Travails of travel

A pretentious title for my actual experiences, but the alliteration works. Though I will add that if you are particularly squeamish, you might want to skip this post. You have been warned. (I should probably add that I, the critters, and the van are all fine.)

Saturday I left home, headed for my brother’s house in California for Thanksgiving. I had planned and prepared so thoroughly that I joked a few days before I left that I was already wondering what I had forgotten. Ha! Shouldn’t have tempted the gods of contrariness. (I hasten to add that much of the planning was in aid of traveling safely, to keep my anto-covid bubble intact en route. The major adjustment to my usual van travel required was to figure out how to avoid using any public restrooms–not at rest areas, not in CGs. This mainly means using only my bucket for bodily elimination and disposing of the products down a CG sewer pipe in a full hookup campsite. I would spare you these details, but they become relevant later.)

First, I arrived at my expected first stop at a state park CG between Grants Pass and Medford in good time, only to find it full. Turns out there was a disc golf tournament going on–it may even have been state-wide. (Merlin, I did think of you as a result.) Once I got over my disappointment, I decided to drive another hour down to Yreka to a private CG I’ve stayed at before. It’s not wonderful, but not bad either, and it would make my drive the next day shorter. I called ahead, secured my spot, peed in my bucket, removed the bucket from its compartment so I could pot the lid on, and took Scamp for a nice walk, partly because I knew we wouldn’t get any decent walking in Yreka. Then got back on the freeway. (The word “Yreka” just reminded me of perhaps the funniest mispronunciation I have heard in thousands of hours of Audible books: Ypres pronounced “wipers”. I’m still giggling about it days later.)

Not many miles down down the road I glanced up at Mt. McLoughlin (I think I have that name right). My eyes were off the road for less than a second. When I looked back, the car in front of me was now traveling MUCH slower– I had to hit the brakes hard to avoid running into it. The driver had braked to avoid a car in front of it which had pilled back into the stream of traffic from the shoulder. Various things came flying forward–including the bucket, which landed next to Scamp, leaking pee, though not all of it, fortunately.

I drove 2-3 miles before finding a place where I felt comfortable pulling over to stop, where I put things back in order, all the while trying to talk my heart back into place, slow my breathing, and persuade the adrenaline to recede. I decided a bit of pee by the side of the freeway wasn’t a huge sin, so I emptied the bucket and put it in its compartment. And pulled out very carefully back into traffic.

The rest of the day went well. I even had the psychic energy to cook supper (fried eggs, potato, and a sausage patty).

Things continued to go well this morning. I was up and ready to go by 9:00, earlier than I often manage. My anticipated drive was about 2.5 hours, so I could be all set up and have lunch in my new CG. Before leaving, I decided to avail myself of a brand new Mobil truck stop across the street from the RV park because of the convenience. Got out my anti-covid spray, used my credit card, spritzed everything, fueled up, spritzed again, and headed south, feeling optimistic. I was hopeful the CG would be open and have spaces available, but had a backup plan just in case.

Arrived at the CG, which was open and had spaces, and picked my spot. This particular CG is only available by reservation, but, unique in my experience, has a phone number to call so that you can make same-day reservations. Got out my phone and my wallet–and my credit card wasn’t in it. I had a clear memory of placing the card on a post next to the pump, and no memory of seeing it after that.

In a nutshell, I panicked. The card was essential to the trip; if someone picked it up and didn’t turn it in, I saw no way of continuing, plus all the hassles involved in a stolen card. (Interrupting my tale to say it just started raining! I deployed the awning even though no rain was in the forecast, but left Scamp’s crate unprotected, thinking to myself that maybe the gods of contrariness might bless us with rain, which is desperately needed in CA. Et voila’! The crate is now under the awning.)

Back to the card. My first thought was to call the station to see if it had been turned in. But the station is so new I couldn’t find a number for it. Called my sister-in-law Jo to let her know what was up. Did more research, found the number, called –they had a couple of cards that had been turned in, but not mine. Jo had suggested canceling the card and asking the bank to fedex one to their house, so I called the customer support number–but today is Sunday and they have no customer support outside their regular hours. More freaking (aggravated by low blood sugar and seriously needing to pee.) Called Jo back, and she found a number for me to call to report a lost or stolen card. (Shout out to Jo, who after approaching fifty years married to my brother, who shares my volatile temperament has developed nice calm, and calming, skills for dealing with our tendency to freak in crises.) I called the number, and thinking I would perhaps need some account information I went back to the van to get my checkbook, opened the driver’s door while beginning the conversation with the guy who answered–to see the card staring up at me. I had tossed it onto the seat while I finished up at the gas pump, and totally forgotten all about it.

So all is well once again. I called and got my reservation, took care of immediate bodily needs, Scamp and I had a nice long walk (the trails here are perhaps the major reason this has become a favorite stop on my way south), got camp all set up (including the awning), and even have had the energy to write this.

Here are a couple of pictures from the walk.

The first is just for pretty, and to show the clouds and streaks of rain in the distance that encouraged me to deploy the awning when we got back. The second is for the deer, which I spotted at a distance–and which also spotted me. It was far enough off that I figured Scamp hadn’t seen it–but she had seen that I had seen something, and shortly afterwards she picked up the scent. By which time it was well gone, but Scamp was pretty excited there for awhile, and had no interest in allowing me to put a leash on her. But we worked it out.

I took the following to try to show Shadow’s new perch, across my shoulders. I was taking it in the dark, so had no idea how it would turn out.

Not my best shot, but I decided to include it because my freaked out eyes caused by the flash seem appropriate to the day 😄.