"Ducks don't land in trees"

What a day..

Just before leaving for my road trip, I had a few real fears about what could happen.

Namely:

Get sick and be in trouble to drive

Get a technical issue with (my truck) Yeti while towing Mountain (my fifth wheel)

Run short of gas

Be in trouble when looking for diesel

Get a height problem and be obliged to back with the fifth wheel in the middle of the road with vehicles around

And

Find myself in an ugly rv park and wanting to leave before even setting the fifth wheel in

Well, Eleanore Roosevelt used to say "do each day at least one thing your were afraid of". 

If you take that point of view, today was a lucky day for me,

Caus' I got today to face every of these fears. And I overcame them.

It all started this morning when I woke up. Since I had my bad horse accident in 2010, with my broken back and my torn shoulder, I sometimes have some terrible mornings. Maybe because of the position in which I sleep, I am not sure... But I wake up broken in two, walking like those old ladies you sometime cross in the street and who had their back broken my too much work during their life.

This morning , I woke up like that, my left leg clearly protesting any move and going on strike at every attempt to walk.

I had decided yesterday I would leave early this morning for Oklahoma City (the name was like poetry to me since, as a kid, I read with passion all the Lucky Luke cartoons, one of them telling a story that took place in Oklahoma. I owed the little school girl I was then a stop here to fulfill an old dream !)

With my crazy leg and my sore back this morning, I wisely decided to wait for my journey and went to my koa office to warn them I was to stay one more night

"Impossible, sorry, we have an rv arriving this morning, you must leave"

That was not exactly the answer I hoped for, 

but "a la guerre comme a la guerre" (in war you behave as you must behave  in a war - yep, I know, strange French quoting ) I just had to pack and leave...

And so I did.

Fortunately my leg and back got slowly better with the warming of exercise,

my mental check list for the packing went smoothly, 

The hooking was like a dream,

and I left, quite happy and proud of myself, for  Oklahoma City before eleven in the morning

And I even sang wholeheartedly my favorite "Nashville" songs on the road - God, I love this tv show, and I have a real emotion each time I hear Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen sing - I love their voices ; and they have great song writers for this show, even a rookie like me can tell so-

I arrived around 1 pm at my previously planned rv park, the romantically called "Twin Fountain" rv park.

And from there, things began to be tricky.

The rv park turned out to be right near a passing road, with a permanent noise that reminded me of my best hours in Parisian Metro (God, do you realize the size of Oklahoma City area ! Do they really have to put their rv park just near a highway ???)

A full of up, down, and slopes, with concrete spaces , flat, where you are supposed to park your rv.

But a fifth wheel is not exactly an RV, and the hooking-unhooking is pretty precise, notably in terms of height of the fifth wheel and truck. And the space they gave me was just too short for my fifth wheel, thing I did not realize at first as I am driving alone (and it s pretty difficult to see the back of your trailer while you in front are driving  the truck, the whole thing being more than 60 ft long)

I was quite surprised by the office arrival, where everything was handled quick, but where I was sent to my parking lot alone, with no help, though I asked for it.

Generally at least one person shows you the space (generally in those funny golf carts that seem to be somehow the new western Donkey, carrying things and people everywhere for short distances !)

Here I was dismissed with a "you have the map, just get there and help yourself"

so, I managed myself. Or more exactly tried to.

For the whole -get there, be flat, lower you jack, unhook" did not really get as planned,

And for after ten minutes of different try and fail, I ended up pretty stuck in an uncomfortable position, barely hooked, not even, and with my trailer not properly stabilized on the too small flat part.

And all pride swallowed (French expression ! Do you say that in English ?) 

I had to go back to the "welcome" office to ask for some help.

"We'll no one to help before at least 40 minutes" was the answer, 

and it s at that moment that I have really started to look at this "welcoming office" with attention.

For, At that moment, I started to wonder if it was the fact that I am a single women on the road 

(ah, the "where is your husband" I hear everywhere when I ask for something ! Guys, let's be clear, my last husband would just have been unable to do half what I do, he was terrified just to the idea of taking a plane to the US,  so please, stop looking for a guy and just inform ME !)

Or if it s because I am French

Or just foreign

Or if it s because I was wearing an obviously native Wolf necklace which seems to catch the lady s eye more than needed, with a mocking smile

But I really felt something strange

The feeling that everybody was pretty amused with my difficulties and not really in hurry to help me.

You know the "let's see how long it takes before she begs for help, let's laugh for a few minutes"

I was wondering if I was paranoid on is, but the fact is  I then waited more than 50 minute, grilling under the sun, with my trailer unstable, for a guy supposed to come help me who was first mysteriously "busy in town" 

then "filling up propane bottle" 

then "well, seen, but no idea where he went"

Till I came back a fourth time really pissed off, was ignored, and decided to try again by myself

It s then I had my answer to my paranoid question. Well, no, it probably was n t any of the previous reasons I had thought of

But just good, frank, happily shared laziness.

For I had the pleasure to meet then my new neighbors, a nice family with three young kids and a dog, who were on their first trip with their brand new rv, 

and turned out to be just as lost as myself in difficulties - but with no help either-

So no unique treatment for my special self

Just people who did not give a s.. About their customers.

I boiled inside. I am old and calm enough, but God knows, I hate people who are bad at their job and let young families and lone woman in the sun without any help or consideration.

To make a story short, I finally got hold all by myself of my situation, 

spending sometime securing my trailer with my blocks 

and then correctly rehooking perfectly (I am sooooo good at hooking ! Since all those months I had been mentally practicing the hook up in my small car in France, I am just a pro ! 

Enfin,nearly a pro, as long it s a flat and easy space !))

