Sunshine in April

2/9/23

Today’s plan is grocery shopping and finding a work spot with Wi-Fi. I had debated and researched internet connectivity because I had some issues traveling westbound the previous summer and I need a solid connection to work. I do not have the luxury of not needing an income, so doing the work I love (coaching for whole-health) and the work that pays more of the bills (teaching) is a must.

Speaking of planning… How did I plan this journey? My first goal was to Abilene, Texas, to meet up with my friend and head to Houston for our coaching convention. I roughly planned out a two-week main driving path to there with the least chance of snowy mountain passes. I’m trying to escape cold and snow is pretty to look at. In pictures. But not in person – at least for me. Nor am I equipped for snow, so straight south on I5 I go. And, because I was traveling alone with morning work times and not knowing how tired I would be each day, I opted for ‘on the go’ planning. I am generally a loose planner and like the big things in place – where to stay, how to get there, and maybe some ideas on what to do. It can be stressful for a planner to travel this way, yet I have found that going with the flow has become more fun.

Generally, when I settle in for the evening, I start looking at tomorrow’s potential stays. I’m not going extreme distances, so I don’t get too exhausted on one leg. And I’m looking for interesting and unique places to experience. I have enjoyed new adventures all of my life, even wandering down roads just to see what was there! My first evening I planned the next day’s trek to Hummingbird Estate, another Harvest Host site.

When we got the rv, Grey installed an auto leveler so it would be easier for me to set up camp. Unfortunately, I tweaked this on my 2^nd east coast visit, so it needed repairs. I know… Totally my bad! ☹ OOPS!!! He repaired my major oops and upgraded the crappy batteries that kept losing fluids. Now  I have gently used batteries – YAY! At my first stop, I auto leveled and was so stressed and worried about making noise so late (it wasn’t that late really) I forgot that I NEED to run the generator in order to have enough battery power in the am to retract them. Let’s just say I don’t always get the mechanics of everything and ran down my battery below a healthy point. I totally blame the 5 months of chemo on my continued brain fog, but I’ve been forgetful my entire life. If you don’t maintain enough battery power, you run the risk of battery damage and decreasing their lifespan. In reality, I don’t always need the auto leveler and probably did not need it that first night.

That first on the road wake up, I was able to make my coffee but only one cup in the Keurig! The batteries were way lower than they should have been with newer batteries, and I had to start rv before I could start the generator. Thankfully only the front jacks were down and everything worked out. WHEW!!! I didn’t have enough battery power to hang out and work without worry, so I hit the road after I met with the owner, bought some alpaca yarn, and did a farm ‘walkabout.’ First stop is Starbucks because they have solid Wi-Fi and I like my morning coffees… plural…

The Drive: The I5 corridor through Oregon seems to be sunnier than through Washington, but I don’t know this for a fact. It is also a much calmer drive down here. The clouds increased along the way, but I had wonderful sunshine in the a.m. The drive was not noteworthy as it was smooth without much traffic. The biggest issue was getting to the grocery store I stopped at because you have to be very aware of trees on the side and overhead. Watch out for that… TREE! 😉

Hummingbird Estate: I arrived with plenty of daylight, but I did pass the driveway and had to find a spot to turn around. Then I missed the directions and drove into the parking area instead of around it. Think I was a bit tired because I am generally great with maps and directions. I found the field area to park, which was quite bumpy and saw I had one neighboring rig. I parked and remembered to start the generator before leveling – YAY!

And then … nothing!

The levelers weren’t working. WHAT?!

Hmmm… Did I share how much I appreciate my spouse?! He is the perfect mate for me, and believe me, I have put that man through some stuff in our 25 years together. Time to call Grey to help me problem solve. During the call, I left generator running and my neighbors must have been getting the fumes because the husband came over and asked me to turn it off. UGH! I’m just trying to figure out what is wrong, but I turn off the generator as requested. Then as Grey is walking me through how to reset it, I realize my fingers are not strong enough to pull a connector apart, so I traipse over to said neighbor and asked for help. He was kind and came to help. Not fair because he was able to get it apart with what appeared to be ZERO effort. Man, am I that out of shape?! ☹ My fingers say yes!

With that help, I turned the generator back on (tee hee hee 😉) in order to level. I got everything set up, batteries are good, and now I’m starving. I know better than to let Hangry April rear her evil head, but I missed my mini-meal with the ordeal and needed brain energy now. Getting into that hangry shaky state doesn’t happen when I follow my program and eat every 3 hours, but I’m navigating through unknown and distracting territory. I had stopped for groceries and supplies today so I had my meals planned, BUT…

Another glitch! No can opener! WHAT?!

Nope. No way to open my white meat chicken in the can – my protein for the night. Are you kidding me? Where is my can opener? I had this thing all stocked (or so I thought), so where did it go? I still have no idea where the can opener escaped to. At this point I am so exhausted and hungry I cannot even think straight. All I know is that I need food. I grab a slice of cheese and I head down to check in. Hummingbird Estate serves food, so I’ll be able to grab a bite to eat.

Well… that did not work out because they were hosting a private event for the evening and not serving food to nonevent guests. Wine tasting – yes. Food – no. Crap! What to do at this point? Purchase a flight of reds and walk about ¼ mile up the hill to my rv. I am overcome in the process by a wide range of emotions – frustration, hurt, overwhelm, HANGER, but all I do in the moment is laugh and shake my head as I carefully trudge like any good wino so I don’t spill. 😂

I don’t remember what I had for dinner, but I scrounged up enough from my grocery shopping to have a semi-decent meal of veggies and cheese to go with my wine. The wine was fabulous, and I highly recommend checking them out if you are ever in the Medford, Oregon area.

After dinner, I stepped outside for a short walk around and ran into my helpful neighbor. He and his wife were returning from their first snowbirding adventure to Arizona. They hated it! The open fields of rv’s across the southwest were not appealing and they didn’t enjoy living in their travel trailer.  

Travel info:

Start: Springtime Farms in Salem, Oregon

Finish: Hummingbird Estates, Central Point, Oregon (near Medford)

Distance (using Mapquest after the fact for this calculation): 226 miles (I did a couple of extra miles to grocery store and missing exit that are not calculated in)

(*Rough travel time frame using 45 miles / hour) = 5 hours (though GPS said 3.23)

Gas: $44.04 (9.78 gallons / $4.49 Diesel) + $73 (no other info) = $117.04

Food, Coffee, & Supplies: $96.58

Stay: $30 at Snuggly Toes (Springtime Farms)

$25.96 Wine Flight

The next morning:

WOW!!! JUST WOW!!! The view of Mt. McLoughlin is absolutely stunning! What a treat to see along with the deer as I walked around the property. What do you call deer that like wine? I don’t know either! LOL  What a great morning with coffee, short worktime, and checking the rv related FaceBook groups I joined to connect with on this journey. I had previously found three groups that may be super helpful on this journey with on-the-go resources, possible places to stop (especially being a solo female traveler), and just people who are on or have been on similar journeys.

As I pack up, I see the neighbors have left so no one to bug with my generator to retract my levels. Last night in my tired brain search for today’s stay, I saw that a weather front was coming through on Friday and I can see that front already pushing in by mid-morning. This means I need to get past Mt. Shasta today instead of tomorrow, making it a long push.

Let’s do it!