fret not, amigos, we have not dropped off the face of the earth. we have been without wifi and cell reception for a hot minute but we are back on the interwebs (for the time being).
here is a quick recap of what’s happened so far:
i (sadie) joined nutty and mumsie in las vegas, where the electricity promptly went wonky due to the fact that it was just so overjoyed that i had finally arrived. i usually visualize the electricity in the hospital doing the same thing immediately after i was born.
saturday, august 11, we trekked a solid 400+ miles to visalia, on the south side of sequoia and kings canyon national parks, where we parked and set up camp after a short drive around the beginning of the parks (due to construction, vehicles over 22 feet long are not allowed to drive all the way through the park. we are 23 feet long).
everything was fine and dandy so we got up and spent the next day cruising through sequoia and kings canyon. photos were taken, big trees were seen, zero u-turns were made.
meanwhile… in the driver’s seat… nutty was attempting to get us all the way to mariposa before it got too late. now, since nutty was driving, the universe demanded that there be several detours to our trip. we’ve already become quite familiar with meandering down one-lane country roads through fruit groves, and this one was very similar with the exception that it was pitch black. this luverly detour took us through a variety of orchards on a tiny road where you could not see a thing except for our headlights bouncing up and down on the asphalt.
the next 30 minutes went something like this: “hey, nutty, remember that episode of supernatural when (insert creepy thing and ensuing disaster here)”
by the end of it, i’m pretty sure we were all convinced that we were each going to be the next stephen king.
after some more winding roads and would-be horror stories, we reached our final destination, woke up all of our neighbors because we forgot to turn off the headlights, and then promptly went to sleep.
we were going to take the next day to do some laundry, maybe run up and do yosemite: part one for a bit… but this is a skeels story, so the day we had set aside to relax is the part where things start to go a little crazy.
by “crazy,” i mean “skeels sop” but also “hurtling 70 mph down a single lane road in the middle of nowhere.”
see what i mean?
if this roadtrip were a movie, you would now see a montage of us going “nooooooooo” in slow motion while various items fly across the room and very important lights start blinking frantically to the tune of “the final countdown.” in case you need a little more help: refrigerator doors are flying open while we are cruising down windy roads, all seemingly seventeen bottles of renee’s salad dressing are going everywhere, gallons of water are bursting and flooding the joint, toilets are deciding to go wonky, generators are deciding that no, they are not going to provide air conditioning, and, most tragic of all, thermoses of coffee are spilling.
now, how is one supposed to deal with any of the above without proper caffeine levels, google access, or cell phone reception?
we all three burst into a fit of giggles, of course. wiley was both confused and not entirely pleased with the lack of a/c situation.
nutty, who was crying because she was laughing so hard, managed to squeak out “i’m walking back. see you guys in a couple of days,” before she figured out that all her exits were blocked so she settled to hiding behind sir wiles.
luckily, mariposa delivered some cell phone reception and a lovely chap named larry, of mountain automotive, who used a crow bar to persuade the generator into working. the toilet was soon made an offer it could not refuse and promptly began working again.
after all of that, we plopped renee in the swimming pool, opened a bottle of wine, and decided that the best cure for just about anything was a few solid episodes of doctor who.
day saved.
yosemite was next on the list (so, today); we all appeared to be suffering from an unknown ailment also known as “tired in the middle of the day”-itis where we got to yosemite and all fell asleep at the same time. not even kidding: we arrived and we all literally fell over fast asleep. it was like a fairy tale, but the creepy kind (clearly the only kind we do). after all the napping was done, we hiked up to see the falls which were… wait for it… WATERLESS. luckily we also got some lovely photos (pinterest board coming soon) of el capitan, the half dome, and meadows.
onwards to cali part two (san francisco, the coast, and redwoods) tomorrow!
