Glad your knee is feeling better. I know that feel though there is no snow where I am right now. It waits until later in the season. I once Star Wars DM and he ran for 18 months. We ran across a plot we wanted to chase. When we got on our way he pulled out his gaming notebook, turned to page two and said.
"Here, here is when you should have followed that plot." So I guess the moral of the story is players are unpredictable and no matter how much plot you plan they will always go off in their own direction. I have a tendency to get attached to minor NPCs and make my DM think about what they are doing now and can I get in contact with them and who are they really as a person.