Summer Road Trip: Day One

Try as Ron and I do, so far it has been a big challenge to leave at our pre-determined departure time when it comes to RV travel. Normally, with personal, work, and other commitments, we consider "on time" to be 10 minutes early.

In our extensive four-month experience as RV travelers, we decided to leave at 9:30AM today, knowing that, hey, we might not get out until 10 o'clock. Seems reasonable.

But when planning a nearly 40-day cross-country RV road trip, one must expect some discrepancies in departure time, travel time, arrival time! (And by "one" I mean Ron and me, who are "two," but it's still a combined effort.) Oh well oh well oh well, as Jack White says. We left the house at NOON. It's a big trip and we've been planning for months, just sayin'.

Also, one must prepare for the notion that what you thought were the most important items for the adventure might get left behind! Ack! Take, for example, the entire binder of printed lists of every campground, Harvest Host, and family/friends home where you will be staying, complete with dates, contact information, and custom notes as quoted from the hosts. This binder also includes printed recipes that don't happen to be "in the Cloud," (if you can even access that fluffy technological storage space while on the road).

The binder also included your printed PASSWORD LIST, which is an 8.5x11 inch, 10 point font, double-sided masterpiece in a sheet protector. Oh heck no! You're living the RV life, so just RELAX (mm hmmm) and expect that information to be available online! When you actually HAVE internet service! And when the monitors of the interwebs are shining gloriously upon you. Oh, my, the circumstances test even the most stoic among us. (Don't get me started on my "helping" with backing up the trailer.)

So we arrived at our scheduled RV park with few [other] problems. Driving was fairly easy (according to the Captain), with some bumpy roads and a B I G L O N G G R A D E up the Tejon Mountains to Tehachapi. Our host was gracious, friendly, and helpful, and she complimented me on my recent hair color (H/T Corie Butcher-King, my amazing, beautiful stylist). Always a great way to start a camping trip. At our site, we did a bit of leveling, and we were ready to disengage from Spicy and enjoy the new environment!

Wondering about Nilla? Okay. She is a Persian warrior, but cats do not like change. We did our best to prepare her for the trip, and she resisted, falling back into her comfort zone. (Sound like me or anyone else reading this post?!?!)

Nilla finally came down from burying herself in the blankets and pillows on the bed above, and found solace sitting in her litter box. Or was she trying to tell us, "This is shitty"?!?!

We have plenty of water and food and love for her, but she is choosing some weird isolation. However, I feel confident that she will come around in a day or two.

More challenges included weird sounds from the propane water heater and faulty handles on the fridge door. To glue or not to glue (and potentially void the trailer's warranty)? Note to self: Plan to wake up an hour early and called Winnebago for support. So exciting!

MORNING UPDATE:

First, there were no explosions, yay! Ron called Winnebago and they said this is normal, and advised us to use electric whenever possible to save propane (point well-taken). We also got the ball rolling on getting the fridge door fixed. Meanwhile, hello, super-glue.

This is the view from behind our campsite across a broad field, which contains the airstrip for the Mountain Valley Airport. The staff offer glider rides, and they operate Raven's Nest café that is open for breakfast and lunch. Thanks, but I had cherries, freshly brewed espresso made right here in the trailer, and homemade chocolate breakfast bars!😋

Ron is already messing with the fridge door so it doesn't fly open while we're in transit, scattering our sustenance about the trailer. Nilla is up on the bed (Ron dragged her out of the litter box), and she's grooming. Next, how about eating some food and drinking some water, little fuzzy princess? Soon, we'll start packing up and making our way to the next destination; see you on the other side, friends!

P.S. A small plane and a glider just took flight off on the runway!!!! Happened too fast for me to snap a photo, but it was a cool sight!