Saturday, 28 November 2015
Ashland – Brookings, Oregon
Little did Sir Thomas Leaf knew that today would especially be a rough day. Sir Thomas awoke early at Ashland’s Rodeway Inn, climbing out of bed into his pants and sweater to stumble out into the cold, or so he expected, as it wasn’t that bad temperature-wise. He walked down the parking lot to the continental breakfast, grabbed a waffle-to-go, yogurt, hot cereal, and juice for breakfast. Back at the room, the young Prince Cian and Lady Etain were soon stirring. He caught up on writing and then began packing up the car in hopes the car would soon be ready at Les Schwab. As there was no car seat installed yet in the van, Lady Etain drove it across the street to the Tire Center, while Sir Thomas and Prince Cian walked over. They called the alignment guy who came bearing bad news – the tie rods that was supposed to arrive at noon today was never ordered by the parts store, so it wouldn’t be until tuesday before the Explorer could be repaired. Much to Sir Thomas’ horror as he has work on tuesday, he asked if he could find the part, would they still install it. They said yes, but “good luck … we’ve tried all the auto parts stores from Ashland to Roseburg and no one has it until then”. They drove their van up to their explorer and moved everything from the Explorer to the Sienna so if they need to camp they could, would still have their kitchen with them to make food on the road, and have everything they needed. They grabbed inventory for orders to fill out of the cargo trailer and was back on the road. They drove through Talent, Phoenix, Medford, and Grants Pass checking auto parts stores for the part. They found that the Shelton Auto Parts in Grants Pass had the parts! Sir Thomas was excited. They raced back to Ashland and gave them to the mechanics. The mechanics said it would be a couple of hours, so they ventured east and south to Lord James and Lady Monica’s abode to see if they were home. In the middle of a move, they caught them between places and had a great chance to catch up. Sir Thomas however forgot to bring in his cell phone which was on death’s doorstep and realized halfway through the visit he forgot to check messages. The mechanics tried to call three times, to no avail, bearing the bad news that the inner tie rod was not threaded. So the adventurers raced to the mechanics grabbed the part at 3:45 pm and high tailed it to Grant’s Pass hoping to catch the auto parts store before they closed at 4. Enrout they called and Shelton Auto Parts recognized the issue and was willing to meet them halfway or stay open until they arrived. Alas, the part was not matching what was needed and Les Schwab guaranteed the proper part would arrive monday, getting the adventurers back on the road by evening. So they got a refund for the part and decided to call it an evening, as even if they barely arrived before Les Schwab closed, it wouldn’t be worked on until monday. Needing rest and relaxation after the day of goose chases, they decided to take a break, hit the coast, and give Prince Cian some beach time. They grabbed the sushi boat japanese-chinese buffet at Kobe’s in Grants Pass for dinner then hit the dark winding roads towards Crescent City and Brookings. Crazy traffic and speeding cars, they made it in an hour and a half. Checking in the Brookings Resort, Sir Thomas and Prince Cian spied the hot vapors coming off the indoor pool and quickly changed to dive in. Prince Cian had an ecstatic time splashing, jumping, and swimming as a nice cap-off to the day’s issues. Afterwards, resting in bed, the adventurers struggled with internet issues, and passed out to “Z Nation”.
Broookings Holiday Resort, Brookings, Oregon. Saturday 28 November 2015. Chronicles 21: Exploring Oregon/California/Nevada border lands. November-December 2015. Photographs by Eadaoin and Thomas Baurley, Leaf McGowan, Technogypsie Productions. www.technogypsie.com/photography. Reviews: www.technogypsie.com/reviews. Chronicle tales: http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/?p=17409
Brookings Resort: http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=23843