The Good, the Bad, and Naga…Who’s Both

I am feeling very weary, at this point, as we have driven far too long, today, and I am, somewhat, short on sleep, so I will do bullet points of our last two days. (We didn’t have any signal on anything, so we decided that the pictures would be sufficient, for yesterday.) On to glory!

o   I dropped Morgan and the pups off at Starbucks, yesterday, and drove the RV to the mechanic, leaving it there and walking 1+ miles back.

o   While I was gone, Morgan acquired a kitten, saving it from all the cars that were swooping and circling around it.

o   Morgan, then, gave away this cat, to a woman who had helped, and who offered to give it a home.

o   We spent the day with Morgan researching and me editing.

o   When the RV was finished, Morgan offered to go get it, so I could continue editing.

§  I agreed and she took the dogs.

§  On her way, a dog attacked her, and, as she stepped back, trying for a better position, her foot landed wrong, and she went down hard.

§  Naga and Cal, now free of their leashes, which Morgan had dropped in her tumble, put the aggressive dog in its place and chased it off, before returning to stand guard over Morgan as she got back to her feet.

§  Morgan suffered several deep cuts to her hands, but was able to clean and bandage them appropriately, using the RV mechanics First Aid kit.

o   Her return journey, in the RV was uneventful, and, after I doted on her for a bit, we headed off into the mountains.

o   Due to Morgan’s injuries, we made a quick stop at Walmart, and, when we weren’t paying close enough attention, Naga bolted.

§  I chased him, which was, probably, the wrong thing to do, as it meant that, whenever he looked back for reassurance, I was there, to let him know that he hadn’t gone too far, despite my calling him…

§  I eventually lost him, but was able to call Morgan, who leashed Cal and came to meet me.

§  Meanwhile, Naga had found a kind, jogging stranger, and followed him home.

§  Thankfully, Naga’s tags enabled this stranger to call Morgan, and, then, bring Naga part way back to meet us.

§  Needless to say, I was unhappy with the big dog, but all was righted, and we left.

o   In her research, Morgan had found a free campground that wasn’t more than 2 hours out.

§  2 “hours” on gravel does not equal 2 hours.

§  Free campgrounds are protected from hopefully occupants by said ungrated gravel roads, which the Sunrader takes quite the exception to.

§  That campsite was not reached.

o   Morgan and I had a long talk about finances and the inefficiency and folly of only using “free” campsites. (They aren’t free, because you pay in gas and vehicle wear.) We came to the conclusion that, while free camping would be nice, our journey, and our finances are in God’s hands, and we needed to trust him.

o   Thus, we ended up driving a little ways back down the road, after it returned to asphalt, up to a lovely RV campground, which the AAA book that we have said was $10

§  We pulled in, and the camp manager came out, greeted us, and told us that the dogs were welcome, as long as they were on leash.

§  I asked if we needed to pay now, later, or in the morning.

§  He looked at me quizzically and said, “It’s free.”

§  God is funny, sometimes.

o   In order to redeem the dogs, in my mind, I did a little off leash training, a little ways from the camp, to keep to the rules, and both dogs did really, really well. It helped that they were tired.

o   We awoke, this morning, to a beautiful sunrise in our mountain valley, overlooking a long lake. After a nice breakfast, and a morning shower, Morgan and I decided to take the dogs for a walk, down by the lake.

§  Now, we have been training the dogs, more and more, to be off leash, so, once we reached the lake, we let the both off, and they were wonderful.

§  They went wading.

§  They played.

§  They sprinted up and down the sandy beach.

§  It was awesome to watch. :-)

o   We sat and talked for a while, before doing what needed doing and packing up.

o   We were off, once more:

§  Sadly, though we were enjoying Idaho, we realized that we needed to be getting back to Sacramento, soon, so we set our sights on Oregon. Specifically, a free campground, just over the border.

§  It was not just over the border; it was, in fact, in a completely different part of OR.

§  Thus, we headed off for another camp ground…which, in turn, was 300 miles away. No. Too far.

§  A little back tracking, and back on the road. Actually, we were back on the Oregon Trail. (Don’t worry, no one died of dysentery.)

§  We wound our way through the wilderness, with literally no turn offs available, except for the occasional driveway, for a hundred miles.

§  We got some great pictures. :-D

o   In the end, after several more false alarms, including a place with “water,” but not potable water, we ended up here, at a rest stop. (FYI, OR allows for 12hr parking at rest stops; CA only allows for 8; NV, on the other hand, is fine with up to 24 hr stays. The more you know!)

With that brief(ish) summary of the last two days, I leave you with a couple parting thoughts:

o   At every turn, I grasp and struggle for control, and find that I have none.

o   What is great one moment can fill you with stress the next, all the while moving towards further awesomeness (i.e. Life is a mixed back, and things are rarely all good or all bad.)

Good night; sleep well; sleep long; drive safe; and, please, don’t die. I don’t have it in me to rush home. Don’t be “that guy,” ok? ;-)