Two days before ...

I get an email from John with a scan of a notorized document from the current bank that used to be the old bank that the Daytona loan was originally take out with in 1989.  The document explains that the current bank used to be a previous bank which was in turn a previous bank and that records indicate that there is no lien existing against the Daytona.

John even says that the woman he talked to at the bank is the same woman that did his original loan 25 years ago and that she still remembered him.  I thank John and forward this to my friend at the bank.  He, again, takes a copy of the document to the DMV on his lunch break and returns with good news and bad news.

The good news - the document will be accepted for application for title in MS.

The bad news - the DMV wants the original document, not a scan or copy sent via email.

John says that the bank faxed him the copy of the document and that they are sending him the actual document in the mail.  It should arrive either Friday or Saturday.

I tell John that I'll still be coming for the Daytona on Saturday.

My wife has a doctor's appointment in Hattiesburg so she drops my daughters off at my parents.  When she comes back to pick them up, my mother has let slip that she is keeping the girls this weekend so that Cindy and I can go out of town.

I double check my list of supplies and items I'll need to take with me.

Everything is almost ready.

That night, in bed, my wife asks me if we are going anywhere this weekend.  Knowing that she now knows ... something ... I play it off and tell her that I'm not going anywhere this weekend and that I have plenty of housework and yardwork and work on my cars to do to keep me busy.  She kind of accepts that answer but I can tell that my mother may have let slip something that I told her was going to be a surprise.

I get the feeling that my wife doesn't buy my explanation but she plays along with it well enough that I don't have to get defensive and if she knows that we are going out of town this weekend she doesn't know why.  If I can keep that fact hidden from her until we are well on our way on the trip my chances of survival rise astronomically.