The View with a View – Posted in installments, because it's almost a novel
Part 1:
Prologue
Prologue
March,
2017
Our 35th anniversary was coming, and
after much discussion and visits to dealers and RV shows, Bill and I were seriously
considering gifting ourselves with a small rig, hopefully on a Mercedes diesel
Sprinter chassis. But the prices were beyond our reach for the ones we liked
($120,000 range). Then one day our son Eddy called to tell us there was a
similar one for sale parked near his home. We were headed out that way to buy
some pink thread for a sewing project, so decided to stop by and have a look.
The unit was 3 years old, but had only 13,000 miles on it. It was already on
its second owner, who sadly had to give up driving due to deteriorating
eyesight after only one year. We called the number on the sign, and the owner
met us on the street, we took it for a spin, and voila, we’re motorhome owners.
Not too many people can say they went out to buy pink thread and came home with
a motorhome!
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2014 24-Foot Mercedes Sprinter/Winnebago RV with side & rear slide-outs
So now that we have our new toy, what do we do
for our anniversary? Go on a cruise, of
course! We had been planning a trip to Australia and New Zealand for quite some
time, so our rig was set aside while we pursued our “35 Days for 35 Years” trip
that included a 29-day Princess cruise from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles.
Right around that time Eddy was planning to rent an RV or trailer to go on a
family trip to eastern Washington. He timidly asked if maybe they could use our
rig. Being that Eddy is an engineer, and an excellent mechanic, that sounded
like a brilliant idea to us. He could do the shakedown trip, identifying
anything that needed modification, so we’d be all set for our first trip at
some point in the future. The rig is actually quite easy to drive, being only
slightly wider than a regular van. In fact, later we found out it’s known as a
“Skinny Winnie,” in the Winnebago family. Eddy and his family thoroughly
enjoyed their trip and asked if they could borrow it again sometime in the
future.
Our View with a View… A
2-Month - 12,755 Mile Odyssey
Planning
When we got home from our anniversary trip, we
figured that perhaps we should stay home for at least a little while, since we
had been gone for 7 weeks. Each year we take 2 trips, one in April for our
anniversary, and the other around the time school starts, in order to avoid the
summer crowds but still enjoy some good weather. So we started planning a fall
adventure. And my, oh my, was it ever an adventure. Our basic goal was to visit
Bill’s mom in upstate New York, then to visit some other places we’d never been
to before. Sounds simple, right? Well, we got to talking and decided as long as
we were going to be on the east coast, we might as well go on down to Florida
and take a cruise to Cuba. Political news reports gave us concern that soon US citizens
might not be able to visit Cuba anymore, so it was a “now or never” situation.
We understood that Cuba’s infrastructure wasn’t really ready to handle
significant tourism, but we figured bringing our own hotel room (the ship)
would solve that problem. We selected a voyage leaving Miami on October 2,
figuring hurricane season would be over by then. Ha ha, we were so naïve. Our
trip had close encounters with 3 different hurricanes, plus we saw the
aftermath of 2 others. This climate change thing is real!
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We blocked out a rough idea of our route on a
calendar, when and where we’d be each day during the trip. We penciled in
tentative visits all along the way, including Bill’s cousin Rick in Oklahoma
City, niece Jodi in TN and her 5-year-old triplets we had never met, my dear
friend Mel & his wife Sherry in NC, Bill’s mom and other family in upstate
NY, our young friend Jacky in Wilmington, NC – for a cut & color (she used
to work as a hairdresser), a new-found aunt near Beaumont TX, and a bunch of
relatives in Phoenix, AZ. We contacted each of the potential visits and everybody
was up for it. We do know the rule about visitors being like fish… 3 days max
or it begins to smell!
In a terrible shock, just before we left and I
sent a message to Mel to let him know the firm date of our arrival, I got a
message back from Sherry that said Mel had just passed away an hour before my
message was sent. He had been fighting lymphoma for years, but this was
unexpected and very, very sad. Mel was the most significant mentor in my career, and I
respected him. We visited them before in NC on our last road trip back east. I
asked Sherry is she still wanted us to stop by, and she said she thought she’d
be up to it by then. We’re low maintenance guests since we bring our own bed!
And Bill cooks.
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Mel on our last road trip in 2010 |
8/30/17
“Getting Ready” - Well, sort of. There are so many things to remember. I just
hope I’ve remembered the critical ones. I just this minute remembered our
passports! We certainly wouldn’t be going to Cuba, or Canada, for that matter,
without them. Doh! And I just got back from returning my library book. It’s
11:00 at night! And we’re planning to leave at 4:00AM. I think 5:00 would (and
will!) be just fine since our commute is reverse. We’re heading towards
Yosemite, and on to Mono Lake. Bill doesn’t think long weekends will bring
crowds. I hope he’s right. We plan to just stop somewhere to sleep, not really
camping. Then we’ll head on towards WY, where they’re having the Mountain Man
Rendezvous this weekend. He read about it online, and said it looks like fun.
The Trip
The beauty of a trip like this is we have complete freedom to go wherever our fancy takes us, to stay longer if we like a place, or to hightail it out of there if we don't. The risk is we may find ourselves with no place to stay if we run into a popular area. Now that we have the RV, it's not so much of a problem, compared to our last big adventure when we had just a Toyota Camry with a tent and 2 sleeping bags!
