John had a difficult time sleeping last night after watching the election results, so after tossing and turning, he got up around 4:30 and decided we might as well hit the road.  We both got up, showered, and then packed the last couple of items.  After giving the house another walk through, we hit the road south.

We reached the Fargo area by 7:30 and stopped at BK for some breakfast.  It was then a straight shot down I-29 to St. Joseph, MO where we spent the night.  The weather and roads were good all the way.  Tomorrow will be another long day of driving.

Bright and early this morning, John and I headed up to Sara's for haircuts.  We sat and visited with Matt and Sara for a while and then headed over to the local town hall to vote.  There was a line, but it moved along pretty quickly, so it didn't take us to long to vote and head back home.  

We had just about everything packed and ready to go, so after lunch John got the Honda all loaded.  The only things left to put in are the laptop and travel bag.  The house is all straightened up, laundry done and put away, and the fridge emptied.  We took a few leftover food items up to Matt's this evening when we stopped up to say good bye to the grandkids.  We hope to get on the road by 6 a.m. so we'll be heading off to bed before we know the results of the election. 

John and I were up early and left the house by 7:30 am. to head off to Bemidji once again for the last of our scheduled visits to the doctor.  I was about 10 minutes early for my appointment and pretty much went right in to see the doctor.  Got my prescriptions renewed, received a  flu shot, had blood drawn, and an x-ray of my lower back.  I should be good to go for another six months until my next visit.

From the clinic John and I headed off to the eye doctor where he had another test.  I think this was to establish a baseline for keeping  a lookout for Glaucoma--it only took about 5 minutes--and we were off again.   

We were both hungry by now, so we stopped at, no, not BK, but Perkins for a leisurely brunch.  Our next stop was the bank to make a final deposit and then, lastly,  we stopped at Menards for a new furnace filter and a couple of gas cans.  

Joanne came to the shop this afternoon to help stain and brought the kids along.  John and I spent some time visiting with them and then got our goodbye hugs.  For supper, John ran into town and picked up a pizza.  The fridge is pretty bare right now.  

It felt good to have it a little lighter when we got up this morning, of course, the trade off was that it got darker earlier in the evening. The amount of daylight is decreasing each day and by the end of December, our days will be pretty short. We had our normal Sunday morning and, after church, ate lunch and watched the NFL games.  I  spent some time getting several of the electronics ready to pack--gathering chargers and different cables.  Tomorrow we're up early to head out for the final doctors' appointments.

We had a couple of inches of snow overnight, but by late afternoon it was just about gone since the temps reached the upper 30's.  

It was a pretty quiet day for us--not much to do since we are winterized outside and most of the major packing is done. There are still several little things to gather like chargers and camera cords, but they will have to wait just a little longer to get packed. Since John wasn't busy today, he took care of making both breakfast and lunch in between working on the computer and watching football.  I did some light cleaning today--I like to leave the house in some semblance of order when we leave.  That was our day--not much happening until we get to Texas.

   
I ran outside real quick this morning and snapped this photo from the front deck looking between the bushes. 

It was cold and overcast all day with temps only reaching the mid 30's--a good day to just hang out around the house.  Suppose to get a little snow overnight.  This weather sure makes us anxious to leave next week.

John took care of a couple household chores today.  He cleaned the inside of the Honda and all the ceiling fans in the house.  After such a dry summer, the fans were pretty dusty.  I did a couple of small loads of laundry and paid a few bills so I won't have to think about the finances until after we get settled down south.   I also spent some time on the computer booking hotel rooms for the trip--we hope to make St. Joseph, MO the first night, and Wichita Falls the second. We found a few more items to pack, but right now we are in good shape to leave.  There are always a few little last minute things to take care of like turning off the internet, phone, and TV.  

This evening we just relaxed watching some TV and reading.  Right now we are just marking time until next Wednesday when we hit the road. 

John had to be in Bemidji by 9:45 a.m. for his annual eye exam.  He was pretty certain his eyes would be dilated so he asked me to go along to drive after he was finished.  The doctor found some scratches on the lenses of his glasses and told John they were still under warranty.  They are going to order news ones for him, but they won't be in until after we head south.  If we waited until April to order them, the warranty would be void by that time.  So they will order the new lenses and we will have them installed in his frames when we get back.  John had a good report, but has to have another eye test on Monday.  He couldn't have it today for insurance purposes.  I don't even begin to understand what that is all about, but he will return Monday get the eye test.

JD needed a new battery for his pickup truck, so after leaving the eye doctor we headed to LM Fleet where we found the battery he needed.  By then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at BK for a quick bite before leaving town.

We returned home via Matt's place so John could pick up his 22 rifle that Matt had borrowed.  We ended up visiting for a while with the guys talking about the opening of deer hunting season this Saturday morning.  John decided he wasn't hunting this year, but Matt and Sam are all set to go.

This afternoon I did a little light cleaning while John got JD's truck running again.  We are pretty well packed for the trip south--just have those few items you can't put in until the last minute.  With the temps in the 30's and snow in the forecast, we are ready to head to Texas.