The Plan. No, another plan.

Well, after running the numbers three ways for getting to MN to visit my brother and SIL, I think I've settled on flying. Since we've got $125 vouchers from Christmas, I can apply those and it's more reasonable. The van is a true guzzler (in my book) with gas mileage at about 17 mpg. Take a couple miles off for using the A/C if it, theoretically, were to work and it's about $450 for gas (premium, thanks) to get there and back. 

Getting there the first way was to drive the van and camp outside of Omaha. Eighteen hours of driving over two days, and of course, the same return trip home. With the money I'd save on gas, it was just about the same cost  for the second way: rent a small car and stay in a hotel.

Here's the thing, though. I have come to the realization that four long days of driving over eight days does not a vacation make. I'm trying to squeeze a lot into eight days, and it's simply not worth it. The journey to get there and back would be mostly something to endure. Now, if I had a solid two weeks to do the trip, with the benefit of A/C, that would be a different story.

So we're going to fly. I'm going to call the kennel first thing tomorrow and see if they've got room for Sally. There's also someone from the dog park that might be able to take her for that time. I don't think Sal would really mind either way.

It ends up being about an extra $200 to fly when I considered the expenses of driving, not including my time or mental energy. So, while I was looking forward to some contemplative time on the road, it'll have to be to and from the airport. Is my time, and the convenience of stepping on a plane and just getting there worth something? Yup, about $200.

Logistics. Now I'll need to adjust Mr W's camp schedule so he's around two partial weeks instead of one week on and one off. I'll just work for the two days that I was going to be driving and get paid for that time. I'm thankful my work situation (dwindling as it is) is flexible in that regard.

Speaking of work, I got another fed application in yesterday. It was so involved, I must have spent 30 hours on it easy. It was partly my fault, as I read the "write a narrative about how your experience matches the specialized experience required for this position" as writing several paragraphs under each of the five kinds of specialized experiences. What they really wanted was to divide it by job, not the kind of specialized experience, so I had to edit and cut and paste. The nice thing was that when I submitted, it checked for errors (three kinds, even) and found none. So I've sent that one off into the ether, and will hope for the best while thinking that I did my best.

So today, there's no job search stuff to do, and the dating thing is sort of waiting for us both to get done with the stuff we've got going on these first couple of weeks of July. So, no dating stuff to fret over today either. Mr W and I will see fireworks tonight at City Park, and try to arrange for him to play with a buddy for a while. I'll tidy up the house, check on my garden and it's therefore shaping up to be a good day.