Saturday, May 14, 2016

THE GREAT SO-CAL (MIS)ADVENTURE



It was Thursday, May 12. Mike arose early, walked the dogs, and breakfasted. He kissed me good-bye, pulled on his helmet, and was out the door before 6:45, heading off to the west with the sun at his back. His destination was a tour of the counties of southern California with the eventual goal of logging a geocache in every California county.

Bess is watching. Can you see her?
The dogs totally knew what was happening. Bess watched from her favorite spot on the hill, and Nellie moped on her pillow. Bess loves to be Mike’s companion, and Nellie likes her eggs in one basket with no changes, please. I assured them I wouldn’t forget to feed them and would keep the water bucket full and take them for walks, but I could see by the look in their eyes that they didn’t trust me.

We immediately settled into staycation mode, which sometimes feels like a long wait. I set up my daily staycation posting journal and checked my long list of “possible projects while Mike is gone.” I began to prepare the kitchen and dining area to serve as my workroom. Imagine! A whole week of not having to put things away! At 8:30 I took the dogs for a long walk, knowing that the afternoon would be hot.

And then reality set in. There I sat with two dogs, a TV set on the fritz, and a list of things I could do. Somehow I felt at a loss.

Just before noon, Mike called from Umatilla, OR. He was coming back, he said, because both GPS units had failed. Without being able to see the cache locations and his destinations, it was useless to travel on.

I was philosophical. When things don’t work out, you don’t know from what calamity you’ve been spared. I was just as happy because we weren’t quite ready here at home, and obviously he wasn’t quite ready either.

Drought-tolerant plants are blooming. We need more.
Immediately upon arrival (about 3:00), Mike set to work to postpone his motel stays. He also ordered a new GPS. And he scheduled repair for our TV system. Friday morning he arose early and called Garmin support (GPS manufacturer). It’s his story, but in a nutshell, files on the GPS had become corrupt and were then fixed through the support call. It remains now to test it.

The dogs took the change of plans in stride. “Oh, we thought he would be gone longer,” they said. “Good! He’s back.” KW



2 comments:

Hallie said...

Southern California is a long way to go and the traffic is bad. Maybe Dad could get that new little GTI and that could be the new mode of transport to faraway lands.

I like little Bess keeping a watchful eye.

Kathy said...

Perhaps GTI travel is a good idea. Maybe it's better than a motorcycle.