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