2009 West Coast Round Trip Father-Son Roadtrip: Prep work

After dinner tonight I spent some time in the barn playing “Ultimate Tetris”, that is trying to make the most of the Jaguar’s miniscule boot. Normally I have a tools & spares kit that I just toss into an old leather vintage suitcase and put it in the boot. This works great for weekend rallies such as the one my father & I did a few weeks ago, but for a ~10 day drive where we’ll need as much luggage space as possible it just won’t cut it. Takes up too much precious boot space. Tonight I unpacked the big tool & spares suitcase and distributed it between the spare tire well under the boot and a smaller vintage suitcase I have. The latter will ride on the luggage rack, along with our tent (we’ll be camping occasionally) and a few other items. The boot will hold our actual luggage.

I was planning to leave on Tuesday of next week. This date was chosen to give me time to wrap up a big project I’ve been working on at work. This project has taken up a lot of my time for more than a year as it involves a huge change in one of our most important systems and services. My role has been research and vendor negotiations, as well as planning. I managed to get my part wrapped up earlier this week, so I’m thinking of moving my road trip schedule up a few days and leaving on Sunday. We could tag along with the Seattle Jaguar Club’s Mt. Rainier Tour to start the day, and then head to Portland and try to meet up with the Reyns’ who are there for the vintage races. We’ll shoot for visiting the Evergreen Air Museum next, likely Monday morning. Then south. Stay tuned for more!