Siss, Boom, Bang

Before I began this trip, I thought life on the road would be peaceful. Ha Ha. Have you ever ridden long-distance in an RV? It sounds like this: CLANG, BANG, SNAP, CLANGETY, CLANG, BANG BOOM. Only louder.

I live in Atlanta so I have a high tolerance for road work, but dang, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma have problems of their own. By the time we limp into our campsites each night, I have a splitting headache. I think JD does too, but I can’t really hear him.

Our RV is taking a beating in more ways than one.

First of all, BC ate the interior.

Evidently, he was hungry because he also ate doughnuts off the table, our garbage and the screen. I sighed and kept on trucking. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed.

My cabinets have also taken a beating and my counter-tops have peeled in places. Our curtain rods have bent and warped, and everything is dirty. When JD pointed out the latest scuff mark, I just sighed and kept on trucking. It’s nothing that can’t be redone.

In addition to things getting banged up, we’ve lost a few things. So far we’ve managed to leave a gas cap behind, leave the bathroom vent open so that the plastic cover could go free somewhere between Reno and Las Vegas, and lose the part of the stinky slinky that actually allows you to dump said stinky. Can you HEAR ME SIGHING? LET’S KEEP TRUCKING. IT’S NOTHING THAT CAN’T BE REBOUGHT.

The outside has probably taken as much or more of a beating but since it looked so bad to begin with, it’s hard to tell. We did manage to pick up a bumper sticker. We’ve seen literally hundreds. Did we get a cool one of Yellowstone or maybe the Grand Canyon? Uh, no. JD picked up one from a restaurant in Whidbey Island.

I guess, in reality, it goes perfectly with the RV.

Not to say that we’re not having fun.

We are seeing lots of great things, like this meteor crater. I think it says a lot about us that not one of us jumped.

 

Highs and Lows of Travel

We have been on the road for two weeks now and I think we’ve got this thing down. We can hook up our power, water and stinky slinky in a quick minute. Also, we can unhook quickly. More about that below.

A definite high of the trip was our visit to Whidbey Island where we got to hang with Mantamy and her hubby.

See that bridge behind us? They made me walk across it! I also walked across fields and through woods and I’m not gonna lie, I could have fallen off several cliffs. That is just the way of it when you’re friends with Mantamy. You learn to go with the flow. And to make sure your life insurance is current.

Leaving was a low, but after four days of us and one stopped up toilet, they seemed okay with the idea.

Our next stop was Mantanomah Falls.

It was another HIGH. Even though it was dark and rainy by the time we made it there, we were thrilled to see it. My time with Mantamy must have rubbed off on me because I stood on that tiny bridge and didn’t think about how we could fall to our deaths once.

What followed was a definite low. I found a campsite at a park just three miles away but when we got there it was CLOSED. As in, the whole road was barricaded. I found another site, this time an RV park, but it was full. Third time’s the charm, so I found a park about 17 miles away. It was a dark and rainy, corkscrew drive for 17 miles, only to find the park FULL. JD was super happy, as you can imagine. After we drove 17 miles back to the main road, I found yet another park just 6 miles down the road and lo, a space was open. Let the record show that I TOLD my husband to check-in with the campsite monitor and he decided he’d wait for morning. That’s why we were awakened at 7:30 and kicked out. Apparently, not only were we not supposed to just pull in and hook up, but we also had expired tags. Yes, we had driven across the US illegally. Sigh. Well, you can’t think of everything, amiright, Kittens? At least we learned to unhook everything in under four minutes, also known as how long it would take the police to arrive.

After that LOW, we were ready for some highs. Luckily, we were driving down the Oregon coast and it is beautiful.

It put us in a much better mood. We drove down US 101 enjoying the scenery, and then took the Avenue of the Giants and marveled at the large sequoias.

Tonight, we’re just past Sacremento, enjoying a nice dinner of chips, while our neighbor watches a football game on his outdoor RV television, (show-offs).  We may get kicked out before sunrise, but this trip has taught us to savor the highs while they last. And I mean that in the general sense, not the California dispensary way.

Cheers!