We left Lincoln Thursday headed for Trinity Lakes, CA, 200 miles or so, it should have been an easy run. Then somewhere around Redding the RV's GPS and the GPS in the Subaru started to disagree. In the Subaru I was running Waze which said to go left along the 299 and we'd be there in little over an hour. The Garmin 770 in the RV directed Lance on a very wide Northern loop through Scotts Valley, adding 160+ miles and a few hours to our ride.
We pulled into a parking lot in Redding and discussed our options. In the end we decided the Garmin was configured for the RV height and weight and must know something about a low bridge or something along those lines that Waze didn't acknowledge. So we decided to follow the RV GPS, even though it was longer it surely must be safer.
So on we went through Scotts Valley, a singularly beautiful place full of dragonflies and adorable frolicking sheep. Lovely. At the South end of Scotts Valley we discovered Scott Mountain.
How the GPS thought this was the preferable route still eludes us both. Between the terrifying declines, narrow roads and the sheer no-guardrail dropoffs that had me cringing every time the trailer bumped the edge of the road, and the switchbacks so fierce Lance had to take up every inch of both lanes and it seemed the nose of the RV was about to meet the tail of the trailer, I didn't breathe for hours. Still the RV GPS kept advising him to leave the main road and go off on this or that rabbit trail, at one point it tried to direct him onto a rickety old wooden bridge with impossible head clearance. After stopping in the middle of the road to discuss the first rabbit trail option we decided to ignore the Garmin and follow Waze the rest of the way to the campground. Somehow Lance pulled it off, and we landed our mobile home at the Trinity Lakes KOA just before dinner time, both of us slicked in flop sweat. What a day. Later that evening we found a tow truck driver hanging around by the burger stand and asked him about the route we'd taken, and he said wide-eyed "you came down Scott Mountain with a WHAT pulling a WHAT? Oh no, no, no honey, definitely go back down 299, it's a walk in the park compared to what you just experienced". So now we can enjoy our time here in the knowledge that we can actually get out of here without having to endure Scott Mountain in reverse.
We have Sprint and AT&T aboard the bus, but this is Verizon territory. The KOA boasts online about their Wifi, but in actuality what they have is one anemic DSL line that everyone tries to share. I couldn't even sort my text e-mail Thursday night, and while waiting another 10 minutes to try to open one client's e-mail I found myself contemplating murder of a campground kid who was playing some internet game on his phone, it became clear I needed to find a place to work someplace else where I could make use of AT&T tethering. So bright and early Friday morning I loaded up my work gear into the Subaru and headed into Weaverville, a charming little town just 29 miles away, where I setup shop anywhere I could find air conditioning. The library was closed, perpetually apparently, so Starbucks, Round Table Pizza, and the golf course became my offices for the next few days. The folks of Weaverville are friendly and helpful and didn't seem to mind at all that I camped out with my laptop in their space and plugged into their power outlets. I did my best to be unobtrusive and tip very well.
Monday we went to the nearest Verizon store, which was an hour and a half away in Redding and switched Lance's phone over. We also bought a 4G wifi puck for the bus - now we've got all the Big 3 aboard AND a truly awesome vpn system, in case public wifi is the fastest option for future workdays.
For the first time since we put the house on the market I feel like I'm getting ahead of the client work, finally, and Lance is doing his best to stay off his foot in the hopes that it will finally heal. The cats are enjoying their window perches and not trying to escape so often, all in all we are settling into our new life.
Even more than we anticipated, having consistently good internet aboard the bus is mandatory. Even on the weekends I get anxious if clients can't reach me, and that anxiety spills over into every aspect of our lives. Thankfully, that video-game-playing campground kid will never know just how close he came to certain death.
 |
| Mount Shasta on the horizon - wearing a lot of snow still for this late in July |
So on we went through Scotts Valley, a singularly beautiful place full of dragonflies and adorable frolicking sheep. Lovely. At the South end of Scotts Valley we discovered Scott Mountain.
 |
| Scotts Valley |
We have Sprint and AT&T aboard the bus, but this is Verizon territory. The KOA boasts online about their Wifi, but in actuality what they have is one anemic DSL line that everyone tries to share. I couldn't even sort my text e-mail Thursday night, and while waiting another 10 minutes to try to open one client's e-mail I found myself contemplating murder of a campground kid who was playing some internet game on his phone, it became clear I needed to find a place to work someplace else where I could make use of AT&T tethering. So bright and early Friday morning I loaded up my work gear into the Subaru and headed into Weaverville, a charming little town just 29 miles away, where I setup shop anywhere I could find air conditioning. The library was closed, perpetually apparently, so Starbucks, Round Table Pizza, and the golf course became my offices for the next few days. The folks of Weaverville are friendly and helpful and didn't seem to mind at all that I camped out with my laptop in their space and plugged into their power outlets. I did my best to be unobtrusive and tip very well.
 |
| The office for the morning... at Trinity Alps Golf Course |
 |
| Someone's pride and joy in Redding, CA. We wonder how it's registered... HondaSaturnTrike? |
Even more than we anticipated, having consistently good internet aboard the bus is mandatory. Even on the weekends I get anxious if clients can't reach me, and that anxiety spills over into every aspect of our lives. Thankfully, that video-game-playing campground kid will never know just how close he came to certain death.
No comments:
Post a Comment