Hitting the Road, At Last

We left the house at 8am this morning, and I had my first “oh shit” moment at 8:23 when I realized I had forgotten my rain jacket. I have my water proof shoes and a hat, and I have a thick cotton hoodie.  But I had intended to bring my Goretex jacket with the fleece inner lining. Oh well. I hope it’s not too uncomfortably cold and/or wet. 

So now, it’s 10 am. I’m sitting at Camping World, waiting for delivery of my vehicle.  We’ve already done the paperwork and the walk-around inspection.  But as they were removing the bike rake from the back, they heard a hissing sound. Turns out there was a leak in one of the tires. SO glad they discovered that before sending me on my way.

While I wait, I’ll mention something about the Chevy Malibu.  YUK.  There is something wrong with the head restraint. They are so far forward of the seats that it forces me to drive in an uncomfortable Forward Head Position.  This is a position that is epidemic in humans and something I work tirelessly to prevent and repair. It can cause many undesirable side-effects such as headache, poor eyesight and back pain, to name a few.  I’m not sure why the head restraints are set up in such a non-ergonomic way, but for me, it’s a deal-killer.  I’ll never buy, nor rent another Chevy Malibu. 

WTF? Who is this supposed to be for? No one should have this unhealthy posture.
Terrible design feature in the 2012 Chevy Malibu. 

River is doing pretty well in the passenger seat. He was drooling a bit at one point, and shivering at another point.  But other than that, he shows no signs of distress. In fact, he is really enjoying our time in the parking lot at Camping World.  Goes to show, it doesn’t take too much to entertain a happy dog. 

I’m still a little (OK a lot) nervous about driving that huge machine.  But people do it all the time; I just need to keep telling myself that. As soon as that leaking tire is repaired, they’ll drive it around and we’ll load it up and hit the road. 

It’s grey and cloudy in Seattle and Fife, today. A heavy mist; typical Seattle wet weather. The first day of our vacation is the first grey day of the season. Hmmmm. I just checked the weather app on my iPhone and it says sunshine is predicted for Crystal Mountain -- our first stop today. 

So they gave me the keys and I loaded the RV up, got River in the passenger seat, buckled in, and then sat in the parking lot for about ten minutes just trying to relax and get started. I was a bit overwhelmed by the size of this monster vehicle.   But I finally started the engine and released the parking break, put it in gear, pressed down on the gas pedal and started the RV adventure.  

At first, I was sure I was going to clip everything I passed.  My side mirrors stick out for miles! And the rear of the vehicle is so far back I can’t even see it. The first twenty minutes of my ride is truly white knuckle time. But eventually I settled into the reality of it. Now I’m fine. 

We just pulled into Parking Lot B at Crystal Mountain Resort. I plugged in electrically, but I don’t see a water hook up. No worries. I’m self contained for a few days at a time, so as long as I find a water hook up in the next few days, I’ll be ok. River can’t be in a moving vehicle with food in his stomach, so he’s pretty thrilled that we got to eat when we stopped.  I'm pretty thrilled that it's sunny.

I set up his crate in the back near the bed, so we now have all the comforts of home, on the road. 

I’m supposed to pay $30 for the night, but i don’t see anyone, so I’m not sure how to pay.  River and I are going to explore the environs. 

Stopping along the way to stretch our legs.