More About the Plans

Aside from all the usual considerations given to planning a trip, we also need to make plans for things not usually taken into account for journeys of a much shorter duration.

Things like:

Paying bills

There are several options here…

We could contact each of the companies involved and make arrangements for early payment. Or we could switch all those accounts to an electronic draft… then switch them back later… or not. Or we could do it online. Or we could set up an account and have someone pay the bills for us. Or we could say the hell with it all and just pay the late fees when we get back… So many choices!... Paper or plastic?... Want fries with that?

We probably wont decide until the bitter end.


Making sure the cars will still be running when we return

Neighbors and friends will come into play here. There’s nothing worse than a car that won’t start except a car that won’t start after you’ve been away for a few months, and you could have done something about it beforehand. Cars that are cranked up, even if only for a few minutes a week, are more likely to keep running.

Lawn care

This will almost certainly be arranged with one of the neighbor’s kids. Sure… there are plenty of services available, but there’s nothing quite like employing a kid who needs a summer job. We will probably skip the usual planting of spring flowers to cut down on the amount of watering that will be needed. But some will… and the rain barrels should provide enough for that.


House care

It’s one thing to go away for a week or two and just leave the house buttoned up, secure in the knowledge that it will probably be just as you left it when you return. It’s quite another to go away for a few months… there are some things we don’t want to have to worry about, so we are planning to have them taken care of while we are gone.

Toilets that have been flushed from time to time tend to stay operative longer, ice makers that have churned out ice over a couple of months will probably keep churning it out. Plus, after all that globe trotting, a drink with fresh ice in it will likely be a very welcome sight. If the power goes out, it will be nice to have someone make sure it comes back on. We also want someone to check for leaks. Washing machine hoses NEVER split and drench the laundry room when you’re around to do something about it (learned that one from experience). We will definitely turn off the water at the washing machine’s source, but we prefer to leave the main supply to the house on (for running the toilets and such), and there are other places from which leaks can spring.

Again… neighbors/friends.

The newspapers you can’t stop

Don’t know if you get them… we do. The kind you have never subscribed to but they deliver it anyway. We’ll have one of the neighbor’s kids collect them for us, along with the mail. There are some limitations as to how long the USPS will hold your mail for you and, besides, it will be nice to have the collection of mail waiting for us upon our return, rather than having to wait for delivery to resume.

There are probably more considerations we will be making, but I can't think of them right now... If I do, you'll hear about it right here.