And when the promised  guy arrived 

with that grin I hate which says "so you have been waiting for me, do you see I am a God for you right now"

and that familiar and stupid question 

"hi, where is your husband" 

I was proud enough to tell him I had solved my problem 

and was about to leavethe rv park immediately 

(Ok, part of my joy in my proud announcement was tarnished by his remark that my front jacks were not correctly up- but STiLL I made it MYSELF and did not have to wait for anyone for help)

I left my poor neighbors still puzzled with their own rv... 

Hoping they would finally got the help they needed before everybody would have baked in the sun,

And I went straight to the "welcome" office to ask for a refund of my payment, as I was immediate leaving... 

Refund I got without fussing, I must admit, 

And I really left with relief this ugly place

Oh, they have a "dog park", pompously advertised in their website, which about the size of a king bed, nearly too small to let my big dog and my small dog together in ; with a door that does not close once you have stepped in ; and the nice atmosphere for a place that s lost in the howling of the trucks and motorcycles on the nearby highway.

Heaven on earth, really ! 

And this for 40 dollars a night in March...

I left singing "a tue tete"

(Literally "killing my head" with the noise!)

So happy to leave this place and run freely

For "ducks don t land on trees "

(Just heard that this morning in a movie - loved that scene- and we'll my day fits it perfectly)

And Sylvie Manso does not land on highway-twinned and sadistically run rv park...

That could have been my big daily adventure, 

but I was not through with my day, helas !

I hit the road, deciding to go straight for Amarillo, for I found Oklahoma City just ugly - God, those pieces of land with dead trees along the roads - what happens here ? There is drought in Texas too, but here the trees look like poisoned - I have no idea if it s oil, fracking, or just drought and bad environmental management , but I just felt like running away as fast as possible 

Oklahoma City it will take some times and lot of charms to get me back there and prove to me you are a charming city !

Soooo I was on the road , singing again,

When suddenly a worrying beep started in my truck.

And no Mocking bird to blame for the noise this time (see this post if you have not read it !)

no, no bird, it was really my truck. 

And on my driving screen suddenly appeared this frightful warning 

"Out of exhaust liquid - stop and refill immediately"

exhaust liquid ? I had NEVER heard about that thing before, and as my truck was coming straight from a reputable car seller who had sworn it had been checked and prepared thoroughly for my trip, I was at loss

And terrified

Did it mean I could not wash my windshield anymore ?

Or did it mean the truck was about to explode and I was only to leave to posterity a few ashes on the side of the road ?

I was lucky enough to have that problem just before entering a pretty large city (I have NO idea what city it was, by the way - I was so busy watching my screen and wondering if my truck was about to stop dead with my fifth wheel, my two dogs, my cat and myself on the highway where we were in the middle of trucks and cars that I forgot to check ! )

And after some questions, nice people helping, the luck to find a repar station where the guys were great (none of them asked for my husband ! Yeah !!) a 40 dollars bill (I was ready to pay ten times that to be sure I was not to see my motor burst into flame!) and a good check up of the rest of the truck,

I was able to get back on my road reassured by what I had learned about that mysterious "exhaust liquid" (which helps to prevent pollution and catches particles, if I got the explanations right, and normally does not make your truck explode if it s suddenly low!)

I was about to get back on the highway (after some sweat in my back because I found myself in pretty narrow streets with my fifth wheel and really longed to be back on large streets) 

When the beep started again

I had forgotten about the need to refuel Yeti with diesel...

I had planned to refuel in Oklahoma City, after unhooking the trailer (I hate the idea to refuel with my Mountain behind me) 

Then I had thought I would refuel on the road, in one of the large struck gas station

but  with my "exhaust liquid" problem, 

The beeping,

The warning message blinking,

I had just forgotten to check my tank gauge ...

And now the yellow light was lit

And I have absolutely no idea of the mileage my truck, towing Mountain, could make on the spare left.

I stayed calm, and asked my brand new GARMIN RV GPS,

duly informed of my truck diesel need, my trailer height, my total length etc... When I configured him a few days ago,

To get me to the nearest station.

Which he did ...but...

the station had no diesel

And was too low for my fifth to go through 

And I found myself obliged to ask a really nice guy who was fueling his car nearby

to stop all the traffic on the road behind me (THANK YOU, Sir, you saved my life this afternoon) 

while I went backwards with my truck and  trailer, 

Sweating like Burce Willis in Die Hard 

maneuvered like I could with my rear mirrors and my little experience 

and finally was able to get back on the road and into the good direction.

God, my hand were nearly shaking after that !

But I did,

And I have learned my lessons :

I have bought spare bottles of everything needed in my truck , in case something suddenly flashes on my desk, and I know where goes what - no more emergencies I hope.

I will always refill before the last third of my tank, and only on large station with diesel and truck space (yeah, when it s a truck station, it s soooo easy ) so I will never see that yellow "you do better find diesel fast" anymore

And in fact,  I am able to handle my truck and my fifth even in difficult situation

"Everyday, do something you fear" 

I did

And here we are. All safe. Yeti the truck  and Mountain the trailer are happily resting in a rather savage place - no more rv park today , thanks , I am in a discreet place, and I have my two dogs with me to protect me !-

I see from my window green grass, cows, and soft slopes. It s Oklahoma (I think) and it s not a city.

I just here the noise of my fridge, and I m gone sleep like a baby.

I listen to George Strait in my candle lit trailer. No electricity, I am using the USB lamp and the candles planned for this.

 I write on my iPad, and my iPhone will publish, even from here.

I am in peace. Life is just beautiful.

I am on my way to Santa Fe, 

Learning.

And refusing, as a good duck, to land on trees...