We’ve been home and off the road for a few weeks. I had to be back to participate in two book signings, but I can’t leave my travel tales behind without sharing a few stories from the final weeks of our trip. When we left Benson, we traveled to Phoenix. We had dinner with our good friends Mark and Anne Bork. Rob and I hadn’t been to Phoenix, in many years and we were surprised by how the city had grown, I’ve always loved Arizona’s beautiful sunsets, the cactus landscapes, and the warmth in the middle of October. Although, the days we were there were cooler than normal. Our final goal was to make it to California to surprise a friend at his art show.
On our way to the coast we spent the night in Quartzsite Arizona, the RV boondocking capital of the world. It was there that I learned an important lesson about keys. We were ready to leave after packing up. Rob had the keys in the ignition, the motor was running, and he had to get out to check on why the car was dragging instead of the wheels turning as normal. He had forgotten to run the car through a sequence that he had to do each time before we towed. When he left the motor home he shut the door, and the lock moved down. Of course, the door locked. Can I just say here in my defense, up to this point I had always had the spare keys on me. The moment we needed them the most, the spare set were in my purse in the RV.
I won’t tell you Rob’s reaction, but believe it or not, I didn’t panic. Even when Rob reminded me the ladder that was in my plan to retrieve the keys, was locked in the storage area of the RV. Being the social person that I am, I went to the two RVs closet to us and asked if they had a ladder. I found one, we set it up, and I promptly climbed up to the very top, (I’m short) and through the window taking the keys out of the ignition. Rob wished he had, had a camera and I was happy he didn’t have one. Thankfully, the driver’s side window was unlocked and it remained that way for the rest of the trip. The extra keys were also in my pocket every time I walked out of the RV.
We made it to California, to the art show, and to the ocean, which was great. One thing we weren’t expecting to do, but were able to thanks to Rick Kess and Natalie Acosta was to go to Disneyland for the day. We survived our first major road trip and learned some things to boot. I’m ready to do it again.
