Winter Over, Time to Head West

 

There's Indy, sitting in the sun, looking for the Alligator that lives in the pond at the local library.  Well, I think she was looking more at the Birds, which were out of the picture to the right...but DAD always has a vigilant watch while there for that Alligator.  Sometimes I see it, sometimes I don't.  I have never seen it out of the water.  A funny thing happened about a week after this picture was taken.  

Out on the lawn was this HUGE turtle with a long neck, like the one seen in this picture.  Indy looked at it...the stare down lasted about 3 seconds...then Indy took a step toward the turtle, and BAMMM...the turtle ran down to the pond.  Indy did not bark, did not try to follow...I only wish I had it on camera.  It is called a Florida Softshell Turtle, found mainly in Florida, but also in neighboring states.

As we prepare to head to California, there are certain things that need to get done.  One of which is our taxes.  Well, that dirty deed is done as I mail the IRS our 2024 tax forms, and mail our 1st Quarter taxes.  Never a fun thing to do, but someone has to do it, and it is done.  I have done my own taxes since 1973 when I filed my 1972 taxes...of course, Dad helped.  In 1974, I did my 1973 taxes and Dad looked it over and gave me the big OK.  I have pretty much done my taxes ever since then, except for a few years after marrying Marcia when her accountant did them.  There were some write-offs back then that spanned over six years or so, so Tom did our taxes until those write-offs were finished.  The year they stopped, he did the taxes, but so did I.  When we agreed that I could handle them, and I have done them ever since.  Of course, our taxes are very simple so I just have to triple check all the math before signing and sending them off.

This (above) is most likely the general route that we will be taking.  "IF" the weather allows, we will be going through Salt Lake City.  I have a route going this southern route, and I have another taking us up to I-70...but my thoughts are that it will be too cold at night to go that route.  And as we get close to SLC, like in New Mexico, the weather will tell us to head up that way, or to stay south on I-40 and skip SLC, going on in to Sacramento.  Having lived in Utah, I know that Utah Snow Storms can dump a lot of snow, and can do so into April, even May.

So Friday we head north, will be gone for about 4 months.  Will try and keep the blog updated each day, after all, I want to test out our newest purchase...The T-Mobile AWAY™ – Unlimited Plan.  Costly at $160 per month, but it can be put on vacation twice a year for up to a total of six months, costing $10 per month.  That brings the cost down to $85 per month.  As for speed, tests here at home had speeds of over 250 Mbps.  Of course, speeds will vary while on the road, but should be better than our 4G Verizon Aircard gets.  Draw back is that we will have to run the inverter to power up the 5G Gateway TMO-G4SE device (shown above).  When we get back, I am dumping Frontier (100 Mbps at $115 per month) and get the T-Mobile All-In Home Internet for $70.  Overall, when we dump Verizon phones for Consumer Cellular, we will have faster service at about the same price.