An Ordinary Day

Ventura CA

If you’ve wondered what constitutes an ordinary day on the road, let me tell you about today, December 16, 2008.

We’re headed for San Francisco from Palm Springs to spend Christmas with our son Jeff. We rise at 8:30 and have coffee and check our e-mails. Then we take showers and go about the business of readying the coach for travel. First I check all the cabinet doors to make sure nothing will end up on the floor as we travel. Then I put the slides in and make sure everything is secure. Meanwhile, John takes the pooch for a walk, and unhooks the camper from all its tethers – the water, the dump and the electric. Finally, I jump in the Jeep to get ready to hook up. We find a flat place, and while I prepare the car to be towed, John hooks it up.

After we make sure everything’s rolling as it should (if the wheels don't roll free you end up with a fire, as I learned back in September), we get on the road. Zeus jumps in my lap and we take off. After a time, the humans get hungry, so I go back to the kitchen and pull out the ingredients for sandwiches. The bus lurches, but I balance myself pretty much the same way I used to balance myself on the subway in Manhattan, with feet apart and torso compensating as we roll along.

We eat as we go. Occasionally we stop at an I-Hop on the way, but this sandwich thing is easier, cheaper, and usually, better.

If our journey is four hours long, then somewhere in the second or third hour, John gets tired and I take the wheel. We make it to our destination, check in, find our slot, and proceed to hook up all our connections – water, electric and refuse. Then we put out the slides, vacuum the interior, wash any remaining silverware, and shoo the dog off my pillow. (Where are you, Caesar Millan?) Then if we’re not too tired, we hop in the Jeep and do a little investigating of the area. Today we took a ride to the timeshare I bought online for $1. It wasn’t too bad, actually, and we may even use it. Otherwise, Merry Christmas Jeff. You now have someplace new to vacation.

Our desire to investigate our area having been sated, we then take a couple of hours to relax. John sleeps, I go on line, and Zeus hangs out.

If we’re lucky as we were today, someone recommends a great restaurant for dinner. (Otherwise I do the domestic thing.) We went out at about 6:30 to a steak and fish spot, and had a really wonderful meal. Now we’re back. It’s 9:00, and we’re done for the day. I’m writing, John’s watching TV, and Zeus is finally eating his dinner, his dreams of a wonderful doggie bag having been disappointed.

Tomorrow we’ll see a local sight – the Channel Islands – and then I’ll walk the pretty little town of Ventura while John naps.

I delude myself that I’m only going shopping for Christmas lights, my set having died in last night’s storm in Indio California, but if there happens to be a wonderful sweater or wrap or pretty blouse, then who am I to pass up such a find? It’s Christmas, after all, and we may never be in Ventura California again. Carpe diem.

Betty