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12,755 Miles! |
8/31/17 5:08 AM, we’re on the road! First stop? First fast
food of the trip… “An Egg McMuffin, please.” Next, our first disagreement of
the trip… to go through Yosemite via Tioga pass, or to beat the traffic by
going a longer, but presumably easier route over Sonora pass on Hwy 108. We
later found out that neither of those routes were appropriate, and Google Maps
clearly shows that one should take a much more northerly route for the best
time. Whatever, the Tioga pass route looked more direct, so Bill enjoyed
ribbing me the entire time as we crawled over a very challenging road. At
least we saved the $30 Yosemite entrance fee because I have the senior pass!
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This is Serious Business. |
We made it to Mono Lake, whereupon I again suggested taking
a route that was ill-advised. I wanted to see the tufas, and a friend advised
that we could best see them from the south side of the lake. What are tufas? Columns of
calcium carbonate which form in carbonate-rich saltwater lakes. We
started down a gravel road, and it became more and more like a washboard,
really was hard on the rig. We won't be doing roads like that again. But we saw
the tufas! And there was NOBODY else out there since the road wasn’t exactly
vehicle-friendly!
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Tufas in Mono Lake
On to Tonopah, where Bill wanted to see the
Clown Motel, so he could take a pic and make some rude comment about Trump. It
didn’t help that the sign advertised a “clan room.” We took a few pics then
looked for an RV park.
The place we're staying is really just a litter box with a
plug in and bathrooms. We have established priorities. If it’s hot, we need
electricity, so we can run the AC. And a shower is a plus. Theoretically we
could shower in our rig, but the tank only holds 30 gallons, and a shower uses
about 1/3 of that. They have a couple washers and dryers too but we don't need
that just yet. There are only 5 other rigs here and space for about 20. It
reminded Bill of the motel we stayed at in HI, based on a recommendation from
the folks. It has all the necessities, but oy, nobody would ever call it fancy.
It's interesting when people in their $100k rigs pull into a $35 a night RV
park and expect luxury.
9/1, Friday before Labor Day – We’re heading for the
Mountain Man Festival in Ft. Bridger, WY. Made it to Delta, UT, where we
grabbed a spot at Delta Antelope Valley RV park. We really don’t like RV parks,
but if that’s all that’s available, oh well.
 9/2, Saturday – We hoped to get to the festival, but it was
just closing down as we pulled into town around 4:00. We decided to look for a
nearby place to stay. The Kindle boondocking book said there is a city park in
Lyman, WY that will allow one night overnight parking. The book was wrong! We
went to the park, and it was lovely, with a fun water park section, and
experimental orchard, playground, and BBQ’s. And the weird thing – even though
it was a holiday weekend, nobody was there. We played in the water!
Around 5:30, we were just getting ready to slide out the
back of our rig when a police car drove right up to our door.
“We got a report of someone camping here.”
RJ: “We’re not camping, we’re just parked. What time do we
have to be out?”
Cop: “Oh, 11 or so.”
RJ: “OK, well, we’re pretty tired, and it’s never a good
idea to drive while you’re tired. Do you have a suggestion where we might stay
for the night?”
Cop: With a gleam in his eye and a disgusted tone of voice,
“Well, you could park at the archery range. It’s just over there, behind the
subdivision.”
Turns out the “subdivision” is 3 McMansions, in a town of
mostly double wides, and modest homes. The archery range is a city-owned gravel
lot and 3 bales of hay, pretty much in the back yards of the subdivision. I
asked why we wouldn’t be reported for camping there, and he said it was no
problem, because he just came on duty, and he’d be on all night. If someone
called, they’d just be told we were OK, and besides, he’s the Chief of Police!
RJ: “How many are on your force?”
Cop: “5.”
Ha ha. We were good neighbors, not turning on the generator
or starting up a BBQ. And our friend the Chief of Police got to annoy the
pretentious subdivision dwellers. Win-Win.
9/3, Sunday – Mountain Man Rendezvous, Fort Bridger, WY
Report to sis: “It was a great day; the pickle lady who sold
us homemade pickles and strawberry rhubarb jam, the tin wind chime I bought,
and the bagpipe band that we saw at the rendezvous. The local high school
started teaching bagpipes and now a group has stayed together for over five
years, and this was their first paid gig. I'm still writing from my phone
because there's no wifi and only 2 bars on the cell. So that's going to have to
suffice for today. We're heading for dinosaur national Monument tomorrow, then
on through Colorado. The next official stop is Oklahoma city to visit Bill's
cousin.”
Pickle Lady
  
The Rendezvous Leader
I said, "Take me to your leader," and they did!
We met a very nice father & son in a booth selling hand
carved spoons made by dad, and interesting copper items acquired by the son.
Bill got a gorgeous, very heavy copper small soup pot for only $40, because it
had no lid. When we get home, Bill hopes to send the dad a hunk of our olive
wood to carve into spoons. Much to my delight, I found cotton candy! I also met
the guy in charge of the whole event. This started Bill’s quest for the best
homemade pickles, a pursuit that continued throughout the trip. Bill liked the
rendezvous so much that he hopes to come back in a year or two. He’s still
talking about the man he saw, of a similar physique to his own, walking down
the street wearing only a loincloth!
Find what makes you happy, wherever you go
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Stay tuned for Part 2 of "The View with a View," brought to you in periodic posts as the spirit moves me.
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