a problem. Yeah, it has trouble getting up to speed, but what do you expect when the van starts out near the melting point of steel?

Well, the A/C is struggling. It is blowing cold air, but not cold enough. When we hit Georgia the back vents have completely given up the ghost. The front of the van is kept cold by the "I told you so" thoughts coming out of Mary-Jeanine. She isn't saying it, but I know it is there. Finally, she spots a service department at a tired and worn out GM dealership in Tifton. She jumps at the chance. "Let's see if they can take a look at it." I've learned my lesson. "Ok.".

We go there, but the entire one man service department is apparently at lunch. So, we decide to press on. And then in apparent recognition of my penance, the A/C gods reach out and uncork whatever it was that was keeping the A/C from working. Frost comes out of the vents. Before long, the kids are begging me to break out the parkas. Redemption!