The hospitality at the Koa we stayed in last night was magnanimous. Allen even offered to make me some waffles, which i happily accepted, even though it caused me to violate one of my cardinal rules, to not eat away from Donner. He was rewarded with extra treats for my peccadillo.
After breaking camp at the koa, we set off for the short 20-mile ride to Craters of the Moon. I timed my arrival for 11 am knowing that that was checkout time, and if site 25 had been occupied the night before, it would be empty now since most people come for one or two days i understand. Since 25 is unsuited for anything larger than a van and most people are in RVs these days, i was hoping it would be empty, and it was. Lucky me.
For some reason, i had a heck of a time setting up the tent today. There are about 50 individual tasks i have to go through to set up the tent and i got hung up on number 7, setting the first stake for the groundcloth, and then the most dreaded one, number 29, erecting the tent after four of the poles were in-grommet. I had to take two breaks before finishing the job. And then, when i was inserting the rod through the sleeve of the vestibule, task 40 or so, i heard a snap and the rod in the sleeve appeared to have broken in two. If there is one task i absolutely hate on the road it is to remove a broken or separated pole or rod in a tent pole sleeve. Not a big deal if a pole or rod breaks because i have a repair kit and, if that doesn't work, a spare set of poles and rods, and if that doesn't work, a spare tent, and if that does not work i have a credit card for nearby motel. As good luck would have it, the rod only separated so plan B, C and D were not needed.
As Donner gets into stride on this trip, he is developing what he considers interesting habits, although some to me are better described as pesky. He is sitting up now in his front seat, on the lookout for bison and the like, now that he knows they can pop up anywhere. This habit is pesky for me when i need clear vision to the right when i am driving. He also has escalated his demand that i pat him on the head during our drives by quickly maneuvering his head to my hand as i go to grab the gear shift to deal with a difficult maneuver on the road. He does not understand the possible implications of his demands. Then again, he is a dog.
I did find a solution to his resting his head on my iPad when it is set out on the tray i had made for it at the front of the console, leaving all kinds of dog detritus on my iPad or changing the music streaming over my headphones. I now set my journal on the tray and insert the iPad under the top cover. He now rests his head on the cover, which is just fine with me. (Understandably, the iPad does not respond to my manual gestures when it is covered with dog slobber.) This also solves the problem of where to store my journal so i can find it quickly when i need it. Two problems solved at once. How is that for serendipidity?
You would not understand the significance of these problems or solutions unless you had to live through them, as i do for eight hours a day.
I did find a perfect solution to the mattress problem. Originally, i had two of these luxury-map mattresses, but one developed an unfindable leak, so i cut it in half and use one piece of it underneath Donner's front seat bed. Think of it as a box-spring. So, starting tonight, i will put that beneath the top portion of my mattress and will have a better mattress than before. This improvement is arriving just in time because tonight we are sleeping on essentially a bed of fine but hard lava ash. Not one to be outsmarted, after Donner went into the tent, as i sat outside contemplating the forces of nature surrounding us and the fate of humankind, i heard Donner digging into the addition to our tent set up. I let him dig all he wanted because air will never see the light of day in either of these mattresses again.
Not wanting to be selfish, i now bring Donner's front seat bed into the tent too so he has more bed to spread out on instead of ending the night on the tent floor, although it is covered by a soft fabric ground cloth, or my own mattress, as has been known to happen.
What a delightful day it was today, a rare one for me on the road. By noon, on a gorgeous day, sun and 50 degrees, i had no plans. I finally got around to making a dent into the one book i brought along and after all the chores were over with, went into the tent for the night just after the sun set. I think that's the first time over 350 days on the road that that has happened. It was such a delightful day, i decided to stay here at least one more day. This will also provide the advantage of delaying my arrival at the Oregon camp i hope to stay in until after Saturday, when the camps are all full.
This message will probably not go out until Saturday when i am on the road. I only hope when someone does not see a posting from me over two days they do not call the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as my dear concerned sister did five years ago. But if someone does, that's fine, cause i am not in Canada.
Time to get some reading done.
Ed and Donner, from the road
P.S. Once again, i apologize for any composition errors in this message. I just do not have time or battery to edit it into my usual literary masterpieces.
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