“Last night, I dreamed of the sea, which I often do when I am deciding between two things & I wake remembering there are always more than two things & I need to have the patience to wait for the others to rise from the deep.”
~The Story People
My stay on the Viejo Reservation was pleasant, if short. Being in “the meadow” felt like being on the back forty of someone’s farm. I parked next to a huge tree though I have no idea what kind. There was a white picket fence surrounding the meadow, and dirt roads leading up into the part of the campground with a small store and showers. Neighbors were far enough away to give us some privacy. The weather was a pleasant 72⁰. We walked a lot and enjoyed the spot.
Monday morning, we took our last walk and packed up to move to our new, ocean front site. Years ago when I was thinking about selling everything I owned and moving into a van, every YouTube video I watched showed some young couple, or some handsome young man and his dog, nearly always parked on the beach, watching either the sunrise or sunset out the back window of their vans. I’ve been on the road for 3 years now, and have yet to see one sunrise or sunset over the ocean from my van. Monday was the night. We arrived at our spot. I paid $20 extra to be parked on the ocean side of the road. We arrived at 1:30 and were told in a very cursory manner that we should go away and come back after 2:00. I’m sure I looked confused. The park ranger said “Check in is at 2:00. You can’t come in until then.” Whoa. Boy was I pissed. But, we drove down the road, pulled into a public parking lot and waited for half an hour. When we got back there were two lines to get in. In their defense, they were pretty efficient at getting us checked in and within minutes we were headed up the hill to our oceanfront property. It was a mediocre spot, but I have to say, after paying an additional fee for a “premium” spot, it was a bit of a disappointment. The spot was perfectly OK. We had a great view of the ocean if you looked over the chain link fence separating us from the beach, which was about 50 feet below. I quickly got over myself and Cosmo and I sat outside at our picnic table, looking through the fence at the ocean below.
Not exactly the YouTube fantasy I’d imagined, but I’ve come to realize that most of YouTube is anything but authentic. The weather was pleasant, and it was good to be off the freeway around San Diego. We lingered a while in the morning, took a walk and watched the ocean for a bit longer. The campground was busy and crowded. It was a good transition from the idyllic “meadow” to what would soon be the rat race of the L.A. Freeway system.
The drive north to Long Beach was somewhere between very anxiety producing and terrifying. I have spent the winter on mostly narrow, rugged, dirt roads where going over 5 mph would set the van bouncing and my teeth rattling to a 6 lane freeway with vehicles flying past me on both sides at 75+ mph. I mostly stayed in the far-right lane so people would have 5 other lanes to my left to pass me, but that meant that I’d have to deal with all the cars entering from ramps on my right. I did my best to pace myself so cars could blend into the flow seamlessly, but it became quite apparent that nobody wanted to enter the freeway behind me, so they sped up and didn’t seem to care if they were about to run me off the road. Also, the right lane often had a sign saying, “this lane must exit,” so I’d have to work my way into the lane to my left, with nobody wanting to let me in. It was an unpleasant drive to say the least, but when I got off the freeway, I sort of knew where I was and where I was going and ignored the great Google Machine trying to get me to turn down unfamiliar roads. When I pulled up in front of Steve and Richard’s condo, they were waiting outside. Cosmo recognized where we were and barked and barked until I let him out to run up the stairs to greet them.
The week was super busy. I was only staying for a short time and had weeks’ worth of chores and errands to accomplish. I managed to get and install a new kitchen cabinet, put together my new e-bike, get and install a bike rack on my van, get my eyes examined, my tires rotated, my oil changed and get Cosmo caught up on his vaccinations and yearly checkup.
I got a new iPhone (mine wasn’t charging properly and Verizon had a sale for $500 off if I turned in my old phone which was 5 years old), got a new Wi-Fi Router/modem (my current one was fine, but Verizon offered me a free upgrade that is 10x faster and still $10 cheaper per month. Not sure what’s in it for them, but good deal for me). I also went to the Verizon store and got a new phone case and screen protector. I cleaned my rugs and washed my van, and got several cupboards emptied, gave away or threw out anything that I hadn’t used in the past 6 months, and made some extra space. It was a jam-packed week.
On Thursday I met up with Tina, Richard, (Different Richard) and Victoria for brunch downtown. I realized how unfit I am to live in “The Empire” anymore. The brunch was delicious, and the restaurant was wonderful. We ate on the patio so Cosmo, Penny and Bianca could join us (they stayed under the table while we ate.) Nobody else seemed to notice, but several ambulances and at least one fire truck went by, sirens blazing. The traffic was thick on Redondo Avenue and every time a heavy truck passed by, a car alarm across the street was set off. For someone who is quite often the only human within half a mile, it all seemed a little post-apocalyptic to me. I wasn’t the only one. When we got out of the van heading toward the restaurant, Cosmo grabbed his leash in his mouth and tugged, wanting to go back toward the van. People on the street laughed that he refused to cross the street and tugged me back towards the sidewalk and the van. I did enjoy the lunch and getting to catch up with old friends and when I got back to the condo, I curled up on the sofa, feeling safe and protected once again.
Friday I finished setting up my phone and did some research into possibilities for a bike rack. Saturday, Richard took me to a bike shop where the man spent a long time trying to find a rack that would work for me, to no avail. We spent nearly the entire day piecing together a system that would work. Steve cooked us Tika Masala for dinner and I slept like a dog that night. Cosmo and I both did.
Lessons From The Road: Everything takes longer and costs a lot more than originally planned. The sales rep at Verizon who ordered my new phone assured me it was very simple to transfer everything from my old phone to my new. “Just turn it on and it will walk you through everything.” I did and it did…sort of. Verizon had one set of directions for transferring everything, and Apple had another set of instructions. Neither were perfect, but fortunately I was staying with the Grand Poohbah of IT for a large, international corporation. Richard is not a fan of Apple products, but he was a good sport and got me all figured out. Likewise, my new Wi-Fi router was supposed to work instantly upon plugging it in. Not so. Richard configured it and changed the password to one I would be able to remember. That was only half the battle. The old phone had to be wiped and packed up and returned to Verizon via UPS. I had to make several calls to find out how to have Verizon turn off my old Wi-Fi from there end so I wouldn’t be paying for service that no longer worked. Of course as is always the case with Apple products, none of the old accessories would work. I needed a new case and a new screen protector. Who would ever guess a screen protector for a cell phone could possible cost $59.95? It just seems ridiculous, but hey, I’m done for another 5 years.
My new e-bike was relatively easy to put together and get charged up, and tires pumped up and ready to go. I thought I’d go to a bike shop (of which there are many in Long Beach) and have them show me my options, I’d choose one and they’d put it on my trailer hitch and that would be that. Silly me. They had one that could work, but I’d not be able to open my back door without taking it apart. They had one that would swing out, but it wouldn’t fit my bike. They had one that my door would clear and would fold down to open my back door, but not in stock. He’s have to order it and he is closed Sunday and Monday so it would even arrive until I was long gone. Long story short (sort of)…Richard took me to Harbor Freight, we got a rack that would plug into my trailer hitch, and an adaptor so it wouldn’t scrape the ground on the roads I drive on, and tie downs, and a tarp to cover it, and Bungie cords to hold the cover in place. What I thought would take a half hour ate up most of the day because the rack came in pieces and had to be put together.
All’s well that ends well. Everything cost more and took longer, but everything (except for my new kitchen pull-out rack—Hoping it will get done tomorrow.)