One Snowbird, One Sunny Southern Californian, and Two Dogs

Saturday, December 23

The trip is underway - partially. Teddy and Lady and their driver are on the road in the van, heading south. I fly out of sunny Southern California on Monday and – if all goes according to plan – we rendezvous at the McGhee Tyson airport in Knoxville Tennessee on Monday evening, which also happens to be Christmas.

I know what a snowbird is – someone who leaves his or her home to escape the cold winter. But what do you call someone who leaves a place renowned for perfect climate to travel to another place renowned for less-than-perfect climate? Don't answer that! When John Steinbeck wrote Travels with Charley (also a dog, by the way), he left his warm California home in the Central Valley for three months to drive around chilly New England: “I’ve lived in good climate and it bores the hell out of me,” he said. “What good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?” Like Steinbeck, “I like weather rather than climate.” We’ll see how long that holds up – in a van with two dogs.

So, we figure this trip has five possible outcomes: 1) We set up camp in one beautiful spot after another, spend leisurely days canoeing, walking the dogs, sitting on warm beaches along the Gulf coast, eating oysters, drinking wine, and seeing the sights across the southern United States – open-ended – just going with the flow until we decide we’re done or 2) We camp for a while – then decide that we were overly ambitious - camping in a van with two dogs is just too cramped and smelly – and head back to Canada. Space trumps snow (bad word, I know) or 3) I (the American) politely request that he (the Canadian) deposit me at the nearest airport, acknowledging that camping in a van with two dogs sounded fun but in reality…airports are everywhere and my sanity is at risk or 4) He tires of making coffee every morning before walking the dogs and offers to split the cost of my last-minute airline ticket back to California, leaving him in peace with the van and the dogs or 5) He just wants out, in which case I take him to the nearest airport and continue solo with the van and the dogs back to California. We haven’t quite worked out the logistics of option five.

Meanwhile, I’m packing. Clothes and shoes for camping, canoeing, hiking, walking in the warm, cold, rain and snow. I’ve got my camera, binoculars, headphones, computer, phone, ipad.

I just checked the weather forecast for Monday: San Diego - 65; Knoxville - 38. Oy. I hope those dogs generate some heat.