Back to school

Wednesday was the first day of school here, and it's hard to believe that Gina is now a freshman at West Seattle High School and Fran's in 8th grade -- top of the heap -- at Madison Middle School.

Ten minutes ago they were tiny munchkins, heading off for their first day at Schmitz Park Elementary. I used to love to take their picture out on the sidewalk in front of the house on the first morning of the school year, repeating one of Mom's traditions from back in the day. Michelle asked me if I planned to go do that this year. C'mon man, they go to school at like 7 in the morning now. Don't be ridick. Besdies, the girls love nothing more than taking their own photos, so I asked them last weekend to remember to send me a pic.

As it turned out, I don't think I rolled out of bed on Wednesday much before the end of the school day, never mind the beginning. In the afternoon I drove by their house to drop off a birthday card for Greta -- the girls' excellent mom, my generous and cool ex -- and Franny had just gotten home.

"Gina just went to Husky Deli with her big high school friends," she said, sort of mock-pouty. "She didn't even take me."

Well poopy to her, I said, let's just drive up there and get our own ice cream cone.

Which we did, and we ran into the Bean and a bunch of her friends -- Maddy, Katy, Nikita, a couple others -- hanging out and being high schoolers. A couple of Fran's friends wandered by too. It was a cool scene, one I'll remember whenever they grumble about hating school. It's not true, or at least not after the final bell.

Both girls told me the same story about their camera being out of juice in the morning and promised to send me a photo later, which I'm still waiting to receive. I wish I'd thought to snap a quick phone pic of the Husky Deli gathering.

Their summary reviews of the first day:

Gina: I kept getting turned around. I didn't get a locker. We got to go off-campus for lunch, so we walked over to Hiawatha Park. World history might be cool. The seniors are really big, like adults.

Franny: Most of my friends are on the other team (which means different classes and a different lunch schedule). I couldn't get my locker open without my friend's help. The little kids (6th graders) look really little.

Trip math

We're planning on a 6 month trip, give or take. That's 180 days. Guestimating an average of $80 per night for hotel, including taxes and etc, that comes out to $14,400. Mark made me do the math twice because "that sounds too high."

Casinos generally let suckers - er - gamblers overnight for free in their parking lots, so if we got a mobile "home" of some sort, we could save big $$$ on hotel rooms. Then again, the 12-15 mpg on a camper (vs 30 mpg or so on the Jetta) doubles the price we pay on gas.

Say we drive 10,000 round trip in six months. That's 333 gallons in the Jetta, vs 769 gallons in the motor home. The gas in the Jetta will cost $965, versus $2,230, based on an average cost of $2.90 per gallon.

Then, there's dumping fees. Read: the cost of ditching the poo. Probably another $50 for the trip. Then there's a stay in hotel probably once every seven days for a shower. That's $2,057 for 25 hotel stays.

So: Car trip= $14,400+$966: $15,366
Camper trip= $4,000 (camper cost) + $2,230 + $2,057: $8,287.
Of course, we'd have to buy a big ass truck to haul a camper, which will cost also. PLUS: $12,000 for a truck (with trade in) brings us to $20,287.

Hmm.


Or we could tow a small trailer with the car we've got. We could buy one for $2,000, and could probably count on an MPG of 20 in that case. We'd probably stay in hotels twice as often with such a small living space. So: $2,057 x 2 (hotel) + $1,450 (gas) + $2000 (rig)= $7,564. I'm guessing actually that it will be pretty hard to stay in a little trailer 5 days a week. More likely we hotel it three nights a week. If we do, the total comes up to $9,621.

Plus food.

Which way to go? Mark?

Travels With Charley

We started reading Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, and it made me realize, hey, Steinbeck's kind of funny. Also, hey, I'm ready to go on this road trip. Let's go!

Here's a couple of fine steeds we're reviewing on Craigslist as potential home away from home candidates:



The 24' Born Free President. 9500 smackers



A 1985 Minnie Winnie. $7000



A 1976 Winnabago. $2500



A 1976 American Clipper $5500. Pricy for something that old.

A 1977 Dodge Open Road Bulletproof! Could come in handy in a casino parking lot. $3800



The Bigfoot 9.5' Camper, $4900


Let the Vetting Begin. This here Bigfoot is OUT of the running. Because truck beds' width has changed, this puppy no longer fits in trucks less than a decade old. Thanks for playing!

However, the above American Clipper, "For many owners it is the motorhome of choice. The outside of the coach is made out of 5 monolithic pieces of fiberglass and with the proper maintenance these 24+ year old motorhomes can easily last another 20 years!"

Not only that, but the Clipper was invented by a guy named Irv Perch. Hard to beat that. According to a website devoted to the Clipper, "The American Clipper was built by the American Clipper Corporation in Morgan Hill, California between 1974 and 1980. Almost five thousand 21' American Clippers and twenty-five 24' American Clippers were built before the company went out of business in 1980. The American Clipper Corporation was founded and ran by Irv Perch, a man with a vision. ... Mr. Perch was recently inducted in the RV Hall of Fame. Currently, most American Clippers are still in great shape and continue to cruise the American, Canadian and Mexican highways.

A new candidate: another camper. $3,600


A simple and cheap camper with no bathroom, looks like. Will fit any small truck, so the ad says. $2500


Yet another nice camper, with a bathroom. This is the route Steinbeck went. I can't help wanting to be a little like him ...





Also, a 2004 Lance for $8500, an '89 Lance for $3,300, a 1998 shortie Lance for $5,900, a 1990 Lance for $5,600, a sweet 1982 Lance for $1,200. Now we're talking.

Becoming Franny

We had a nice long weekend celebrating Franny's birthday. She made most of our entertainment choices including, as Michelle noted, seeing "Becoming Jane" at the Meridian 16 downtown. That was the fourth viewing for Frank and Gina. One was plenty for M&M.

One surprise: Fran announced her yearlong experiment with being a vegetarian is over. Just in time for a delicious barbecue on Sunday. Grilled tofu just isn't the same. Besides, for a vegetarian, I noticed, Franny didn't consume a lot of actual vegetables, just avoided meat. To my eye she seemed more like a donutarian. Of course I tried to support her in that whenever I could. That's just good parenting.

On Sunday night we had a family poker game, and fittingly Franny kicked all our butts. My favorite hand was when Michelle made an enticingly small bet into a biggish pot, and with a look that I knew meant she had a monster hand. I folded, Gina folded, and Franny calmly called. Michelle turned over a full house, all proud of herself. Franny displayed her hand: four queens. Yes!

I think Team Mark sent the wrong player to Las Vegas this summer. But if there's ever a World Series of Sorry! you can deal me back in. I managed to keep my winning streak intact in our weekly rematch of everyone's favorite childhood board game.

Labor Day Weekend

Here's the highlights:

18 baby guppies born! Let me know if you're in the market for a guppy.

The girls are half done painting their dressing room. They went with gray. Pix next week.

I installed a light! New skill. Kewl.

We bought a fridge. The other one doesn't make ice any more. No good.

What we're watching:
Saw Becoming Jane. The girls love it. Moi, not so much. Half a glioma.
Watching now: 8 Mile. Pretty good. Stupid VH1 edited out all the curse words. Stupido.