In the years past, my beloved wife was the treasurer for the CWL and spent hours on excel spreadsheets.

Now part of this was my fault as I set her up when she became treasurer with basic accounting spreadsheets (which I had learned when I took my MBA 40 years ago)  Revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities.  Great set of excel screens where when she put in an entry for $10 to purchase retirement pins in one field it automatically connected to register as an asset.  After that the spreadsheets became much more detailed. I had created a spreadsheet prima donna.  She had a dozen spreadsheets for cash flow and the advances to every woman at the yearly bazaar (the little old ladies trying to sell their dollies or tarts) etc.  I became concerned that our hard drive did not have enough capacity for her vast list of spreadsheets.

I would come up from the shop to find Pat struggling to find the missing 5 cents in her massive interconnections.

Anyway Pat finally finally gave up the treasurer job (only because their constitution required it.)  Her replacement did not even  own a computer and had no idea how to do a spreadsheet.  Pat was hyperventilating at times.

Watching Pat give up her spreadsheet life was like watching a Cocaine addict try to quit cold.  I would tell her to stop doing a spreadsheet for the new treasurer, but she would go just-just-just one more sheet and I will give it up.

She would do a spreadsheet on our shopping list with various columns for fat and calorie content.

Finally the new treasurer had to kind of take over.  Granted she does all the cash flow with a comment “well we seem to have some money” but Pat, with some deep breathing, is learning to get past her life on the computer…. until now.

For some time Pat and I have been thinking of a drive around the interior of BC in Little Red.  Potentially a future Miata club run that we could lead.

When we first joined the Island Miata club one member lead about 7 cars on a run around BC.  Stopping every night at a different hotel and on roads that were off the beat.  Loved it, but the leader sold his Miata and moved to a BMW Z4 because he thought our club was too tame.  Since then no one has thought of this run.

As I said Pat and I have discussed exploring a potential run that would start in Squamish north through Whistler and eventually lead south through Nelson and down to Winthrop (in Washington State) and return.

Now to me, this was an intellectual exercise.  I was kind of thinking of doing a run (as my buddy Wayne Rolfe would do it) start off in Little Red in Squamish and see where the roads take you.

This afternoon as I came up from the shop, Pat sat me down to look at the work she had been doing on the internet over the last week.  She had a spreadsheet that had all the optional roads we could take, the optional side activities, the variety of motels and THEIR RATES, for every location and a column that had the driving distance for each route.

I was stunned.  Open the map of BC and there was every route we could take, plus all the activities and wherever we could stop with  the options of motels and as I said the rates.  What could I do but just lean back and say PAT you are the Lady.

Granted my original attitude was that we take off and if we could not find a motel we just have pulled over and slept in a small tent but with no sleeping bags or mattress,(we will be limited in our trunk space) I can see why Pat did not like this.

We now have a detailed week of activities in mid August.  I love this lady.