Roadtrip?

Okay, so I know that there's all this stuff that needs to be said, and I know that there's all this stuff that needs to be done. There's still several boxes of books that need to be sorted. And of the books that have been sorted there's still a couple that need to be taken to Half Price Books, and there's clothes and other stuff that needs to be taken to Goodwill. Everything is still a mess, and outside there's a lot of work to be done, and I've not even gone through a forth of the dirt I set aside to make clay from. There's just a ton of stuff to do.

And then he comes home and says-- "How would you like to spend a few weeks in Phoenix?"

So all of that other stuff temporarily goes out of my head while I think about whether or not he might be offered an assignment in Phoenix, and if he does get offered the assignment should he accept it, and if he accepts an assignment in Phoenix do I want to go with him? And then there's stuff like how much would it cost us just to go to Phoenix? And how much of the cost would be reimbursed since the current per mile bit does not actually cover the cost of gas anymore, and they only pay $50 plus tax per night for motel rooms.

And there's not much point in taking a trip all the way to Phoenix if we're not going to do some tourist stuff. What would we really want to do and how much would that cost?

See how quickly I really got wrapped up in all this?

I don't think that we are going, even if the assignment is offered. He doesn't know off the top of his head how much in the hole he is general speaking because of the 20 cents per mile bit verses the now $4 per gallon of gas. So having no numbers to work with, we can't plug in the miles between here and Phoenix to make a guess at how much we'd be out. He didn't know off the top of his head, and after I asked he couldn't do any math to figure it out either. Maybe he'll watch the numbers on the way to work today and figure up something, but probably not.

Then there's the possibility that he'll be offered this assignment and assignment only, cause there won't be any work here for him to do. We really need to figure this out. Would a trip to Phoenix actually cost us more money than staying home and not working?

And then if he does go and I decide that I do want to go with him, should I just let the plants die or should I try to do something about that? Two weeks or more is a long time to be gone, and no one I could ask to watch the place would remember to do things properly without constant annoying reminders. If my pepper and tomato plants were doing better, I could ask a neighbor from down the street to water the plants in return for peppers and tomatoes. But the pepper plants aren't producing that much and the tomatoes aren't producing at all. Not much incentive there. Still, I'd rather that they not die, because they'll probably be nice healthy plants again in the fall.

And then there's decisions about what to pack. Since I'd mostly be stuck in a motel room, I'd like to take my knitting machine. Taking it on a drive that lasts a couple of hours is one thing, and having the thing taking up space for two days is something else. We might want something more practical, like the travel frig and an extra suitcase.

When you've been used to traveling a lot, you start thinking funny things. When you've been away for a long time you look forward to going home, but after you've been home for a couple of months you start getting bored. Wouldn't a change of scenery be nice? Wouldn't a few nights at a nice motel room make me feel better? I could have some quality time with the knitting machine and some cable TV, and not have to worry about whatever chore the knitting time is taking me away from. There are no chores to speak of in motel rooms. And they often come with air conditioning units that are more in working order than ours.

So, yes, a few days away right about now might be pleasant, but a few weeks? And in Phoenix in July or August? We had a pleasant enough time in Phoenix about eight years ago, but that was in February. And it was still pretty warm there in February. What the hell is it like in August?

So I don't really think we're going to Phoenix for a couple of weeks, but it would have been nice to get out of here for a while.