prepping…

I think that the next week is going to be a very busy one for us!
We have so many things that we want to do/get done before we leave; most of them are tied to our going to Oklahoma.

Today Vaughn, Eli, and Jake worked on the remodel job they have been doing for a couple of weeks.  Vaughn is committed to finishing the job for the homeowners.  They have been working until late in the evening (the owners are usually gone with activities) trying to move things along.   Today they got a rare afternoon off as they had to wait for the floor tiles to set up, so they ran some ‘fun’ errands’ to get ready for their first 3-gun shoot tomorrow.

Beth and I ran into town early to run an errand and do laundry.  Afterwards, we spent some time with Vaughn’s mom; she is pretty sad that we are leaving again, but she knows we will be back.  🙂
Later in the afternoon, I stopped and talked to the manager of a western store here in town to ask permission to use his parking lot as a donation drop next Wednesday night.  Since we are already heading down to Oklahoma, we want to take a load of supplies – a little ‘love from Montana’ if you will.
Vaughn has a 14 foot enclosed job trailer that we will strip of tools early next week.  We are hoping that the community around here will rally and fill it full of supplies that the tornado victims and the volunteers will need.  Since we are already driving down, we will just pull it with our 15 pass. van.  I suppose that it will probably have a negative effect on my already poor 13mpg fuel mileage, but it’ll be worth it.
So, for you peeps around Helena, we will be at Murdoch’s next Wed. night from 5 to 8.  Right now the posted-online desired-donations lists include:  work gloves, contractor trash bags, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, unopened packages of individually wrapped snacks (granola and energy bars, cookies…), hand towels (paper towels?), personal hygiene items (toiletries, shampoo, toothpaste, body wash, deodorant…), diapers and baby wipes, non-perishable foods, sports powder packets…  *we are trying to stay away from bottled water and Gatorade due to the weight – not sure that my van could haul a 14 foot trailer filled with water, at 8.8 lbs a gallon, for 1458 miles! LOL!  At the same time,  I’m realizing that trying to anticipate what supplies will be needed when we get there is next to impossible!

It should be an interesting next week with Vaughn and the boys trying to finish up this remodel, and the rest of us trying to get this show ready to go on the road again!