Tales from the Tiki Bar: The Universe Speaks!
We should have listened! We should have accepted the help offered after we had asked for help! Duh! It was an awesome adventure that we missed out on, and it led to a low-level disaster. There's an important lesson in serendipity here: Don't swim against the tide -- just go with it. Isn't that what we're out here for? GAH!
The Internet and Facebook are awesome tools for a lot of things. We needed a place to stay, it was generously offered, and instead of going with it and seeing what interesting people we could be with, we kept trying to be independent, looking for another campground and found it at the very last minute. The new camp was a difficult path, and the serendipity path was easy. Turns out we got offered a driveway, and she lived just south of where we were camped = Easy. New campground was just a little too far to try to make it on time = Hard. We should have taken the hint from "the universe."
We already had planned to meet Kirby from Bryn's high school for breakfast to discuss staying in her driveway a few days so nobody would feel stuck/obligated if things weren't going to work out. Turns out we all hit it off, and it sounded like we would have had a great time if we stayed there. Kirby rocks! She was so much fun! We were a bit sorry we had found a place, but no, we didn't change our mind and stay. Instead, we hurriedly finished packing up and took off out of our camp trying to make it before the new campground closed for the night. Made it about halfway before we discovered our next blunder.
We had taken off down the road with the main storage door open. It had to happen. We actually had congratulated ourselves that nothing bad had happened to us yet and said we still need to make that exit checklist. Yep! Lost the main camper crank (the one the salesman told us not to lose!) and the stabilizer feet crank and some wood blocks for the feet and the two plastic wheel chocks. Stabilizer crank was easily replaced, but the main crank, not so much. Going to have to special-order it from Jayco. Hope we can even get it, since they changed the design. Can't even talk to them till after Monday July 4. So we shopped and shopped and finally came up with a way to get the camper up, but it's not easy.
We were attempting to stretch our dollars by seeking help, but we ended up having to buy some extra tools and stay the night in a motel in Bakersfield and missed out on an adventure. GAH! Not only that, but we had to change our mind and delay that particular camp we were trying to make because we hadn't noticed that the temps were going to soar well over 100 for the next 5-6 days! So here we go: high-tail it back towards the coast over two mountain areas with our underpowered vehicle and heavy trailer. We are waiting out the heatwave in a more expensive campground in kind of a nowhere place. Probably should have run right back to LA, hat in hand, and parked at Kirby's. Double-GAH! Hope we don't regret sticking ourselves here for a week. No refunds.
But thank you, Kirby, for the kind offer, not even knowing really who we were. You are an exceptional person, and I hope we get to meet again in the future. As for us....I hope we learn to go with opportunities that present instead of just trying to press on and stick to a plan that's going bad on us!
Now, where has Roxi gone off to? We need for her to open the Tiki Bar! To serendipity! Cheers, everybody!