Good BYE 2014. Don’t let the door hit your backside on the way out. I grudgingly invite you to rest in peace. Certainly you left me in pieces.
What a year that was. And it just didn’t let up right to the very end. On December 13 we packed up the van and the dog and headed south, our heads swirling with visions of a mild California sun shining down on our Christmas morning…the transmission on my van went. On DAY ONE (and yes, superstitious people out there, it was the 13th – though not a Friday). On the big, big climb as I-5 makes its way from Oregon to California. In the dark. Just inches from the paved shoulder that the big rigs use as a third lane. I’ll spare you the fear and trembling that went on for the next two hours that it took to get rescued off that hazardous piece of highway. I love my 1987 VW Westfalia Syncro, with its third engine and 468,000 km on the odomoter. I hate that van too. It blew a ten day hole in our Christmas camping plans, and left a giant, smoldering crater in my wallet. But on the upside, the kind folks at National Car Rental at Medford Airport gained a big fan in me when – either out of pity or irony – they gave me a 2015 Passat (still with new car smell) to drive around while we waited for our 28 years older VW to be resuscitated.
Plan B, aka making lemonade: an upgrade in our VW driving experience and a much more luxurious bed situation
By the time we had the van back in the tack, getting to Santa Barbara wine country was no longer an option since we would have spent our remaining ten days driving down and then turning around and driving back. And if you’ve ever had a big breakdown on a trip, you understand the feeling of being spooked about trusting your vehicle afterward. It feels a lot like a bogey fence on cross country. So California camping became Oregon with a cautious side trip to the very north of CA and a grand total of one night spent in the van. But Chorizo for one was happy. He loves hotels, especially when the room has two beds close enough together for him to jump from one to the other – an image I try to push far from my mind every time I sign a hotel pet contract.
First philosophical question of 2015: can a dog appreciate a view?
So, 2014, I say good riddance. But I get the last laugh because we found our fun in spite of you, you dirty rotten scoundrel of a year.
Plan C: Cozy Christmas headquarters, still technically camping
Those of you who have been loyally reading this blog over the past six years know that I drag out my crystal ball around now and make my predictions for the coming year. I won’t let you down. Just give me a day or two while I dust off the magic orb and get my sorceress’s cape back from the dry cleaners. And Happy New Year everyone. Let’s all have a good one.
