1.
Find a campground that will help you forget the
asphalt jungle of LA. Prado in San
Bernadino County did just fine. It was
just like the one we stayed at on the other end of the county coming from Las
Vegas: lots of trees and ponds. Great sites.
Only downer was the showers were metered.
2.
Settle into the campground and discuss ad infinitum
all of the things that must be done.
This may sound boring, but when done over a campfire isn’t too bad
actually. Reminisce about the many good
times we’ve had the last 7 weeks. Clean
out the shower (take out the extra shoes and dirty clothes) so that you can
shower in the RV.
3.
Have one last campfire and grill truly
western-size steaks. Use up all of the
potatoes and veggies. Make one last
salad…. Throw the rest of the lettuce away.
4.
Day 2:
begin to clean, clean out, sort and pack and re-pack. Lay out everything on the bed and begin
sizing up the suitcases while Dave cooks breakfast over the rekindled campfire.
5.
Make one last Home Depot run to replace the
bucket that got squashed. On the way,
stop by the Post Office and pick up 2 “if it fits, it ships boxes”, just in
case. While at HD, pick up spider and
scorpion fogger and mouse traps…just in case!
Take pix of peacock near the pond.
6.
When packing is about 75% complete, take a break
to hit 2 last breweries: Bootleggers and
the Bruery. Make sure Deb has possession
of the car keys! Fail at avoiding the
temptation to buy more beer and glasses… come home with “just a few”… Text Clay and Keith to make them jealous!
7.
After the breweries, stop for one last seafood
dinner at the Tap Room Fish and Brew House.
Make sure to have the yummy calamari and fish and chips. David, to prove he hasn’t had too much at the
breweries, cheers the waiter on as he lights a stubborn but much needed heater
on the open air lounge. He also fails as he cheers the heater on... "Go baby, go baby!"
8.
Successfully maneuver the 10 lane freeway one
last time on the way home. Unclench
white knuckles before turning loose of the steering wheel. Fall into bed.
9.
Day 3:
Wake up to children playing in all the meadows at the campground. Remember that it is now the weekend of your return
and you will see your grandchildren soon.
Email a picture to them of the peacock in the campground. Consume the last of the coffee and negotiate for "just 20 minutes" with the Observer on line…
finalize the packing.
10.
Finish packing.
This involves weighing the suitcases NUMEROUS times. Double checking them by weighing yourself
with and without them. Calculating how
much the beer and glasses that you bought last night weigh and then
redistributing items until each checked bag weighs exactly 50 lbs. This takes several trials, especially after
we discover a few more clothes that need to go to Charlotte from the last load. When we decide to leave a sweatshirt and
jeans in the RV, Dave exclaims, “Room for another beer!”
11.
Once the suitcases are in the car, have your
marvelous husband cook one last breakfast outside by the campfire. Polish off the eggs, cheese, OJ and as much
of the stuff in the fridge as you can.
Offer the apples, and left over bread to the neighbors, throw the rest
of the stuff in the fridge out. We’ll
miss this “stash” when we return, but that is what WalMart is for.
12.
Clean the RV:
This is the “not so fun part”.
But truly how hard can it be to clean 300 square feet? Not very hard at all, but time consuming
enough that we aren’t ready to pull out until just minutes before our 1 pm
check out. Defrosting the refrigerator
took the most time, and Deb finally resorted to spraying the coils with a
bottle of hot water.
13.
Now comes the “hurry up and wait” part. Drive the RV and car to the storage
shed. Find out we are about 3 feet too
long for the parking place. Dave takes off
the front/side mirror and threads the needle into the parking place. The lady promises to put yellow tape on our
bumper and ladder the next day so folks won’t hit it coming around the
corner. This is only mildly
re-assuring. Sign enough papers to
equal closing on a house. Set off the insect
bombs in the RV.
14.
Now it is 3 pm, we are exhausted and have until about
8 before we have to be at the airport.
Get directions to a movie from the lady at the storage unit.
15.
Arrive at the movies, realize there’s nothing
there you’d like to see. Go see a lame
Shasha Cohen movie just because the times work.
16.
Scout out the restaurants nearby and try “Wingnuts”…
its not very good so we have a beer and appetizer and check the airport app to
confirm there are restaurants there.
17.
Go back to storage unit, drop the truck and call
a taxi to Ontario, CA Airport.
18.
Check in at Delta. The bags weigh 50 and 51 lbs. Dave offers to swap his shorts for long pants
and they wave him on.
19.
Marvel at how quiet it is compared to LAX. Make this comment to the TSA agents as you go
through security at which point they say that they hear this a lot, AND we
should know that all of the shops and restaurants closed after lunch! So much for eating at the airport! They will let you have a pizza delivered. In fact when Alaskan Airlines cancelled a flight they bring in pizza for everyone scheduled on it!
20.
Outlet surf to find a good place to plug in and
charge up the phones, Kindle, and laptop… write the final blog and contemplate
whether the cheese and crackers in the big pocketbook will hold you over til
breakfast in Atlanta or if pizza will be needed before the 10:30 flight. Buy an overpriced sweatshirt when they open
the sundry shop because it’s freezing in here. Wish we had that sweatshirt we left in the RV... Realize that now everytime we can't find something or need something... it will be in the RV. It is now 8 pm
21.
Say a thank you prayer for our children…. one is
picking us up and they are delivering supper Sunday night to our food-less
house! But best of all they are bringing Abbie and Ella!!!!
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