Roofers R Us

The question of whether we'd get one or two more gallons of roof goop for the final session of roof work was solved for us when we went over to the hardware store just after it opened this morning: they only had one gallon left. We bought it and went back to the house and Lisa kitted up for the final time, went up on the roof again, and spread that gallon of roof sealant ("It stinks!" she complained) as best she could with the long-handled roller. She could have used a longer handle, and there are pieces of the roof cover fabric that are not as well coated as she would have liked.

I took a lot of video, but have no time to edit it together into a short summary of what happened. However, if you want to see what the resulting patch looks like, click through the cut below.

( Pictures of the result )

In a few minutes, I'm shutting down the computer and packing everything away, with the hope of getting on the road by 1 PM bound for Central Point.

Pit Stop in Central Point

Because I got away from Mehama earlier than I expected and made excellent time, I found myself approaching Central Point (Medford) much sooner than I thought I would. At the Hugo Rest Area (no kidding) I called Holiday Inn to see if I might be able to get in to Yreka instead -- I could have pushed on ahead and been there in a couple of hours. Yreka had rooms, but for enough more than what I'm paying in Central Point that I decided to forgo the option and headed for Central Point instead, which is where I am now.

( Minor coincidence documented in photo behind the cut )

Settling in to the hotel, I was reminded of another good reason for stopping early tonight. Central Point has a hot tub and Yreka does not. After all of the work I've been doing this past week, a soak in the hot tub would be a nice thing. Besides, I hauled my swimsuit clear across the continent and never used it -- no time, even on the theoretical "tourism" day in Montreal -- and by golly, I'm going to get some use out of it.

Canada Post Comes Through, Sort Of

As I mentioned a few days ago, we mailed three boxes of our own stuff back to ourselves from Montreal, but they hadn't arrived as of Friday. I was resigned to Lisa having to re-mail them to me or possibly bring them down in October if she gets to attend SiliCon. This morning, while Lisa and I were working on the roof, the owner of the hardware store in which Mehama's post office is located came looking for us -- it's that kind of a small town, and Lisa's father's property is right over the back fence from his store; besides, we're good customers. He wanted to let us know that the boxes had arrived.

After we finished the yard work and I went to get a shower, Lisa went and collected the boxes. Well, two of them. One of them hasn't arrived yet, even though we mailed all three of them at the same time. Fortunately, the two that did arrive were the ones that mostly had my stuff in them, and the one that's stuck in transit somewhere is mostly Lisa's stuff. She got her things out of the two boxes and put them in the back of my van.

My Hotel Money's Worth

As I haven't been traveling as much this year as last, it's unlikely that I'll be able to retain Platinum status in Priority Club (I might hold Gold), so all I can do is enjoy the upgrades this year. The Central Point property upgraded me to a mini-suite, so I spread out a bit. For dinner, I went over to the grocery store on the other side of the freeway, brought back some chicken and a microwave side dish, and ate dinner while watching tennis on ESPN2. After dinner, as twilight faded away, I went out back of the hotel to walk the northern half-mile of the Bear Creek Trail -- the hotel is near the northern end at milepost 25.5 on the trail. Circling back to the hotel, I put in even more steps on the treadmill, then changed into my swimsuit and sat in the hot tub for 15 minutes and let the jets pound away at my sore muscles. (I haven't been working as hard as poor Lisa climbing all over That Darn Roof, but I still have been working.)

For the first time in quite a while, I feel very much at ease, and I expect to sleep well tonight. Pity I still have over 500 miles to drive tomorrow.